Mobster Marcello names names in trial
FAMILY SECRETS | Points to U.S. marshal as source of leak of info on Outfit snitch
Mickey Marcello never testified against his fellow mobsters before he was sent to prison in the FBI’s landmark Family Secrets case against the Chicago Outfit.
But Thursday, the 58-yearold mobster took the witness stand to reveal some of those secrets to jurors.
Prosecutors called on Marcello to build their case against Deputy U.S. Marshal John Ambrose, who is charged with leaking details about the Family Secrets investigation to the mob.
True to form, Marcello got amnesia when he was asked if he knows who runs the mob in Chicago these days.
But in a gravelly voice, the brother of Outfit boss JamesMarcello admitted that fellow mobster John “Pudgy” Matassa funneled sensitive Family Secrets information to him.
Marcello — wearing an orange prison uniform and nervously fidgeting with his reading glasses — testified that Matassa never namedhis source. But Marcello assumed a law enforcement official stole the information.
According to Marcello, Matassa said he got his information from “Billy.” Marcello said he thought “Billy” was William Guide, a former Chicago cop and family friend of Ambrose.
Prosecutors allege that Guide was tipped off by Ambrose, who guarded mob informant Nicholas Calabrese in 2002 and 2003. Calabrese had spilled the beans on 36 mob murders, including 14 he committed. The killings — and the mobsters allegedly responsible for them — were listed in secret files kept in the safe location where Calabrese was held.
Despite Marcello’s testimony, Judge John Grady delivered a blow to the government’s case. The judge ruled that a covert FBI recording of Marcello speaking in prison to his brother James was inadmissible as evidence.
On the March 2003 recording, Michael Marcello refers to the original source of the leak as the “baby-sitter” and the “kid.” Prosecutors say he was speaking in code about Ambrose.
On the tape, Michael Marcello tells his brother that the “kid’s father” was a Marquette 10 defendant who died. Marquette 10 refers to a Chicago Police corruption case in the 1980s. Ambrose’s father, Thomas Ambrose, a cop, was convicted in the scandal along with Guide and died behind bars.