Undercover Cop Took Down the Mob by Fighting Fire with Fire

Thanks to the reader who directed me to this clip. It is certainly worth sharing with off my readers. This piece is part of the HBO Documentary, Confessions of an Undercover Cop, and various news clips. It tells the story of Mike Russell, subject of the movie script: "Fire With Fire" who was a leader of Newark's radical crime- fighting unit: "The Tactical Force" and later went Undercover to put away over fifty Mobsters.

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Former FBI Agent, Now Head of Chicago Crime Commission and Mob Expert to Testify at Family Secrets Trial

Friends of ours: Joseph “Joey the Clown” Lombardo, James "Little Jimmy" Marcello, Frank Calabrese Sr., Nick Calabrese

An organized crime expert will be allowed to testify at the trial of several alleged mob figures accused of taking part in a conspiracy that included 18 murders, a federal judge ruled Thursday in Chicago.

U.S. District Judge James Zagel said former FBI agent James Wagner can discuss how the so-called Chicago Outfit is structured and how it operates, but he can’t talk about individual members or the defendants.

That was a major concern of defense attorneys, who did not want Wagner — the one-time head of the FBI’s organized crime unit in Chicago — to link their clients to the mob. Wagner now heads the Chicago Crime Commission.

Zagel disputed the argument made by defense attorneys that because organized crime has been widely covered in the media such an expert is not necessary.

“This is not well understood,” he said about the way organized crime is structured.

Zagel’s ruling, which was expected by defense attorneys and prosecutors, is nevertheless significant. In Wagner, prosecutors have an expert on the mob in Chicago whose credibility cannot be easily questioned — unlike some reputed mob members who may be called to testify.

Wagner doesn’t have “the baggage of these witnesses,” Rick Halprin, Joseph “Joey the Clown” Lombardo’s attorney said in arguing against allowing Wagner to testify.

That may be particularly important given that the prosecution’s star witness is Nicholas W. Calabrese, one of the defendants in what has been called the “Operation Family Secrets” investigation. Last week, Calabrese pleaded guilty to planning or carrying out 14 murders — including that of Tony “The Ant” Spilotro, long known as the Chicago mob’s man in Las Vegas and the inspiration for the Joe Pesci character in the film “Casino.”

Calabrese is expected to detail some of the very areas that Wagner likely will testify about the structure of the mob, but defense attorneys will surely try to attack his credibility.

The trial, expected to start next month, is the result of an investigation aimed at clearing up old, unsolved gangland slayings that date back decades. Among the 12 defendants are reputed major mob bosses James Marcello and Lombardo and Calabrese’s brother, Frank Calabrese Sr.

The case, expected to offer a glimpse into the workings of the Chicago mob, has already made the kind of headlines that might seem the stuff of novels and movies. In January, a federal marshal assigned to guard Nicholas Calabrese was charged with leaking information about Calabrese’s whereabouts to organized crime. He has pleaded not guilty.

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Net Loss

This is not necessarily on the topic of organized crime, but a "Friend of Mine" has written a detective mystery that I think many of you will find a compelling read. Should be a good piece of fiction for you to puruse while at the beach this summer.

Frustrated small-town loan officer Kyle Schmidt turns to online chat for a brief escape from his bleak reality. His fleeting affair awakens his online partner, Shelly Ruzinski, from a life of abject loneliness, and unleashes a love that quickly evolves into a dangerous obsession. She leaves a trail of murders as signs of her undying devotion, forcing the beleaguered police chief and a boy with unique perceptive abilities to stop her before she commits the ultimate act of love.

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Will Mob Family Secrets be Revealed?

Friends of ours: Tony Spilotro, James "Little Jimmy" Marcello, Nick Calabrese, Sam "Wings" Carlisi, Louie "The Mooch" Eboli, James LaPietra, John Fecarotta
Friends of mine: Michael Spilotro

Tony Spilotro and his brother Michael were heading to a meeting with top mobsters, and they were worried.

Tony Spilotro, already a made member of the mob and the Outfit's man in Las Vegas, was told he was going to be promoted. Michael was to become a "made" member. But they weren't acting like men in line for promotions, recently released court records show.

Michael gave his daughter his rings, a phone book and a cross to give to his wife. Tony gave the girl a briefcase containing money, rings and a phone book to pass on to his family in case he didn't return. The men never came back from the June 1986 meeting. It was a setup for them to be killed.

Fresh details about the murders could come to light this week when a federal judge will hold a hearing on evidence from the Spilotro murders that could become part of the Family Secrets trial.

It's one of 18 murders charged in the case, which involves some of the top mobsters in the Chicago area.

Top mob boss James "Little Jimmy" Marcello doesn't want jurors to hear from a member of the Spilotro family, who would testify he called Michael Spilotro at home regarding the meeting where the brothers were killed. The family member has not been named in court records but apparently can recognize Marcello's voice.

Marcello also didn't want jurors to hear from one of the Spilotro brothers' widows, who can testify about statements the men made before they left for the meeting.

The brothers' brutal murders are easily the best known among the murders charged in the case. In the mob movie "Casino," the Spilotro brothers -- with Joe Pesci playing the character based on Tony Spilotro -- were beaten to death and buried in an Indiana cornfield.

In real life, they were slain in a basement in a Bensenville-area home and later buried in a cornfield.

Several top mobsters were waiting in the basement and attacked the Spilotro brothers as they entered. Among the attackers waiting downstairs were several mobsters, now dead, including top mob boss Sam "Wings" Carlisi, Louie "The Mooch" Eboli, James LaPietra and John Fecarotta.

The FBI learned the details of the murder from one of the men who was there, reputed mob hitman Nick Calabrese, who now is cooperating with the feds and is expected to testify at trial.

Marcello is charged in the murders and allegedly drove the Spilotro brothers to the Bensenville-area home and their deaths.

Tony Spilotro asked his killers if he could say a novena before he died. His request was denied, and the killers strangled the brothers.

Thanks to Steve Warmbir

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The Original Scarface

Loosely based on the life of Al Capone, Howard Hawks’s SCARFACE is one of the most shocking and powerful gangster films ever made, setting the standard for Hollywood screen violence for years to come.

Tony "Scarface" Camonte (Paul Muni) is an enforcer for Johnny Lovo, an ambitious gangster who wants to combine all the liquor rackets in Prohibition-era Chicago into one crime empire. To achieve this goal Tony embarks on a reign of terror, threatening citizens and clawing his way to power until he is the number one mobster in town. Muni’s fierce performance established the model for the Hollywood mobster, a violent yet charismatic figure. Censorship battles over the film delayed its release for two years, and resulted in additional moralizing scenes and an alternate ending. Visually dynamic and provocative, SCARFACE, produced by Howard Hughes, is one of the best films of the 1930s and the forerunner of the modern gangster film.

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