U.S. Marshal Charged with Leaking Information to Chicago Mob

Friends of ours: John "No-Nose" DiFronzo, Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, Frank Calabrese Sr., Tony Spilotro
Friends of mine: Nick Calabrese

A federal deputy marshal was charged Thursday with leaking information about a reputed mobster's cooperation with prosecutors as they investigated the top echelon of Chicago's organized crime family.

John Thomas Ambrose, 38, a former supervisory inspector of the U.S. Marshals Service's Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force, surrendered Thursday at the FBI's Chicago office, officials said. Ambrose has been on leave since September. He is charged with theft of government property, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

Ambrose is accused of revealing information concerning the cooperation and travel plans of Nicholas Calabrese, expected to be a key witness in the government's Operation Family Secrets murder conspiracy case. Prosecutors said Ambrose told them in a Sept. 6 interview that he passed the information to an associate of reputed mob boss John DiFronzo in hopes of getting information on the whereabouts of then-fugitive organized crime figure Joseph Lombardo.

Prosecutors said that in later interviews Ambrose said he never believed the information would be passed to organized crime figures.

Lombardo, among those charged in the Operation Family Secrets indictment, was subsequently captured and is due to stand trial starting in May along with the others accused in the case.

Calabrese, 63, of Chicago and his brother, Frank Calabrese, 68, of Oak Brook are among 14 defendants charged in a sweeping indictment alleging a long-term conspiracy by Chicago mobsters to commit at least 18 murders. Victims include Tony Spilotro, the mob's one-time man in Las Vegas, who was beaten to death and buried in a corn field.

Prosecutors said Ambrose leaked information concerning Nicholas Calabrese while Calabrese was in the witness security program operated by the Marshals Service. They said in court papers that the information was given to members of the Chicago mob.

Gary Shapiro, the first assistant U.S. attorney in Chicago, said the alleged leak "constitutes an egregious breach of his law enforcement duties." There was no evidence that Calabrese or other witnesses were ever in danger, Shapiro said.

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Discount Syndicate Honors the Golden Age

I am certain that some of my sharper soldiers have noticed that I have added a 5th site to the Syndicate Series. That site is called the Discount Syndicate. While you can make your bones at the Chicago Syndicate, relax at the Music City Syndicate, cheer at the Sport Syndicate and party at the Vegas Syndicate, the Discount Syndicate will help you save large.

In order to benefit from it the most, I recommend that you subscribe to it or save it as one of your favorites. Currently, over 40 associates of mine are offering discounts and special offers to the Syndicate crew. However, that is just a taste of what will eventually be available. When I finish opening the books, the total of connected specials will be closer to 100. Many of these offers will not be available anywhere else. The only way to save more would be to come heavy. Fortunately, I am not one to eat alone nor am I bound by a Code of Silence on these offers.

No need to pay tribute to the boss for this thing of ours. This is just my way of saying piacere.

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Chicago Crime Commission Subpoenaed by Clown

Friends of ours: Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, Frank "The German" Schweihs

Reputed Chicago mob boss Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo is looking to an unusual source for possible help in his defense at one of the most important mob trials in Chicago history: the Chicago Crime Commission.

Lombardo's attorney, Rick Halprin, had a subpoena served on the Outfit-fighting organization Tuesday for all the supporting documents the commission used to justify putting Lombardo on a mob hierarchy chart the group created in the 1980s. The chart shows Lombardo as a top Chicago mobster. "I can think of no privilege they have with those files," Halprin said. "If they do, I'm sure we'll hear about it in court."

The commission's general counsel, Jeannette Tamayo, called the subpoena for the documents "fairly unusual" and said officials are determining what documents the commission has that are responsive to the subpoena and what the commission is legally obligated to provide.

It's unclear whether the subpoena will spark a legal showdown in federal court in the Family Secrets case. Prosecutors have charged Lombardo and other reputed Outfit leaders in a wide-ranging racketeering case that aims to solve 18 slayings.

Halprin said the late, well-known, former FBI agent William Roemer worked as a consultant for the crime commission in putting together the chart outlining the hierarchy of the Chicago mob.

Halprin is particularly interested in any documentation relating to the prosecution of Lombardo and several others in a scheme to embezzle more than $1 million from a Teamsters pension fund.

In 2005, authorities charged Lombardo, alleged mob hit man Frank "the German" Schweihs and others with the September 1974 murder of Daniel Seifert, a Bensenville businessman who authorities say was to be the key witness against Lombardo at the embezzlement trial.

The Teamsters embezzlement case is more than 30 years old, and documentation from it is scarce. Halprin is curious to find out if the crime commission has any historic FBI documents from the case or other matters involving Lombardo.

Thanks to Steve Warmbir

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Golfing with the Mob

Brooklyn's Marine Park Golf Course was under investigation Friday for having possible ties to the Colombo crime family. What took them so long to figure it out? The local rules give you a free drop away from the body, no closer to the hole.

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Mob Links

Friends of ours: Craig Marino, Colombo Crime Family

A gangster has been linked to the new operator of a city-owned golf course in Brooklyn - creating a hazard and trap that has nothing to do with water and sand.

Sources familiar with the matter say the city Department of Investigation is examining the contract held by East Coast Golf to run the 18-hole Marine Park Golf Course, one of 12 public courses in the city.

The company, based in the Brooklyn Terminal Market, won out over four other bidders in 2005.

City Controller William Thompson asked the Parks Department to reconsider the deal in a letter yesterday. "The information we have obtained gives rise to numerous integrity concerns," Thompson wrote.

The owner of East Coast Golf is listed as Domenick Logozzo, who is financially connected to Craig Marino, an ultraviolent Colombo crime family soldier, according to Brooklyn federal prosecutors. Marino, who has the phrase "F--- the Police" tattooed on his chest, has been accused by mob informants of stabbing two men and shooting another, prosecutors say. The two are linked through their joint investment in a company called Zone Chefs, which delivers food to dieters, according to court records.

Marino and several others - including Zone Chefs' president, Arthur Gunning - were indicted by Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf last March on racketeering charges that included stock fraud and extortion. Logozzo was not charged.

Although Marino's name does not appear as an owner or officer of Zone Chefs, prosecutors say he is invested in the company through a bank loan taken out by Logozzo. Prosecutors say Marino was caught on a wiretap boasting of his ownership interest in Zone Chefs. Marino's lawyers have said in court papers that the investment is his "sole source of income."

Three months before the indictment, East Coast Golf began running the Marine Park course on Jan. 1, 2006, after agreeing to pay the city $9.6 million over 20 years.

The Parks Department could not say how much East Coast netted in fees in its first year running the course, where greens fees run from $16 to $38. "We awarded the contract before the indictment was handed down," said Warner Johnston, spokesman for the Parks Department.

Calls to Logozzo were not returned.

Thanks to Greg B. Smith

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