Frank Calabrese Sr. spoke for about 40 minutes in front of Judge James Zagel before he was sentenced to life in prison.
Calabrese Sr. often rambled, and he offered little new for anyone familiar with his complaints about the trial, his family and his life.
One thing that is clear is that Calabrese Sr. is not too fond of the highly restrictive lockdown he's on in prison.
It's the kind of lockdown done for the most dangerous terrorists. Calabrese Sr.'s lawyer has compared it to how Hannibal Lecter was treated.
And the feds don't have to tell you why. They just do it to you. (Calabrese Sr. was placed under those conditions because he once again threatened to kill the federal prosecutor in the case, Markus Funk, sources have told the Chicago Sun-Times.)
Calabrese Sr. went through his Greatest Hits of gripes.
In short,
-His brother and two sons are liars.
-His sons want to keep him in prison, so they can keep the money they stole from him. Also stolen from him were some antique cars.
-He didn't kill anybody and feels sorry for the victims' families. May God bless them, he said.
-He was a nobody and never part of the mob.
Quote: "I'm not no big shot. I'm nothing but a human being. You cut my hand, and I bleed like anyone else." (Whether he knows it or not, Calabrese is paraphrasing Shylock from Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice in these last two lines, which is interesting, since Shylock, too, was a violent loanshark who felt betrayed by family.)
-He's sick and has gone from five to six medications a day, to 15.
-He never beat his sons, especially not Kurt. He would never beat anybody, since he himself was a victim of child abuse.
-It's unfortunate somebody left a fake bomb at his son's Kurt's house, right before the trial started, but it wasn't him; he had nothing to gain.
-People should read the Bible, especially the part about sons betraying fathers.
-He never threatened or extorted his friend who owns Connie's Pizza, although he acknowledged the obvious fact the man looked scared to death on the witness stand. Calabrese Sr. suggested his friend was scared of the government.
-All he wants is peace and for all the lies to stop.
In one new wrinkle, he offered to sit in a room with the jury one-on-one and suggested they would come away with an entirely different impression of him than they did from the trial.
Frank Calabrese Sr. never lacks for positive thinking.
Life plus 25 yrs is too good for you. You should be executed and tortured like you did to people. Eye for an Eye is right. One day in a room with all the member of the victims familes would be sweet revenge. I hope they take away your 15 medications and give you none. And I hope you die a slow and painful death. You are a horrible man and you deserve everything they do to you in there.
Life plus 25 yrs is too good for you. You should be executed and tortured like you did to people. Eye for an Eye is right. One day in a room with all the member of the victims familes would be sweet revenge. I hope they take away your 15 medications and give you none. And I hope you die a slow and painful death. You are a horrible man and you deserve everything they do to you in there.