Did marshal try to tip mob?
FAMILY SECRETS | Defense: 'Big mistake, not with criminal intent'
More than six years ago, Deputy U.S. Marshal John Ambrose was assigned to guard one of the most important witnesses in Chicago history -- mob turncoat Nicholas Calabrese.
Instead, during two brief stints in 2002 and 2003 with the federal witness protection program, Ambrose is accused of committing a "criminal betrayal of trust" by leaking highly secretive information about Calabrese's cooperation and activities, a prosecutor charged Monday.
(John H. White/Sun-Times)
The leaked information made its way to the Chicago Outfit at a time when mobsters were looking for confirmation that Calabrese was cooperating so they could "act," Assistant U.S. Attorney Markus Funk said in opening statements of Ambrose's trial.
Ambrose, 42, is charged with leaking sensitive government information about Calabrese and then lying to FBI chief Robert Grant and U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. Ambrose's lawyer, Frank Lipuma, said his client was a hardworking, good, honest man who made "a big mistake in his job . . . but it was not with criminal intent."
Lipuma admitted that Ambrose had discussions with a man he looked to as a father figure, William Guide, about Calabrese. Guide had done prison time with Ambrose's late father, who went to prison as part of the "Marquette 10" police corruption case.
"John got caught up in this because he was boasting about what he was doing," Lipuma said.
However, Funk said Ambrose knew Guide had known mob ties and that the information would eventually be leaked to John "No Nose" Difronzo, a reputed leader of organized crime in Chicago.
Calabrese is the only made member of the Chicago mob to ever agree to be a witness. He went on to be a central figure in the Operation Family Secrets trial, which resulted in sweeping convictions of mob chieftains.