The prosecution asked that Nick Calabrese be given a break at sentencing but did not specify a punishment.
Federal prosecutor Markus Funk notes that Calabrese is a paradox.
"On the one hand, he's a cold-blooded killer who operates in an almost robotic fashion," Funk says.
While without question he committed terrible deeds, Calabrese never selected a person to be killed, never got a big payday afterward and never was the guy celebrating later at a bar or a casino, Funk says.
Calabrese did what he was told to do.
He's an introverted man, mild mannered, unassuming, a family man.
Since he started cooperating in January 2002, he has had hundreds of meetings with the government and thousands of hours of interviews.
In addition to the 14 murders, Calabrese confessed to, he told prosecutors about:
--22 other additional mob murders he knew about
--4 attempted murders
--5 bombings
--2 extortions
--60 names of made men in the Outfit
Calabrese "showed us the underbelly of Chicago," Funk said.
Without his testimony, the five defendants in the Family Secrets case would not have been convicted, much less indicted.
Steve, Thanks for the continuing good coverage.
Steve,
Do you have the names: "60 names of made men in the Outfit"?
STEVE WARMBIR RESPONDS: No, that's not something the prosecutors made public.
Another built-in bonus to Calabrese exposing the Outfit & the probability of a FS2 is that it creates a lot of heat. I can't imagine any of the mobsters on the street carrying out any retaliatory murders against Calabrese or M. Marcello's families, etc., because there's zero chance they'd get away with it. Chicago is crawling with FBI right now. No chance.
Steve,
Are there any new pictures of Nick Calabrese available. The only ones I've seen are the grainy, high contrast CPD photos, and the one of him with the white hair.
STEVE WARMBIR RESPONDS: What you see is what we've got.
Anyone venture to guess at who the 60 names of "made" men in the Chicago Outfit are?
Hey Glenn,
If you're interested, a source called Real Deal Mafia lists 288 Chicago Outfit Soldiers, and I'll tell you, there's some surprising and obscure names on there.
Also, they list the current hierarchy as:
Boss: John "Johnny No Nose" Di Fronzo
Underboss (de-facto)/Northside Crew boss: Joseph "Joe the Builder" Andriacchi
Consiglieri: Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo - imprisoned
Acting Consiglieri (speculated): Alphonse "Al the Pizza Man" Tornabene
Rush Street - John "Pudgy" Matassa, Jr.
West Side - Joseph "Joe Kong" Cullotta (?)
South Side - Frank "Tootsie" Caruso, Jr.
Elmwood Park - Peter Di Fronzo/Rudy Fratto
Melrose Park - Marco D'Amico
...which should maybe be taken with a grain of salt.
I can't provide the link because either Steve or the Suntimes won't allow posts that contain them. But if you fiddle around with Google, you'll find this list.
If there's any truth to it, it seems like 60 Made Guys may be a conservative estimation.
As a former Chicagoan, I'm glad to see these lazy ignorant terrorists go to prison. They lived like they had money trees growing in the yard while they cheated, rigged and murdered their way through life.
I don't care if they are 100 years old, It's important they die alone in prison due to their associates turning on them. That's a deterrant to other stupid thugs who think the mob life is the way to easy money.
60 made guys is probably close to right; just because that website identifies 288 "soldiers" doesn't mean they're necessarily made. Also, a large part of the list is probably just guilt by association.
What I am most curious about is if Nick identified any public officials or gave the Feds any clues about corrupt officials who have ties to organized crime.
I read the latest book on the Family Secrets trial and there didn't seem to be much focus on this area at all, unlike other Outfit-related trials in the past. (Steve, maybe you could confirm since you were in attendance). Maybe he just wasn't privy to any of this information -- he seemed to repeatedly say that he had no idea why he was killing who he killed.
STEVE WARMBIR RESPONDS: There wasn't much focus on politicians in the Family Secrets trial, it's true. Nick Calabrese mentioned Fred Barbara, a businessman friend of the mayor, as allegedly taking part in a mob bombing, but that was about it.
Nick Calabrese was a guy who followed orders and did not appear to ask a lot of questions.
That said, we don't know the majority of what Calabrese told the feds, since only a portion of it came out at trial.
Well, I hope the Feds used wise discretion in what they advised Nick to say on the stand to not alert certain public officials--of ongoing investigations--that we could potentially indict.
You're a good reporter Steve.