Deputy U.S. Marshal John Ambrose is in federal court, fighting for his freedom as his attorney tries to convince a judge to throw out incriminating statements Ambrose allegedly made to federal investigators as they told him they had him dead to rights leaking secrets about a star mob witness.
The hearing is in its third day and continues Thursday. (There is no hearing scheduled for Wednesday.)
Plenty of newsworthy nuggets have emerged over the course of the court hearing.
Ambrose, for instance, wore a wire against the man he thought of as a father, according to the hearing.
In September 2006, Ambrose was lured to the FBI offices in Chicago on the ruse that he was going to help in an investigation.
In fact, the feds wanted to talk to him, without Ambrose being armed.
So they set up a meeting at the new FBI offices, where he had to give up his gun before he could pass through security.
Ambrose is accused of leaking information about a man he was guarding who was in the witness protection program - mob killer Nick Calabrese.
Calabrese had been in Chicago to literally show FBI agents where some of the bodies were buried. He would go on to be the star witness in the Family Secrets case.
Ambrose was allegedly paging through Calabrese's file to see who he was squealing on.
That information wound up in the hands of Chicago mob boss James Marcello, who was in prison at the time. Marcello was particularly interested in this because he and Nick Calabrese had taken part in some murders together.
The feds wanted to know how the information went from Ambrose to Marcello. There wasn't a direct connection because Ambrose hadn't visited Marcello in prison.
At first, Ambrose denied leaking the information, then admitted to some of the allegations but stressed he never took money.
Ambrose answered questions but didn't want to wear a wire, especially against the man the feds had in mind.
Ambrose allegedly shared his intelligence on Nick Calabrese with William Guide. Guide was a former Chicago police officer, who had gone to prison along with Ambrose's cop father in the Marquette 10 scandal.
Ambrose's father died of a heart attack in prison, and Guide became like a second father to Ambrose and was exceedingly kind to his family.
Guide also has connections to the mob, according to court testimony, having spent time in prison with mob boss John "No Nose" DiFronzo. Guide has denied any wrongdoing.
Ambrose eventually agreed to wire up on Guide, but he didn't exactly follow directions.
FBI Agent Ted McNamara testified at the hearing on Tuesday that he told Ambrose not to mention the FBI as he was talking to Guide.
McNamara noted, though, that one of the first things that Ambrose did when he was wired up was mention that the FBI was asking him questions about Calabrese.
So either Ambrose, under terrific strain and pressure, simply goofed up.
Or he was tipping his good friend Guide to what was going on.
Either way, his undercover career appeared to produce little of value.
Ambrose was eventually charged, but Guide never has been.
The judge is expected to make a ruling in the case as early as Friday regarding what will be allowed in at Ambrose's trial.
Stuff like this really makes me not trust law enforcement at all. And people wonder why I'm a cynic.
It makes me wonder why I ever wanted to be in law enforcement in the first place, and this is why I decided not to go into it.
I think that every cop and agent needs to be questioned and re-background checked to make sure they are not in some way connected to someone.
What the hell is this world coming too.
Just because your a cop does not mean your a good guy, and you should be.
IF YOU COULD ANWSER, HOW COULD YOU BE A SECOND FATHER OR KIND TO THE FAMILY FROM PRISON..IS THAT WHEN EVERYTHING BEGAN
Ann, I am confused by your comment. Could you elaborate for me?
What's confusing about her comment,he wasn't the good influence portrayed. Maybe since his second father had connections to the mob you do the math...........