Ambrose told a family friend that he was guarding Nick Calabrese, a mob hitman turned government informant. That information eventually made its way to mob leaders.

The leak was considered one of the most significant breaches of security of the federal Witness Protection Program in its history.

More to come.

Rudolph C. "Rudy" Fratto, 65, of Darien, who comes from a family of alleged mobsters, admitted to failing to pay more than $140,000 in federal taxes on more than $800,000 in income from 2001 to 2007, according to his plea agreement in a case investigated by the Internal Revenue Service.

Fratto evaded the taxes by having various businesses pay him through a defunct business whose checking account he controlled. One of those businesses included a gaming company in the northwest suburbs that specializes in lotteries and paid him about $58,000 in 2005 for handyman work.

In court Tuesday, Fratto complained to the judge he suffered from migraine headaches, but unlike other mobsters in their golden years reported no other serious ailments. He is to be sentenced Jan. 12.

Fratto's name has come up often in federal mob investigations, but his guilty plea on Tuesday marks his first federal conviction.

Fratto, long associated with the Elmwood Park crew, was considered among the top threats to the safety of key mob witness Nicholas Calabrese, court records show.

Calabrese's testimony helped put away some of Chicago's top mobsters in the Family
Secrets case.

In another instance, Fratto allegedly once met with one of Chicago's most crooked cops, former chief of detectives William Hanhardt, over a proposed hit, according to testimony in Hanhardt's sentencing hearing in 2002 for running a jewel theft ring. The hit, though, never happened.

Fratto also was accused of taking part in a 2001 meeting to approve Chicago mob boss James Marcello's takeover of key video poker territory in the western suburbs.

Fratto is accused of directing businesses and others to send payments to a defunct business of his, J.J.F. Inc., in order to avoid paying taxes.

Fratto's name came up most recently in federal court as one of the top mobsters who posed the most direct threat to the safety of Nicholas Calabrese, the star witness in the Family Secrets mob case.

Fratto's name also popped up during testimony in the sentencing hearing of former Chicago chief of detectives William Hanhardt, who was accused of meeting with Fratto while trying to set up a hit. The murder never happened.

Fratto was never charged with any wrongdoing in that matter, and a federal judge did not take the most serious aspect of the prosecutor's allegations into account when he sentenced Hanhardt.

Anthony "Tough Tony" Calabrese was sentenced last year to 62 years in prison for his leading role in three robberies.

The rotund Sarno, 51, also dubbed "Fat Ass" by some colleagues, is charged in a wide-ranging racketeering case that includes the bombing of a Berwyn business that was competing with the Outfit with video gambling machines.

Family members put up several pieces of property as collateral.

Volpendesto was secretly recorded by a government informant complaining about having to do Sarno's dirty work but not getting adequate compensation, according to court records.

Volpendesto is charged along with Sarno with taking part in a plot to bomb a Berwyn video poker machine company that was competing with the Outfit.

Excerpts after the jump.

Walker points to the Democratic Machine and The Outfit.

You can read it here.

Tornabene, 86, headed the Chicago mob while another leader, James Marcello, was in prison several years ago, according to testimony at the historic Family Secrets mob trial in Chicago.

Marcello was apparently unhappy with Tornabene's stewardship of the mob while he was in prison and promised to shape things up when he got out, according to a secret FBI recording of Marcello.

Tornabene was once clearly a target of the Family Secrets case but was never charged.

A long-time owner of a pizza shop in Stickney, Tornabene had disavowed any Outfit connection.

Tornabene died of natural causes.

This marks the first time there was a breach in the federal Witness Protection Program.

More to come.

1. Michael Marcello
2. Frank "Toots" Caruso
3. Aldo Piscitelli
4. James Inendino
5. Michael Sarno
6. Michael Spano Sr.
7. Paul Spano
8. Joseph Andriacchi
9. Joseph Lombardo
10. Alphonse Tornabene
11. Rudolph "Rudy" Fratto
12. Peter DiFronzo
13. Michael Magnafichi, born 2/16/52
14. John Matassa
15. Dino Marino
16. Anthony Zizzo

The list was part of the government's 2002 application for Calabrese to be allowed into the federal witness protection program.

The revelation came today during the testimony of FBI Agent Michael Maseth in the trial of deputy U.S. Marshal John Ambrose, who is on trial for allegedly leaking key details about Calabrese to the mob.

Ambrose, who guarded Calabrese as part of a security detail, has said he made a mistake by discussing information about Calabrese with a family friend but had no intention of the information making it to mobsters.

Calabrese began cooperating with the government on Jan. 15, 2002, after agents confronted him with DNA evidence linking him to a mob murder. Calabrese eventually admitted to committing 14 mob murders and provided the feds information about another 22 Outfit hits.

On Aug. 27, 2002, Calabrese was admitted into the federal Witness Protection Program while still in prison.

Government officials had to submit an application for Calabrese to be accepted into the program, and part of that application was a list of people who posed a threat to him

More light was shed Tuesday on the nature of Marcello's cooperation with federal authorities in the case of John Ambrose, the deputy U.S. marshal accused of leaking critical information about a star witness in the Family Secrets case to the Outfit.

While it's clear from a defense filing that Marcello, the half-brother of one-time Chicago Outfit boss James Marcello, has been talking to prosecutors about what he knows about Ambrose, he's not going to willingly take the stand.

Polchan is accused of taking part in the bombing of a Berwyn business that had a run-in with the Outfit.

Polchan says he's innocent and argued he did not represent a danger to the community, as prosecutors contended.

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.