The Clown's Hideout

Friends of ours: Joey "the Clown" Lombardo
Friends of mine: Dominic Calarco

Dominic Calarco said he went to his social club seven days a week to cook for its members, but that routine was broken by a knock on his door in January 2006.

He thought he knew the bearded man standing in front of him. But he wasn't sure until he heard the man speak, he told jurors Monday at the Family Secrets mob-conspiracy trial. The man asking for shelter at Calarco's Elmwood Park home was Joey "the Clown" Lombardo, an alleged leader of the Chicago Outfit who was on the run from federal authorities.

"He said, 'I got no place to go, can I stay with you for a couple of weeks?'" Calarco said.

Lombardo sat in the back of a row of defense tables at the trial Monday, and he didn't have any noticeable reaction to hearing about his last days of freedom. He tilted his head as he listened to Calarco, looking ahead through his tinted eyeglasses.

The two were once neighbors said Calarco, 85, and they had known each other for more than 70 years. He said he invited Lombardo in, and he said that although the case against Lombardo was "none of my business," he soon began to urge his fugitive friend to turn himself in.

There were nights Lombardo cried because he missed his family, and he appeared to be in poor health, Calarco said. They wouldn't have had far to go to find an officer, he added.

"I said all we've got to do is walk across the street," Calarco said, referring to his home being within a block of the Elmwood Park police headquarters. "He said he had a few more things to do," Calarco said.

Among them was a visit to dentist Patrick Spilotro, the brother of Anthony and Michael Spilotro, for some dental work. The deaths of Anthony and Michael Spilotro are among the 18 mob-related slayings in the case.

Star government witness Nicholas Calabrese has also testified about seeing Spilotro for dental care. Spilotro is expected to testify Tuesday.

Lombardo was arrested in Elmwood Park soon after the visit with Patrick Spilotro, nine months after he was indicted along with the other defendants in the Family Secrets case.

Thanks to Jeff Coen

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Russian Mafia Coming to FX

FX is stepping up its bid to find the successor to "The Shield," teaming with helmer Pete Berg ("The Kingdom") and scribe Sheldon Turner ("X-Men: Magneto") for a dark cop drama with echoes of "Heart of Darkness."

Untitled project revolves around two law-enforcement agents who are undercover in the world of the Russian Mafia. One is a Kurtz-like figure who's gone off the grid; the other is an NYPD officer sent in to find the potentially renegade agent. "They're two freight trains on a collision course," said Justin Levy, VP and head of television for Film 44, the shingle run by Berg and Sarah Aubrey.

Turner, who's finished a first draft of the script, will serve as an exec producer on the project, along with Berg and Aubrey. Berg -- who exec produces NBC's critically beloved "Friday Night Lights" -- may direct the pilot should it be greenlit and if his schedule allows.

Turner said he was attracted to the notion of reinventing the cop genre for FX, a network that did just that with "The Shield."

"You've seen lots of undercover shows and films before, but there's a great opportunity to take the well-worn cliches, undermine them and pull the rug out from underneath them," he said. "This is what the real world of undercover is like."

One twist is that the cop who's gone rogue may end up being more likable than the so-called good cop sent in to find him, Turner added.

Levy credits FX development exec Matt Cherniss with the broad concept for the show. "He came to us with the idea, and we went and got Sheldon," he said, adding that the idea for the show was a good match for all parties involved.

"I've always imagined the Film 44 brand as adrenaline and authenticity, which matches what FX is all about," he said. "And Sheldon is the guy to go to when you want (that kind of writing). He's got it in spades."

Turner has developed material for FX before, writing serial killer pilot "The Gentleman." On the feature front, his credits also include "The Longest Yard" and the upcoming pics "Orbit" at Fox 2000 and "Two Minutes to Midnight" (with Jennifer Klein). He's also writing Warner Bros.' Enron pic, which Leonardo DiCaprio is producing.

Film 44 has a first-look deal with Universal Media Studios, but that studio isn't involved in the FX project; the cabler is developing it inhouse.

Thanks to Josef Adalian

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Dentist and Lawyer in Heated Courtroom Exchange

Friends of ours: Joey "The Clown" Lombardo, Anthony Spilotro, James Marcello, Nicholas Calabrese
Friends of mine: Michael Spilotro, Michael Marcello

Joey "the Clown" Lombardo spent months eluding federal authorities after he was indicted in the Family Secrets mob-conspiracy case, but he couldn't outrun the pain of an abscessed tooth.

So in January 2006, he quietly made arrangements to see his dentist, Patrick Spilotro, after Spilotro's Park Ridge practice had closed for the night. But Lombardo didn't know that Spilotro was an FBI tipster, hoping to help solve the murders of his reputed mobster brothers, Anthony and Michael Spilotro.

Testifying Tuesday at the Family Secrets trial, a sometimes tearful Patrick Spilotro said he told the FBI about a second clandestine appointment a few days later with the fugitive -- this time to adjust a bridge.

"They knew the exact time" of the visit, he testified in the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, providing the most complete account yet of how Lombardo was captured after nine months on the lam. The reputed mob boss was arrested in Elmwood Park that same day.

Lombardo is one of five men on trial in the sweeping conspiracy case involving 18 previously unsolved murders, including the Spilotros' killings in 1986.

During the visit for dental work, Spilotro said he pressed Lombardo again about what had happened to his brothers. Lombardo, who was in prison when the slayings occurred, had always told him the slayings wouldn't have happened if he had been free, Spilotro said. But this time the answer changed. "I recall his words very vividly," Spilotro testified. "He said, 'Doc, you get an order, you follow that order. If you don't follow the order, you go too.'"

Lombardo occasionally leaned over on his cane to talk with a lawyer during Tuesday's testimony.

Upon cross-examination, Lombardo's lead attorney, Rick Halprin, asked Spilotro whether the person he treated was simply an old man with a bad tooth. Lombardo, whose defense strategy suggests he is preparing to testify on his own behalf, contends he is only a mob-connected business man, not an Outfit boss.

U.S. District Judge James Zagel is expected to ask each of the five defendants whether they plan to testify as soon as Wednesday.

Spilotro also testified that his brother, Anthony, was in his office on June 12, 1986, just two days before he vanished. While there he had access to a phone, and apparently called the home of defendant James Marcello, according to phone records displayed Tuesday.

Marcello, the reputed leader of the Chicago Outfit, already has been blamed in the Spilotro killings by the trial's star witness, mob turncoat Nicholas Calabrese. And Michael Spilotro's daughter has testified that Marcello called her father at home the day he and his brother disappeared.

Patrick Spilotro's testimony Tuesday led to one of the most heated cross-examinations to date in the trial.

Marcello's lawyer, Thomas Breen, asked Spilotro about his decision to clean out Anthony Spilotro's hotel room before he had been reported as a missing person and before police had searched the room for fingerprints.

"It's what I did at that time," said Patrick Spilotro, who seemed to struggle with his emotions throughout his testimony. "I really didn't have my whole head on at that time."

Breen asked what would have happened if the Spilotro brothers had returned to the room and thought there had been a burglary. They had been missing for barely 24 hours when Patrick Spilotro cleaned out the room.

"That would've been a blessing for me then," said Spilotro, who said he knew enough at the time to guess that his brothers would never be coming back. His sister-in-law, Ann, had told him that her husband, Michael, believed he could be in danger.

"She told me where they went," Spilotro said, raising his voice slightly. "They went with Marcello."

At that remark, Breen paced around the lectern, then walked up to Spilotro. Breen told Spilotro his sister-in-law never mentioned Marcello by name during her testimony. "You were the first person to ever share that, doctor," Breen said sarcastically. "Ever report that to the FBI?"

"The FBI was aware that Marcello had called there and [my brothers] went to meet him," Spilotro answered.

"Yeah, right," Breen shot back. "That's the problem when somebody does [their own] investigation."

Prosecutors ended the day by playing recordings made while Marcello was being visited by his brother, Michael, at a federal prison in Michigan. The men, who did not know they were being recorded, spoke about the Family Secrets investigation with code and hand gestures.

Allegedly referring to Nicholas Calabrese as "Slim," authorities said the men can be heard speculating about whether Calabrese is cooperating with them.

In a later video from January 2003, the brothers are seen sitting side-by-side in a prison visiting room. They are heard discussing a source -- who authorities contend was a U.S. marshal (John Ambrose) working a witness security detail. The source had confirmed for the brothers Calabrese's cooperation with the authorities.

The source had seen a summary from Calabrese outlining the participants in some 18 homicides, including the slayings of the Spilotro brothers, which the Marcellos referred to in code as "Zhivago."

"All your names are on that [expletive]," Michael Marcello could be heard to say.

"You're kidding," his brother replied.

Thanks to Jeff Coen

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The Clown's Toothache

Friends of ours: Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo

It started with a toothache.

That's the testimony of a key government witness at the trial of five alleged Chicago mob figures.

Patrick Spilotro is a dentist and the brother of two men allegedly murdered by the Chicago Outfit. He told jurors how he provided information to the FBI for more than two decades in a bid to catch his brothers' killers.

He says he served as a dentist to defendant Joseph Lombardo.

While a fugitive in 2006, Lombardo visited Spilotro to have a painful abscess treated. And Spilotro says he tipped off the FBI, who nabbed Lombardo on a return trip.

Lombardo and four other men are accused of taking part in a mob racketeering conspiracy that allegedly included the murders of the Spilotros and 16 others.

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Career Burglar, Sal Romano, Admits to Bribing Cops

A career burglar with ties to the mob testified today in the Family Secrets case that he indirectly bribed police through Chicago attorneys, including Sam Banks, the brother of 36th Ward Ald. William Banks.

Sal Romano, who worked under Anthony Spilotro, said he paid hired Sam Banks on the advice of Chicago police after Romano was arrested and believed they were bribed through money Romano paid his attorney. But Romano acknowledged he never saw Banks hand any money to police.

Romano said his case involving stolen property was thrown out.

Banks could not be immediately reached for comment on Monday.

Romano said another lawyer he hired for another case, Dean Wolfson, was more direct about the bribery. Wolfson was later convicted of bribing judges as part of Operation Greylord. Romano said after he gave Wolfson $10,000, the attorney instructed an assistant that a certain portion of the money was for the judge in the case, while the remainder was for the police.

Romano described working out in Las Vegas with a variety of career criminals, including Spilotro, who was slain in 1986, and Paul "The Indian" Schiro, who is a defendant on trial in the Family Secrets case.

Romano said Schiro set up a burglary of a home owned by people Schiro knew. Schiro said the people were going to be at a wedding and gave Romano the key to their front door. Inside the home was a closet safe supposedly containing $50,000, Romano said.

Romano and another burglar went into the home, but a little dog came out yapping like crazy. The dog made it out to the backyard and continued barking. "Let's go, I'm gone," Romano recalled saying. When he got grief from Schiro for not disposing of the dog, Romano said "I don't do dogs."

Thanks to Steve Warmbir

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