Prolific mob hitman sentenced to life in prison
Frank Calabrese Sr. was convicted in landmark Operation Family Secrets
Frank Calabrese Sr. — one of the Chicago Outfit’s most prolific hitmen — was sentenced today to life in prison in the landmark Operation Family Secrets case.
A jury had found Calabrese, 71, responsible for seven of the 13 killings that federal authorities had charged him in. The jury deadlocked on the other six.
(Sun-Times file)
But U.S. District Judge James Zagel found that federal prosecutors had proven those six murders, too, citing a preponderance of the evidence. So the judge took all 13 murders into consideration in sentencing Calabrese.
That brought relief to the families of some of the victims.
Calabrese’s klling spree stretched from 1970 to 1986. His preferred method was strangling. But he didn’t limit himself. He also shotgunned and blew up people.
Calabrese was convicted in large part on the testimony of his own family members — and his own words.
His son, Frank Calabrese Jr., got the Family Secrets investigation started when he wrote to the FBI from prison in July 1998 and said he wanted to cooperate with authorities against father.
“I feel I have to help you keep this sick man locked up forever,” Calabrese Jr. wrote.
Calabrese Sr. was known throughout his life in crime for his paranoia and his care in never talking about past mob business. But that care evaporated when he started talking with his son at length in a prison yard, offering advice and trying to groom him for the Outfit life.
All the while, Calabrese Jr. wore a hidden recording device capturing all his father’s words that would lead to his conviction. Calabrese Jr. — who was not charged in the Family Secrets case — ended up catching his father on tape bragging about mob hits, even laughing about them.
Even worse for Calabrese Sr. was testimony from his brother, Nick Calabrese, a mob hitman-turned-government witness who admitted going out on many mob hits with him and described them to the jury, confirming what Calabrese Sr. said on the secret recordings.
During closing arguments at his trial, Calabrese Sr. threatened to kill a federal prosecutor, Markus Funk, and continued to try to communicate in code to his visitors while in jail awaiting sentencing, authorities say.
For that reason, Calabrese Sr. has been held since late last year under tight security restrictions usually reserved for terrorists. And he’ll likely will face such restrictions for the rest of his life.