Marcello's Loose Lips Result in Arrest of US Marshall

Friends of ours: Michael Marcello, James Marcello, Nicholas Calabrese

Reputed U.S. Mob boss Michael Marcello apparently didn’t watch crime shows on television - otherwise he might have known the FBI often listens in to conversations in prison visitors rooms.

In 2003, the unsuspecting Marcello dropped broad hints about his source inside the U.S. Marshals Service during visits to his brother in the prison in Milan, Michigan.
FBI agents heard every word about the man Marcello called "The Babysitter." As a result, Deputy marshal John Thomas Ambrose surrendered on Thursday to FBI agents who say he was the source who told Marcello secrets about a federally protected witness.

"This defendant’s conduct in revealing closely guarded and highly sensitive information ... constitutes an egregious breach of his law enforcement duties," said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary S. Shapiro.

Ambrose is accused of leaking information about the whereabouts of reputed mobster Nicholas Calabrese, a key witness in a murder conspiracy case. Fourteen reputed mobsters and their associates are charged with at least 18 murders. Ambrose appeared briefly before a judge who scheduled a hearing for Jan. 30. Defense attorney Francis C. Lipuma told reporters that his client denied the accusations. "John Ambrose is not connected to the mob at all," Lipuma said.

Prosecutors said that between January and June 2003 they intercepted 11 conversations that took place when Michael Marcello visited his brother, James, at the Michigan prison.