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.
Interestingly enough, Calabrese isn't charged with beating up the informant, Edmund Frank, who was secretly recording his meeting for the feds.
Calabrese is charged with three armed robberies that under federal sentencing rules could send him to prison for the rest of his life.
That's the kind of leverage the feds want to use to convince Calabrese to rat out the people who hired him allegedly to kill a high-ranking Chicago mobster in 2001 and a Naperville woman in 1997. The mobster died, but the woman survived.
Calabrese has long been the main suspect in both crimes but has not been charged.
In the trial, which could wrap up this week, prosecutors Joel Hammerman and Markus Funk have essentially put on everyone besides Calabrese who took part in the armed robberies.
Those include Robert Cooper, who has pleaded guilty in the 2001 mob murder, and Frank.
In addition to the criminals who were allegedly part of Calabrese's crew, the victims of the armed robberies are testifying too, telling jurors about the horrors of getting robbed at gunpoint.
In one 2001 robbery, one witness, Gabriel Perez, a railroad engineer, told jurors that he was having the DaVinci's Last Supper tattooed on his lower back at a Lockport tattoo parlor, as his girlfriend watched, when three men burst in.
They tied up Perez and hogtied his girlfriend with zip ties. Their main focus was one of the parlor's owners, who allegedly had tattooed the daughter of a mobster, according to a court filing. They took the owner in the back and began hitting his hands with a hammer.
Anthony Calabrese, a friend of the mobster, planned the raid, according to testimony and court records.
Calabrese's defense attorney, Steven Hunter, has attacked the credibility of the prosecution's witnesess, noting that many of them are criminals who gained time off lengthy prison sentences by making up stories about Calabrese pleasing to the prosecution.
Jurors, though, aren't hearing anything regarding Calabrese's alleged connection to organized crime or his other crimes. The judge has barred any mention of the mob.
Calabrese is currently in jail, but when jurors see him at trial, he's dressed in a dark suit, not an orange jumpsuit.
Sounds like a movie preview to me...
On whose behalf was Calabrese breaking the guy's hand for? Ie, which "mob boss?"
STEVE WARMBIR RESPONDS: The judge ruled out any references to the mob at trial, so the detail didn't come out.
HE'S A WANNABE. HE WILL END UP FLIPPING!
....AND STILL GET TIME!
Steve-
Do you know anything about what's going on in NY and Italy? They arrested some 70 mob memebers and mostly Gambino family... Did family secrets start a trend? Are they trying to bring everyone down?
STEVE WARMBIR RESPONDS: The case has been going on for years and isn't connected to Family Secrets.
To find out more about the case, check the websites of two newspapers who are doing a good job covering it: the New York Daily News and the New York Times.
After reading the main indictment yesterday, I didn't see any Chicago connections.
What was the reason that Frank got arrest for, in order to start cooperating with the feds?
STEVE WARMBIR RESPONDS: Edmund Frank got arrested for a drug crime, allegedly with his brother. Frank testified that he became an informant for the police on that crime, and he was never charged.
Frank's brother became aware of Frank's cooperation and started telling people, including Anthony Calabrese, that Frank was a snitch, according to Frank's testimony.
Frank said he started cooperating with the FBI after he became afraid for his life once Calabrese learned he was a police informant.
Couple of hillbillies who held old women at gun point, real tough. I am from bridgeport and know Cooper had run ins with some of the guys there, I believe RJ's kid fire bombed his car
What was the name of Calabrese's auto detailing shop?
STEVE WARMBIR RESPONDS: Tony C's First Impressions.
Did Frank have anyother gang associations besides Calabrese?
STEVE WARMBIR RESPONDS: None that were brought up in court.
The jury probably didn't charge him with stomping the hell out of eddie because the probably felt he deserved it. What a B*tch
STEVE WARMBIR RESPONDS: Just one point of clarification: The prosecutors did not charge Calabrese with the beating, so the jury did not make a decision either way on the crime because the issue wasn't before it.
How big was the smile on calabrese's face when they played the tape of Eddie gettin stomped?\
STEVE WARMBIR RESPONDS: His smile wasn't that big, since the tape appeared to bury him with the jury.
Steve, During the Family Secrets trail did they mention if the Lombardo family owns the Rosebud Restaurant?
STEVE WARMBIR RESPONDS: There was no mention of linking members of the Lombardo family to the Rosebud Restaurants.
Steve, Do you have any info. on weather or not Frank the german is
going to stand on trial this spring?
STEVE WARMBIR RESPONDS: Nothing official yet, but there's a hearing in early May involving Schweihs where we may get more information. I'll post any updates on the blog.
Hey "Bobby B" I guess you were wrong huh tough guy? Tony did not "flip" he took his time , 62.5yrs by the way , like a man! He smiled and said thank you. So now wannabes like you can shut up. You guys are real tough hiding behind a computer.
To Joe: I'm not wrong. Tony C. is a nitwit white trash scumbag, and always will be one. He is where he belongs. That's That!