For months, Michael Marcello passed along key information about a top mob snitch during his 2003 prison visits to his half-brother, James "Little Jimmy" Marcello -- the Chicago Outfit's top boss.
The details about the key witness, mob killer Nicholas Calabrese, were allegedly coming from the man assigned to protect Calabrese from the mobsters who wanted him dead -- deputy U.S. Marshal John Ambrose.
Now, in a stunning reversal, Michael Marcello, once his imprisoned half-brother's eyes and ears on the street, will testify against Ambrose next month, a prosecution filing shows.
Ambrose is charged with leaking important information about Nick Calabrese to the Outfit. Marcello could provide key testimony about how the information allegedly made its way from Ambrose to Ambrose's friend with Outfit connections to reputed mobster John "Pudgy" Matassa to Michael Marcello to James Marcello. Matassa has not been charged
in the case.
Michael Marcello pleaded guilty in the Family Secrets case in June 2007, admitting he ran an illegal video-poker business.
He didn't agree to cooperate then and got 8 1/2 years in prison.
It's unclear what prompted the turnaround. Prosecutors would not comment, and an attorney for Marcello did not return a message. Such cooperation often results in less prison time.
Prosecutors secretly recorded Michael Marcello's conversations when he visited James Marcello in prison.
The Marcellos were intent on finding out what Nick Calabrese had revealed about James Marcello's involvement in the 1986 killings of mobsters Anthony and Michael Spilotro.
James Marcello drove the Spilotros to a Bensenville area home, where the two men believed they were going to get promotions in the mob, according to testimony in the Family Secrets case. Instead, several mobsters, including Nick Calabrese, pounced on them and beat them to death.
Who has anything to lose on this one? His brother is away for good. He don't have to protect James anymore.
thats a shame
Does this mean that mickey marcello will be going in witness protection?
Any idea what the heck James Marcello, Matassa, et al. think of this? Has there been any chatter?
STEVE WARMBIR RESPONDS: I haven't heard anything yet, but when I do, I'll post something here.
Does this change the statistic that says N. Calabrese is the only made-member to rollover, or was Marcello just a low-level guy?
STEVE WARMBIR RESPONDS: Michael Marcello is not a made member of the Outfit.
William Roemer always mentioned a super high-ranking Outfit informant that he had developed, but never revealed the individual's identity. Supposedly, he took the name with him to the grave.
Roemer referred to him as "Sporting Goods," which I always suspected could've been Sam Giancana, as both first & last names begin with the letters "S" & "G," respectively. Plus at the end of his life, there was no love lost between Giancana and the Outfit. Also, even though he and Agent Roemer were bitter enemies, Giancana capitulated at the end of his life--even offering Roemer an apology.
I guess if that were true, Calabrese would be the second made-member to flip.
STEVE WARMBIR RESPONDS: Calabrese has the distinction of being a made member AND testifying.
Very interesting. What will this do to the outfit. Who can Mickey take down. Wonder what/if Family Secrets 2 will do to the mob. Does the G have something on Mickey in FS2?
With (young) guys like Little Jimmy gone for good, the Ape & No Nose up in age, who’s left to help him when he’s out. Does he have any other options? He’s a dead man in jail?
Or maybe, testify against a US Marshall who was a bad babysitter, and got them ALL into this. Make sure he goes away & while Mickey reduces his own sentence.
The bigger question, who will rise & make the outfit a proud organization. Will it be lombo Jr, Drywall guy, Sol D, Skids kids, Mickey
With the economy in shambles, this is when the mob can prosper. Juice loans, sex, are big $$$ makers.
I know somewhere the big tuna is watching this and saying what a mess they have made of my empire.
Just wondering who Anonymous means by "the Ape?" If you mean Angelo LaPietra, he's dead.
Monteleone is also dead, as he was also referred to as "the Ape."
meant Pizza Guy.
Bill Roemer was full of sh-t. The same man who wrote The Enforcer, also wrote a book called War of the Godfathers where he explains that the Bonnano family killed the Spilotro brothers. He was just trying to make money. I personally don't hold merit to anything he had to say.
Well Sobotka, if you paid attention, there's a disclaimer at the beginning of that same book you mention that says it's a fictionalized account of whatever the actual events were. That is, "War of the Godfathers" was not intended to be a recapitulation of historical events. Roemer was writing a fictional interpretation of whatever the events were. So, what if he did it to sell books? People read them, apparently.
Anyhow, I'm not trying to lionize Roemer. After all, the guy loved to write about himself. But, you gotta admit, he nearly had the whole Spilotro/Indiana cornfield thing nailed down in his book, "Accardo: The Genuine Godfather" c. 1995.
On page, 332 he pins it on "Jim" Marcello, Carlisi, Ferriola, et. al., as per Family Secrets testimony. The only thing he got wrong was the location. He guessed it happened in the Indiana cornfield rather than in Bensenville basement, as did Scorcese, Pileggi, the FBI, and everyone else under the sun.
You can think I'm a loser or a dork or whatever for citing the sources, but I think it shows that your harsh asessement of "Bill Roemer" being "full of sh-t" is unfounded.
...at least in this case.
Mr. Ramones -
Thanks for pointing that out. It just bothers me when misleading information is published on any subject. Know your author!
No problem, Sobotka.
Sorry about the preemptive "You can think I'm a loser..." thing, but I'm used to getting told to take a walk or something in comments boxes.
Anyhow, I know what you're saying about Roemer. In one book he included a b/w photo of himself boxing, which was neither here nor there as far as the scope of the book. He liked to write about himself as significant character in Outfit lore, and he had a weird non-sexual crush on Tony Accardo.
Roemer was accused of "creative nonfiction" a lot. His books are interesting, though. In the back of "War of the Godfathers" are surveillance photos & profiles of dozens of Outfit guys, c. 1980's-some of whom became recognizable names later. If memory serves, it features a photo of a young James Marcello with a mustache & sunglasses.
My favorite anecdote of all, however, is when the FBI went and arrested John DiFronzo in the middle of the night one time and on his night stand was a copy of "Roemer: Man Against the Mob." Bill Roemer went to pick him up, and (ironically?), No Nose had been reading his memoir.
Perhaps embellished, but still interesting and funny.
The first poster, Anthony, hit the nail on the head-there's no reason to protect James because he doesn't have the barest prayer of ever getting out of prison. From everything I've read, Mickey Marcello isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, so even if he keeps his mouth shut, it's not like the mob is going to throw him a ticker tape parade or give him anything to do when he gets out. I think Steve or someone was saying that back when James was incarcerated the first time, Mickey was heard on tape bragging about his big brother getting him "made" upon his release. Doesn't really seem like anyone would be willing to bend over backward to help Mickey.
Does anyone know if there was any truth to the Marcello-DiFronzo rivalry? If so, I wonder if that's why Michael Marcello is cooperating. DiFronzo & his guys are on the street, and now that they're unencumbered with the presence of Little Jimmy, they may not think twice about having a go at his brother...Michael probably has no where to go.
I was reading that Mickey helped Al Tornabene run "the outfit" when James Marcello was in prison. If Mickey wasn't "made" how/why would he help run the mob when there were plenty of other guys of much higher stature who weren't in prison at the time?
It doesn't really seem like the outfit is a centralized organization. It seems like everybody involved just does what they want. Has it become more like NY in that the street crews operate have nothing to do with each other? There is no hierarchy anymore?
Word is there was a Marcello-DiFronzo-Galioto rivalry when someone tried to muscle in on the strip club.It was being controlled by the Galiotos and Mickey had to come in to protect it from other crews and now it belongs to Jimmy and Mickey will take it over again when he comes home.So it looks like Mickey(Michael) does have somewhere to go.Anybody else know that situation? This could come out in Mickey's testimony.
Steve,
By providing testimony, do you think Mickey will become a pariah/target re: the Outfit? Or because it will just be against Ambrose--a non mob guy--it'll be OK, or possibly just a strategic move to get out early?
I've been hearing rumblings along the lines of what Anon. just mentioned. By the way, Anon., is the strip club you mentioned in the Northlake, IL area?
STEVE WARMBIR RESPONDS: I think we'll have to wait and see what Ambrose testifies about to assess what his exposure will be.