The late federal mob prosecutor Mitch Mars wasn't a man who sought the limelight.

After his court victories against the Outfit, and there were many, he had to be pushed to attend news conferences.

But the bad guys sure knew who he was.

Take for instance, a fascinating conversation from February 1999 between mob killer Frank Calabrese Sr. and two crooked cops who were trying to help him figure out if the government was building a case against him.

Mitchell Mars

Visitation will be held 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday at the Damar-Kaminski Funeral Home & Crematorium, 7861 S. 88th Ave., in Justice, IL.

A funeral is scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday at Damar and 10 a.m. Mass at St. Cletus Church in LaGrange. In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to St. Jude Children’s Hospital or Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Mitch Mars, the top organized crime prosecutor in U.S. Attorney's office, has died after a battle with lung cancer, the office announced Wednesday.

Mars, 55, prosecuted some of the most high profile organized crime cases in Chicago history, including Family Secrets and former Cicero President Betty Loren-Maltese.

"Mitch's impact on organized crime in this city cannot be overstated," U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said in a statement.

Here is the full statement from the U.S. Attorney's office:

A federal jury in Chicago on Friday found reputed mob hitman Anthony Calabrese guilty on six charges related to three armed robberies in the suburbs.

Calabrese faces much of the rest of his life in prison, and authorities hope to use that leverage to get him to reveal who hired him to kill top mobster Anthony Chiaramonti in 2001 and a Naperville woman in 1997. The mobster died, but the woman survived.

More details to come.

Anthony Calabrese
Prosecutors introduced perhaps their most powerful evidence Wednesday in the trial of reputed mob killer Anthony Calabrese.

Jurors were transfixed as prosecutors played a recording of Calabrese and his righthand man allegedly beating up a man they believed was a snitch.

Jurors heard the man yelp, squeal and beg for mercy.