Arrest of U.S. Marshal John Ambrose scared mob witnesses
Two out-of-town witnesses in the FBI's Family Secrets mob investigation refused to come to Chicago under U.S. Marshals Service protection after a deputy marshal was arrested in 2006 on charges of leaking details about an informant, an FBI agent testified Tuesday.
Instead, the FBI wound up bringing those witnesses to Chicago, said FBI Agent Edward "Ted" McNamara during Deputy U.S. Marshal John Ambrose's trial on charges of violating the security of mob informant Nicholas Calabrese in 2002 and 2003.
Calabrese's cooperation with the FBI put 11 mobsters and associates behind bars. While in Chicago, Calabrese was kept in a safe site under the marshals' Witness Security Program.
Prosecutors have accused Ambrose of telling family friend William Guide about details of Calabrese's cooperation with the FBI. Later, mobster brothers Michael and James Marcello discussed those details in a conversation secretly recorded by the FBI, prosecutors say.
McNamara testified that Ambrose's cell phone records show he called Guide's Pizza King restaurant on the South Side just hours after Ambrose finished guarding Calabrese on May 23, 2003. The call lasted 14 minutes, records show.
But under questioning from Ambrose's attorneys, McNamara acknowledged he did not know what was discussed or if Ambrose talked to Guide or someone else.
In a 2006 interview with the FBI, Ambrose told agents he "ran into" Guide about two weeks after guarding Calabrese on May 23, 2003. He admitted telling Guide he watched a high-profile organized crime "guy," but vowed he did not divulge Calabrese's name or give up details about possible defendants, McNamara testified.
Ambrose allegedly told the FBI agents he was simply boasting and did not get paid for the information.
Guide, a former Chicago cop, served in prison with reputed mob boss John "No Nose" DiFronzo, one of the people Calabrese fingered in the 1986 murders of Michael and Anthony Spilotro. DiFronzo was not charged in the Family Secrets case.
Ambrose acknowledged to the FBI agents that Guide asked him if DiFronzo was mentioned by the organized crime figure he was guarding, McNamara testified.
But Ambrose said he never told Guide that he saw DiFronzo's name.
On one secret recording, Michael Marcello lets his brother know that DiFronzo was implicated in the FBI's case by touching his nose, referring to DiFronzo's nickname "No Nose," prosecutors say.
The government rested its case Tuesday and the defense called two U.S. marshals' employees and a man who coaches youth wrestlers with Ambrose. All of them said they thought Ambrose was truthful.