Mob Brother Vs. Mob Brother

Friends of ours: Nicholas Calabrese, Frank Calabrese Sr., Paul "the Indian" Schiro, James Marcello, John Fecarotta, John "Johnny Apes" Monteleone, Jimmy LaPietra, Joey "the Clown" Lombardo, Joseph "Joey Doves" Aiuppa, Jackie Cerone, William "Butch" Petrocelli, Michael Talarico, Angelo LaPietra, Richard "Richie the Rat" Mara

The man whose testimony is expected to lift the shadow on some of the Chicago Outfit's most notorious murders over the last three decades looked harmless enough. Nicholas Calabrese took the witness stand Monday wearing a gray sweatsuit and rounded eyeglasses. With his white hair neatly parted, he looked more like a doughy banker in his pajamas than a "made" member of the mob who has admitted to taking part in 14 gangland killings.

As one of the highest-ranking turncoats in Chicago's inglorious mob history, the testimony of Calabrese, 64, promises to be the pivotal moment of the Family Secrets trial, providing first-hand accounts of the Outfit's secret induction ceremony and a long list of hits. He is expected to spend several weeks testifying against his brother, Frank Calabrese Sr., and four co-defendants.

For Frank Calabrese Sr., the testimony represents a second nightmare come true. Last week his son, Frank Jr., testified against him as federal prosecutors played a series of undercover tapes that the son had secretly recorded of private prison conversations with his father. But Nicholas Calabrese's testimony could be far more damaging. He also secretly recorded his brother and has more intimate knowledge of his brother's alleged wrongdoing as the two worked side-by-side for the mob as reputed made members.

As his testimony was about to begin late Monday afternoon, Nicholas Calabrese stared ahead at a darkened computer screen placed on the witness stand. His brother sat just yards away. Assistant U.S. Atty. Mitchell Mars asked whether Nicholas Calabrese was familiar with an organization known as the Outfit, and whether he was a member.

"Yes, I was," Calabrese said.

Mars asked whether Calabrese had committed a murder with reputed mob boss James Marcello, one of the defendants on trial, as well as a murder in Phoenix with co-defendant Paul "the Indian" Schiro and yet another murder with his brother.

"Yes," was the answer each time, in a matter-of-fact tone.

With that, Frank Calabrese Sr., who during an earlier break Monday leaned back in his chair and appeared to take a catnap, pitched forward at the defense table and straightened his glasses.

Some of the murders were to make an example of someone, Nicholas Calabrese said. Others were to protect the Outfit from anyone who might talk to authorities.

As part of his deal for cooperating, Nicholas Calabrese said, he understands that he won't be prosecuted for any of the 14 homicides as long as he testifies truthfully. In addition, the government will recommend something less than the life in prison he could have faced if he had been convicted of even one murder. Ultimately, U.S. District Judge James Zagel, who is presiding over the trial, will impose his sentence. "When I'm on the stand, I can't lie," Calabrese told jurors, most of whom took notes throughout his first hour of testimony, which came as the trial was ending for the day.

Calabrese did not look in his brother's direction as he answered questions. Frank Calabrese Sr. chuckled with a hand to his mouth at some points. At other times, he leaned over and looked animated as he whispered to his lawyer.

Nicholas Calabrese, pausing to clear his throat and sip from a cup, said his association with the mob dated to 1969. He began cooperating in 2002, he said, after being confronted with DNA evidence on a bloody glove that linked him to the 1986 killing of mob hit-man John Fecarotta.

Calabrese said he was joined in that murder by his brother and reputed mob figure John "Johnny Apes" Monteleone after Jimmy LaPietra, the reputed crew "capo" or captain at the time, gave his approval. Federal prosecutors have told jurors the Chicago mob is a decades-old criminal enterprise that protected itself with murder when necessary.

Calabrese said he worked for his brother in the mob's 26th Street, or Chinatown, crew. There were other crews as well , he said, including Rush Street, Melrose Park, Chicago Heights and Grand Avenue, which he said was led by co-defendant Joey "the Clown" Lombardo.

At the top of the Outfit hierarchy in the 1970s was the boss, Joseph "Joey Doves" Aiuppa, and the underboss, Jackie Cerone, known as "One and Two," Calabrese said.

Every murder had to be cleared by higher-ups, he said, and disputes were settled in "sit-downs" with bosses. For example, he said his brother once had a dispute with mobster William "Butch" Petrocelli and Aiuppa himself had to become involved.

"He said, 'If you guys can't straighten it out, I'll straighten it out,'" said Calabrese, quoting Auippa. Asked by Mars what that meant, Calabrese answered, "They'd probably both get killed" if they didn't take care of the dispute themselves. At one point in the 1970s, a sports-gambling operation pulled in $500,000 to $750,000 a year for his brother, said Nicholas Calabrese, who told jurors that he did the paperwork for the crew. Some of the profits were passed up to LaPietra, he said.

Even as the trial was ending for the day, Nicholas Calabrese avoided looking at his brother. He stood facing the jury box as jurors left the courtroom, his back to the defendants until court security led him away. Frank Calabrese continued to laugh, shaking hands with his attorney, as he walked out to a lockup by the courtroom. He remains in custody..

In earlier testimony Monday, a 55-year-old Bridgeport native with swept-back, salt-and-pepper hair, testifying with immunity from prosecution, told jurors he formerly ran surveillances for the Outfit.

Michael Talarico, admitting he still works as a bookie, recalled how he once left a dead rat, a rope strung around its neck, at the office of someone who apparently ran afoul of his uncle, reputed mob boss Angelo LaPietra.

He said he left the rat on instructions from LaPietra. "He never gave me a reason," Talarico said. Assistant U.S. Atty. Markus Funk asked whether Talarico had gotten the rat at a pet store. "Yeah, I believe so," Talarico said.

LaPietra put him in business with the Calabrese brothers, Talarico said, and he made payments for running his gambling operation and also gave out juice loans on their behalf.

On cross-examination, he said Nicholas Calabrese once cut off the head of a puppy and placed it on someone's car, a gesture that also went unexplained.

Also testifying Monday was Richard "Richie the Rat" Mara, who told jurors he was an agent for jockeys as well as a Teamster at McCormick Place before pulling off burglaries and armed robberies for Frank Calabrese's crew.

He said he once saw Frank Calabrese Sr. "beat the [expletive]" out of someone making unauthorized juice loans.

Thanks to Jeff Coen

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Mob Hitman on Witness Stand

Friends of ours: Nick Calabrese, Frank Calabrese Sr., John Fecarotta, James "Litte Jimmy" Marcello

An admitted hitman for the Chicago mob is being let off the hook for several gangland murders in exchange for his testimony in the Operation Family Secrets trial. Nick Calabrese, the former hitman and now star witness in the case, began his testimony Monday.

Outfit killer Nick Calabrese says he and his brother Frank Senior killed mob enforcer John Fecarotta back in 1986. Fecarotta, a hitman himself, had botched a gangland assignment and was given the ultimate demotion.

Homicide detectives found a bloody glove near Fecarotta's corpse. It wasn't until new DNA technology, in 2002, that investigators matched the bloody glove to Nick Calabrese. Faced with that evidence, Nick Calabrese violated his outfit oath of allegiance and betrayed his own brother, Frank Senior, working undercover against La Cosa Nostra, the organization in which they both were blood-made members.

Monday, for the first time, brother Nick was on the witness stand testifying against brother Frank. "We're not expecting to see anything other than what he's gonna tell us. We don't know what he's gonna tell us," said Joe Lopez, Frank Calabrese Senior's lawyer.

Nick's first hour of testimony implicated his brother in murders, juice loan rackets and outfit decision making. Said Nick Calabrese: "If you got an order to go kill somebody, you'd have to do it." He also testified that committed mob murders with defendant James "Little Jimmy" Marcello and is expected to provide details when retaking the stand Tuesday.

In exchange for his testimony, Nick Calabrese will not be prosecuted in state court for the Fecarotta murder or any other killings. Nick is off the hook. According to letters introduced Monday in court from state's attorneys in Cook, DuPage and Will counties, all have agreed not to prosecute Nick Calabrese.

He is still eligible for life in prison after pleading guilty to racketeering in Operation Family Secrets, but federal authorities will recommend a sentence far less than that for Nick Calabrese. That made this a deal Calabrese was unable to refuse.

Thanks to Chuck Goudie

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Mafia Scam Profits from US War on Terror

Friends of mine: Mario Figueroa

More than a dozen Ulster business people have been caught up in a multi-million pound scam that targeted British and Irish investors hoping to make money from the US war on terror, the Belfast Telegraph can reveal today.

The head of the scheme, New Jersey fraudster Mario Figueroa, declared bankruptcy this month after living it up at the best Belfast hotels, where he boasted about his mansions and luxury yachts while luring people into the scheme.

Victims include the managing director of a Lisburn engineering company, a director of a Londonderry property company, the owner of a Strabane garden centre and the owner of a Belfast electrical shop.

The FBI suspects Mafia involvement in the scheme, which employed 30 salesmen working from central New Jersey and took in over $50m.

Figueroa admitted travelling many times to London, Dublin and Belfast to entice investors and based his business solely on UK and Irish investors. The defence companies he invested in were supposed to be major suppliers of Tomahawk cruise missiles and armament parts to be used in Afghanistan and Iraq. In reality, some were little more than shell companies designed to lure investors.

Figueroa led a lavish lifestyle, buying a $2m house, a Mercedes Benz sports car and a 62-foot yacht called Private Enterprise, all of which have now been seized by the New Jersey Attorney General's office.

One investor from the province, Frank Sumner, owner of the Strabane Garden Centre, was one of the few investors to get off lightly, losing about £6,000 to the scheme. Mr Sumner said that the Clover group had phoned him at work and promised he could make vast sums from their investment scheme. He recalled that Figueroa told him that he was coming to Belfast to meet businessmen who were prepared to put large sums of money into the scheme. "He didn't bother coming to see me, I was just small fry compared to some of the people he was looking for," Sumner said. Mr Sumner said he had invested in a defence contractor called Invatech, which the federal prosecutors in New Jersey have identified as one of three " poorly performing" companies into which victims' money was placed.

In a criminal complaint lodged in court, prosecutors say that investment money from one defence company, JCM, was used to pay off irate Invatech investors, while telling them that this money was "profit" from their investment. Many Invatech investors were so impressed they poured hundreds of thousands of dollars more into the scheme.

Sumner said that he hoped that a "slimeball" like Mario Figueroa be brought to justice "for the sake of people that have lost a lot" .

"I don't care if I don't get anything back," he said.

Figueroa has already pleaded guilty to racketeering and money laundering and is due for sentencing in September. He is currently working as a Manhattan mortgage broker, earning $16,000 a month.

According to court records, there are at least 13 Northern Ireland investors so far identified, many of them directors of companies involved in property, engineering and electronics.

They include Edward Nicell, director of Cara Development Ltd, a property investment company in Derleen Park in Derry; David Neil of Express Distribution Services in Craigavon, and Leslie Millar, the managing director of Rocklyn Engineering in Lisburn.

Other investors include Rufus McClelland of Calverts Tavern in Armagh city; Russell Kelly of Beechfield Court in Coleraine; Brian Caldwell of Kingsgate Street, Coleraine; Robert McClurg of Saintfield Road, Ballynahinch; Trevor Calderwood, with an address listed as "Unit 5" in Ballymena and Michael Loughran of Churchtown Road in Cookstown.

At least three UK investors lost over $1m each and have hired a New Jersey attorney to win their money back. Scotland Yard believes that there may be other UK and Irish investors who have not come forward because of fear of tax implications.

One London investment company which is listed as a Figueroa creditor at least five times because of various investment schemes, was fined in 2005 for failure to prevent money laundering, the first company to be fined under UK anti-money laundering laws.

UK investors included a senior civil servant, Grant Ballantine, a consultant on state pension policy at the Government Actuary's Department. Mr Ballantine, who lost over $100,000, said that any money that is returned to investors would be a "drop in the bucket" compared to the amount invested.

Thanks to Sean O'Driscoll

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The Darkness Descends on a Mobster

It’s not often that I come across a game that’s a must have.

I play a lot of games and many of them only generate interest for a short amount of time. You pick up a shiny new game, play it like there’s no tomorrow, and then quickly become bored with it and move on to another game.

With the exception of World of Warcraft, most of the games that I review go back to the shelf once my review has been written. The Darkness, by publisher 2K Games, is definitely not going back to the shelf.

The game is based upon Marc Silvestri’s comic book of the same name. You play a member of the mob who is double-crossed by the Mafia boss. You shoot your way through many goons in your attempt to escape but are eventually cornered in a situation that you will not escape from.

Just when it seems that there is no way out. you are “selected” by a demonic force that chooses to use you as its host. With the demonic powers at your disposal, you are quickly able to dispatch your enemies and survive. Now, you have to see how long you can live with this demonic force within you.

The game is graphically gorgeous and the character models are extremely detailed. The dialogue is superb and seems like it’s lifted right out of a Tarantino script or an episode of The Sopranos. Voice actors must have had a blast recording this game; they certainly did their jobs and they deliver a terrific performance.

This game is rated “M” for mature and there’s definitely a reason for that. First of all, the game’s dialogue is heavily influenced by mob-style movies, so the dialogue is littered with swearing. Secondly, your use of your demonic powers can be quite grotesque.

When manifesting The Darkness, you have two shadow tendrils that resemble demonic snakes at your disposal. Other than just looking cool, their other function is to allow you to feed on the hearts of your enemies. The tendrils tear the hearts out of fallen enemies and consume the heart right before your eyes. Gross? You betcha. Awesome? Definitely.

I have so many games to review that I don’t tend to fixate on one game for too long at a time. However, The Darkness is definitely being added to my collection. This game is just too damn good to not have available at the house.

Thanks to Rob Michael

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Judge Imposes Gag Order at Family Secrets Mob Trial

The federal judge at the trial of five alleged members of Chicago's organized crime family on Friday imposed a gag order, saying it would "enhance my ability to conduct a fair trial."

Judge James B. Zagel's order bars attorneys "from making extrajudicial statements regarding the merits of this case that a reasonable person would believe could be publicly disseminated."

He said the order would help him to conduct a fair trial because it was likely any commentary on the merits would prejudice the jurors. Zagel said barring parties from making comments to the news media may limit coverage and "prevent these proceedings from taking on a carnival atmosphere."

The indictment in the case outlines a racketeering conspiracy by the mob that includes 18 murders, gambling, extortion and loan sharking. Charged are Frank Calabrese Sr., 69; Joseph (Joey the Clown) Lombardo, 78; James Marcello, 65; jewel thief Paul Schiro, 70, and retired Chicago police officer Anthony Doyle, 62.

Zagel said his order would apply only to commentary or opinions on the merits of the case and would not block lawyers from providing reporters with information about scheduling and other such matters.

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