'1 less clown in the circus'
FAMILY SECRETS TRIAL | Jury pins 10 murders on Outfit figures Joey Lombardo, Frank Calabrese Sr. and James Marcello
BY STEVE WARMBIR, LISA DONOVAN, ART GOLAB, MARK J. KONKOL, DAVE NEWBART, FRANK MAIN AND ABDON PALLASCH Staff Reporters
For decades, the three mobsters remained hidden behind a cloak of enforced secrecy, operating in the shadows, enveloped in the mystique and violence of the Outfit.
(File photos)
On Thursday, a federal jury in Chicago in the Family Secrets case called them out for what they are.
Killers.
Three aging, top Chicago mobsters -- Frank Calabrese Sr., Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo and James "Little Jimmy" Marcello -- will almost certainly never see freedom again as a federal jury held them accountable for a total of 10 murders. The jury deadlocked on another eight murders, including the sole murder that the Outfit's man in Phoenix, Paul Schiro, faced. All four men were convicted Sept. 10 of racketeering in a separate portion of the trial, and the jurors considered the murders solely for sentencing factors.
"The Outfit knows we're just not going to go away," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Mitch Mars, who prosecuted the case with John Scully and Markus Funk. "They know they are very much at risk for crimes they committed in this case three decades or better ago."
The racketeering convictions alone could mean 20 years in prison, and being held accountable for even one murder likely means life in prison.
The most prolific killer of the three, Calabrese Sr., 70, was held liable for seven out of 13 murders he was accused of.
Marcello, 65, was held accountable for perhaps the most well-known murders in the Family Secrets case -- the brutal slayings of gangsters Anthony and Michael Spilotro in 1986. The killings were featured in the Martin Scorsese movie "Casino."
Lombardo, at 78 the oldest defendant, was found liable for another infamous Chicago area mob murder -- the 1974 murder of Bensenville businessman Daniel Seifert, who was shotgunned outside his factory while his wife and little boy Joseph were nearby. Lombardo killed Seifert to stop him from testifying against him in a pension fraud case.
Joseph Seifert, now 37, saw the verdict come in on the anniversary of his father's death.
"There's one less clown in the circus," Seifert said, invoking Lombardo's nickname. "We'll see how funny he is once he's locked up."
Anthony Ortiz, the son of victim Richard Ortiz, sat in on the trial weeks earlier and listened to Calabrese Sr., captured on a secret recording, laugh as he described how shotgun ammo tore up Richard Ortiz.
"He's not bragging about double-ought buckshot now," Anthony Ortiz said.
"Finally, it's over. There's closure."
The jury's inability to reach a decision on eight of the murders left several of those victims' family members bereaved.
Charlene Moravecek, the widow of Paul Haggerty, slain in a mob hit in 1976, was beside herself over the jury deadlock.
She began weeping and all but collapsed in the arms of a victim's assistance worker.
"Deadlock might as well be innocent," said Bob D'Andrea, the son of Nick D'Andrea, who was beaten to death in a mob hit in 1981.
Jurors did not explain their decisions. They did not appear to be willing to rely solely on the testimony of the government's star witness, Outfit killer Nick Calabrese, the brother of Frank Calabrese Sr.
Nick Calabrese described how he and his brother killed for the mob.
Instead, the jurors seemed to need additional evidence. Frank Calabrese Sr. was held accountable for seven murders he confessed to on secret recordings made by his son, Frank Jr., in 1999, while they were both in federal prison.
James Marcello was held accountable for two murders that he spoke about at length on secret recordings that the feds made, but the jury deadlocked on the one he didn't talk about.