Calabrese gets 62 yrs.
FEDERAL COURT | Reputed mob hit man done in by other crimes -- including 3 armed robberies in suburbs
About six years ago, federal investigators sat reputed mob hit man Anthony Calabrese down and told him he could either cooperate or spend the rest of his life in prison, Calabrese says.
On Friday, the feds held true to that promise.
(STNG file)
Calabrese, 47, the main suspect in the last known mob hit in Chicago, was sentenced to 62 years in prison in federal court for other crimes -- namely, his lead role in three armed robberies in the Chicago suburbs. Since all the crimes involved guns, under strict federal sentencing law, Calabrese faced an automatic minimum of 57 years behind bars.
Federal authorities believe Calabrese was the gunman in the 2001 mob slaying of Anthony "The Hatch" Chiaramonti in west suburban Lyons. Calabrese is also a suspect in the 1997 attempted murder of a Naperville woman. He has not been charged in either case and is no relation to the two Calabrese brothers who were Outfit hit men and part of the Family Secrets mob case last year.
Calabrese asked for a sliver of hope from U.S. District Court Judge Amy St. Eve and requested not to be sentenced to anything more than the 57 years, so he at least would have a shot at getting out before he died, but the judge declined.
Calabrese plans to appeal. If his sentence stands, he will have to live to be about 100 before he can get out, given time off for good behavior, under federal sentencing rules.
More than 35 friends and family showed up in federal court to support Calabrese. They praised his generosity, loyalty and love of his family.
"If you know Tony as I do, you know he has a loving and caring side," a friend since childhood, Robert Cozza, told the judge.
Prosecutors Joel Hammerman and Markus Funk, though, have depicted Calabrese as a cold, violent and ruthless man. One of the robberies involved a Lockport tattoo shop, targeted because the underage daughter of a mob boss had received a tattoo there. Calabrese ordered his thugs to break the shop owner's hands, according to court testimony.
Prosecutors also noted the secret tape recording played at trial in which Calabrese and a colleague were heard savagely beating a man they suspected might be wearing a wire.
In court Friday, Calabrese admitted he made mistakes and that he once battled a drug problem, but he suggested he knew nothing of the murder and attempted murder the government wants to interview him about. Calabrese said he refused to lie and feels punished because of it.
"I don't think that's right," he said.
"You're gonna die in jail, is what they told me," Calabrese said.
"The lesson everyone will get from this is if you don't tell the government what they want to hear, they will annihilate you," said Calabrese's attorney, Steven Hunter.