Frank "The German" Schweihs one of the most feared mobsters in Chicago history, is headed to trial in September, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

Schweihs had been battling cancer and was too ill to stand trial with the other five defendants in the Family Secrets trial last year.

The alleged threat is at the center of an effort by defense attorneys to get new trials for the five defendants convicted in the biggest Outfit case in recent memory.

The lawyers contend up to four jurors heard the threat, and it biased their deliberations. Prosecutors contend the verdicts should stand.

The jury foreman testified in a courtroom that had been cleared of anyone not directly involved in the case. The courtroom doors were locked. Court officials taped manila envelopes over two courtroom windows and even the crack between the two courtroom doors, so no one could peer in, in an apparent attempt at increasing security.

But Michael "Mickey" Marcello did run his share of errands.

Like going to pay off the family of mob killer Nick Calabrese to buy his silence. Unfortunately for James Marcello, Calabrese flipped to help the feds.

Or providing payments to his brother's mistress.

But Michael Marcello had more important duties as well.

Defense attorneys for Michael Marcello introduced an innovative way to praise their client during his sentencing hearing on Tuesday.

At least he's not mob killer Frank Calabrese Sr.

Attorney Catharine O'Daniel noted that Calabrese Sr., convicted in the Family Secrets trial, tried to bring his two sons into Outfit business.

Michael Marcello wanted his son as far away as possible from that life, O'Daniel argued.

Marcello's son, Sam, made a heartfelt plea for father before U.S. District Judge James Zagel.

“What are they going to do, give me two f------ years?” he asked, in a secret recording the FBI made of the visit.

Michael Marcello was off — by more than 6 years, he learned Tuesday.

More details to come.

Deputy U.S. Marshal John Ambrose has lost his bid to get his admissions to investigators kept out of his upcoming trial on charges he leaked secrets about a star federal witness to the Chicago Outfit.

Ambrose was arguing that any statements he made during a September 2006 interview with U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Grant were coerced and shouldn't be used against him.

Ambrose is accused of leaking details of the witness statement of a man he was supposed to be guarding as part of the witness protection program - mob killer Nicholas Calabrese. Calabrese was the star witness in the Family Secrets trial last year.

U.S. District Judge John Grady found that Ambrose's attorney, Francis Lipuma, raised several good points but rule that prosecutors Markus Funk and Diane MacArthur offered rational explanations for each of Ambrose's complaints.

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.

After his court victories against the Outfit, and there were many, he had to be pushed to attend news conferences.

But the bad guys sure knew who he was.

Take for instance, a fascinating conversation from February 1999 between mob killer Frank Calabrese Sr. and two crooked cops who were trying to help him figure out if the government was building a case against him.

Visitation will be held 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday at the Damar-Kaminski Funeral Home & Crematorium, 7861 S. 88th Ave., in Justice, IL.

A funeral is scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday at Damar and 10 a.m. Mass at St. Cletus Church in LaGrange. In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to St. Jude Children’s Hospital or Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Mars, 55, prosecuted some of the most high profile organized crime cases in Chicago history, including Family Secrets and former Cicero President Betty Loren-Maltese.

"Mitch's impact on organized crime in this city cannot be overstated," U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said in a statement.

Here is the full statement from the U.S. Attorney's office:

Calabrese faces much of the rest of his life in prison, and authorities hope to use that leverage to get him to reveal who hired him to kill top mobster Anthony Chiaramonti in 2001 and a Naperville woman in 1997. The mobster died, but the woman survived.

More details to come.

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.

Joseph "The Shark" Lopez, the attorney for mob killer Frank Calabrese Sr., recently got some national press from the American Bar Association magazine for his blogging during the trial.

Near the start of the trial, Lopez took a few shots at witnesses and the prosecution in his entries on the blog Chicago Syndicate, until the judge told him to knock it off.

The on-line version of the ABA story shows a photo of Lopez resplendent in one of his usual courtroom color combinations, black and hot pink.

Click here for the story on trial blogging, which also mentions the excellent blog that K.C. Johnson, a Brooklyn College history professor, wrote on the Duke lacrosse rape case: http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/full_court_coverage

Reputed mob hitman Anthony Calabrese was suspicious of where his alleged partner in crime, Edmond Frank, had been keeping himself.

Frank told Calabrese he had been in jail.

In fact, Frank had been with the FBI and was wearing a secret recording device for the feds.

You can check out the entire conversation here:

http://media1.suntimes.com/multimedia/010708mob2.pdf_20080106_16_32_33_17.imageContent