Calabrese Sr. allegedly threatens prosecutor
An excellent story from crack reporters Abdon Pallasch and Carol Marin, while I am on vacation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Markus Funk was making his closing argument in the "Family Secrets" mob trial.
Defendant Frank Calabrese Sr., accused killer, had his own message for the prosecutor:
"You are a f - - - - - - dead man."
At least that's what a juror later told prosecutors Calabrese said in Funk's direction.
Lead prosecutor Mitchell A. Mars has sent a letter to Calabrese's lawyer, Joseph Lopez, saying that a juror met with prosecutors after the trial and told them about the alleged threat.
Lopez dismissed the allegation as "nonsense, total nonsense. It's an overactive imagination."
The juror told prosecutors he or she "was able to make out what Mr. Calabrese was saying in part because he/she heard Mr. Calabrese, and in part by reading Mr. Calabrese's lips," Mars wrote.
Three other jurors "confirmed the juror's observations and heard Mr. Calabrese say the same thing," the juror told Mars.
The jury ruled last month that Calabrese, 70, was responsible for seven mob murders.
U.S. attorney's office spokesman Randall Samborn declined to comment on the letter.
Attorneys for Calabrese's four co-defendants said the conversation among jurors about Calabrese allegedly mouthing a death threat could have unfairly tainted the panel against their clients, giving them a potential avenue to seek new trials.
Rick Halprin, attorney for co-defendant Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, said he would be in court next week renewing his motion to sever Lombardo's case from Calabrese's.
"This is quite a development," Halprin said. "I have grave concerns about this. This is, to say the least, novel. You would assume it impacted their thought process. We know from the letter that one-third of them talked about it. I expect to be in court on it next week."
'Improper influence'
Marc Martin, attorney for James "Little Jimmy" Marcello, who prosecutors say is the boss of Chicago's mob, said his client has been arguing for a severance from Calabrese since the beginning of the trial.
"Marcello has been complaining about this since day one and this just adds more fuel to the fire," Martin said, adding he may raise the issue in post-trial motions.
Martin also questioned whether, by meeting with the juror, Mars and Funk broke the court's rules by having contact with a juror without court permission.
"I suspect the defense lawyers are going to come in with a motion [saying] 'It was an obviously improper influence,' " said Al Alschuler, a Northwestern University law professor. "I think it's a substantial issue."
U.S. District Judge James Zagel, who also received a copy of the letter, could reconvene the jurors, ask each one if the alleged threat affected their verdict, and, if each one says it did not, let the verdict stand, Alschuler said.
Lopez said he was sitting right next to his client and never heard any threat. "My client has more brains than that," he said. "We were surrounded by FBI agents and U.S. attorneys and spectators and nobody heard anything, and now a month later. . . . Why wasn't something said immediately right afterward -- that's what I want to know. It's an overactive imagination -- that's all I can think of."
Marcello, Calabrese and Lombardo will probably face life in prison for their roles in running a criminal enterprise blamed for a total of 10 murders. Co-defendants Paul Schiro and retired cop Anthony "Twan" Doyle were not found responsible for any murders but they could face 20 years for their roles in the enterprise.
In a trial of former Gov. George Ryan, allegations that the jurors were subjected to outside or improper influences have formed the bulk of Ryan's appeal efforts.
