Calabrese, Frank (1937-2012)

b. Chicago, IL, March 17, 1937.
d. Butner, NC, Dec. 25, 2012.

An administrator, loan shark and hit man for the Chicago Outfit for many years, Frank J. "Frankie Breeze" Calabrese was put permanently behind bars following the "Family Secrets" case of 2007.

Calabrese was born on Chicago's West Side to James and Sophia Calabrese on March 17, 1937. His early childhood was spent on Chicago's West Erie Street.

Beginning his criminal career as a teenager, Calabrese was convicted and imprisoned for possession of stolen cars in 1954. Calabrese was back in the streets and running a lucrative loan sharking enterprise by the early 1960s. In that period, he became a protege of the Chicago Outfit's South Side boss Angelo "the Hook" LaPietra. His loan sharking operation continued into the 1990s, as Calabrese grew in importance within the Outfit.

On July 28, 1995, Calabrese and eight members of his underworld crew - including several relatives - were indicted for racketeering, conspiracy, extortion, mail fraud, witness tampering and impeding the IRS. Federal prosecutors said the group operated an extensive loan sharking racket in the Chicago area, using threats and violence in the course of business. Calabrese pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a long term in federal prison.

Calabrese's son, Frank Jr. also pleaded guilty and went to prison in the loan sharking case. During their time in prison, Frank Jr. began cooperating with federal authorities and helped assemble evidence that was used against Calabrese and other Outfit leaders in the Family Secrets trial of 2007. Frank Jr. wore a "wire" during some prison conversations with his father.

Calabrese was convicted of racketeering and racketeering murders in the 2007 trial. Witnesses against him included his son Frank Jr. and his brother Nick. Calabrese took the stand in his own defense, admitting to loan sharking but denying membership in the Outfit and participation in killings.

The jury found him guilty of involvement in seven killings. His victims were racketeer Michael Albergo (disappeared in 1970), trucking executive Michael P. Cagnoni (car bomb 1981), informant ex-mobster William E. Dauber and his wife Charlotte Dauber (shotgunned 1980), racketeer and former union business agent John Fecarotta (shot 1986), bar owner Richard Ortiz and his friend Arthur Morawski (shotgunned 1983). The jury could not reach a decision on six other killings Calabrese was accused of taking part in.

Two other Outfit leaders, James Marcello and Joseph Lombardo, along with codefendants Paul Schiro and Anthony Doyle also were convicted of racketeering conspiracy in the case. Marcello and Lombardo were convicted of racketeering murders.

Calabrese was sentenced January 30, 2009, to life in prison.

In early April, Calabrese and three others convicted in the "Family Secrets" case were ordered to pay more than $24 million in fines and restitution to the families of their victims. Part of Calabrese's debt was paid in March of the following year, when FBI agents executed a search warrant at the former Calabrese home in Oak Brook and discovered a secret compartment in the wall behind a framed collection of family photographs. Envelopes in the compartment were found to contain $728,000 in cash. The compartment also held one thousand pieces of jewelry (many still in store display boxes or with price tags still attached), seven firearms, twelve audio microcassettes and a collection of handwritten notes and ledgers.

Frank Calabrese, Sr. died December 25, 2012, at the Federal Medical Center of Butner Federal Correctional Complex in North Carolina. He was seventy-five.

Prison officials said he had been in poor health, with heart disease and other afflictions. Calabrese, himself, outlined an assortment of medical problems, including an enlarged heart, during his 2009 sentencing hearing.

There were reports that Calabrese had been seriously ill for more than a year. His attorney told the Chicago Tribune that Calabrese had been taking seventeen different medications for a variety of health problems.

The attorney, Joseph Lopez, recalled Calabrese as "quick-witted, smart and street-savvy." He said his client was "difficult at times because he was used to getting his way."

Lopez said Calabrese's Christmas Day death felt "odd" because that day was Calabrese's favorite holiday: "He always talked about how much he loved spending Christmas with his family."

Sources:

• Coen, Jeff, Liam Ford and Michael Higgins, "10 murders laid at feet of 3 in mob," Chicago Tribune, Sept. 28, 2007.
• Donato, Marla, "Cicero revisits '83 double slaying," Chicago Tribune, April 12, 2000.
• Koziol, Ronald, and John O'Brien, "A deadly trick for mob figure," Chicago Tribune, Sept. 16, 1986, p. 19.
• O'Brien, John, and Lynn Emmerman, "Mob violence: Bullets riddle hit man, wife," Chicago Tribune, July 3, 1980, p. 1.
• Unger, Rudolph, and Philip Wattley, "Radio-control bomb kills suburbanite," Chicago Tribune, June 25, 1981, p. 1.
• United States Census of 1940, Illinois, Cook County, Chicago, Ward 28, Enumeration District 103-1767.
• Weber, Bruce, "Frank Calabrese, 75, hit man for the mob in Chicago," New York Times, Dec. 27, 2012, p. 22.
• "A look at 18 murders detailed in mob case," Rock Island Dispatch-Argus, Sept. 11, 2007.
• "Chicago Crime Commission calls FBI raid on Calabrese home major blow to organized crime," Prnewswire.com, March 28, 2010.
• "Frank Calabrese, notorious Chicago mob hit man, dies in prison, authorities, say," CBS News, Dec. 27, 2012.
• "Members of 'street crew' indicted Norther District of Illinois," United States Attorneys' Bulletin, September 1995, p. 304.
• "Mob hitman Frank Calabrese Sr. dies in prison," Chicago Tribune, Dec. 26, 2012.

Carollo, Silvestro (1896-1970)

Born Terrasini, Sicily, June 17, 1896.
Died New Orleans, LA, June 26, 1970.

"Silver Dollar Sam" Carollo (also spelled "Carolla") came to the United States as a young boy in early 1903. In his youth, he became affiliated with the regional Mafia organization run by Charles Matranga.
Carollo reportedly succeeded Matranga as boss of the organization upon Matranga's retirement in the 1920s.

Carollo, outwardly a restaurant manager, is believed to have participated in gambling, bootlegging and narcotics trafficking enterprises as well as New Orleans fishing, shrimping and dock work rackets.

He was convicted of a bootlegging-related offense in 1923 and was sentenced to a year and a day in Atlanta federal prison. He was paroled after serving a little more than eight months.

The year 1930 was an especially busy one for Carollo. He was arrested in February of that year for violation of the federal Harrison Narcotics Act and for shooting a federal agent. He also was suspected of murder, following the December 28, 1930, shooting death of  William "Bill" Bailey.

He and co-defendant Frank Todaro served about a year and a half in Atlanta Federal Prison beginning in January 1931 on a narcotics conviction. They were released in spring 1932 by Atlanta federal Judge E. Marvin Underwood, though three additional consecutive six-month sentences remained on their prison terms. (Underwood voided the sentences on the rationale that federal prison incarcerations needed to be for at least a year and a day. He ordered that they be returned to New Orleans and resentenced to some other institution.)

For the attempted killing of a narcotics agent, Carollo received another eight- to fifteen-year sentence in 1933. That sentence was ended after one year by Louisiana Governor O.K. Allen's full pardon.

Just two years after the pardon, Carollo was once again a resident of Atlanta prison, having been sentenced to five years for another narcotics offense.

The federal government sought to deport Carollo in the early 1940s. Despite roadblock legislation introduced by Congressman James Morrison of Louisiana in order to keep Carollo in the U.S., officials succeeded in sending him back to Sicily in spring of 1947.

Louisiana and New York racketeers entered into lucrative agreements relating to casino and slot machine gambling during Carollo's reign.

Carollo's immediate successor in the New Orleans mob is uncertain. The government believed Carlos Marcello was in control of the family from about 1950 on, but there are suggestions that another boss worked behind the scenes until Marcello took the helm in the early 1960s.

The Carollo and Marcello families were joined through the marriage of Carollo's son Anthony and Marcello's niece Maria Zaniatta.

Carollo did not remain in Sicily for long. He was observed in Acapulco, Mexico, in 1949. He might have been attempting to run the New Orleans rackets from that location. Some claimed he was stationed there by Charlie Luciano as part of the worldwide drug trade. Carollo also was allegedly seen back in the New Orleans area as early as July 4, 1950. He and Salvatore "Kansas City Sam" Guarnieri, who also had been deported (twice), were found living in a luxuriously furnished hideout at Slidell, Louisiana. The property, 3701 Bruxelles, was owned by Carollo's daughter, Mrs. Sarah Misuraca. Carollo was again deported in 1951.

Years later, he again returned to the U.S. According to some sources, a rivalry developed between Carollo's son and Marcello's younger brother over who should succeed Marcello as New Orleans boss. There were rumors at the time that Marcello would elect to leave the country rather than serve a pending prison term. "Silver Dollar Sam" was reportedly called out of retirement to mediate the dispute. (A source told the FBI that the 1966 "Little Apalachin" assembly of gangland leaders at La Stella restaurant in New York followed a Mafia Commission meeting on the issue of the New Orleans succession.) Authorities determined that Carollo reentered the country through Detroit late in 1969.

Press accounts indicate that Carollo, back in the U.S. illegally, was briefly hospitalized at Touro Infirmary in New Orleans after a heart attack in February of 1970. After the hospital, he is believed to have stayed with family at 13544 Granville Street in New Orleans until his death. Federal authorities at the time were consider a third deportation.

Sources:

• Colarelli, SA Thomas L., "La Cosa Nostra," FBI report, file no. 92-6054-2387, NARA no. 124-10297-10121, Aug. 22, 1968, p. 1, 6.
• Kennedy, SA Regis L., "Carlos Marcello," FBI report, file no. 92-2713-61, NARA no. 124-10214-10018, Dec. 8, 1959, p. 11.
• SAC New Orleans, "Nofio Pecora," FBI memorandum, file no. 92-8100, NARA no. 124-90093-10057, Aug. 4, 1965, p. 14.
• "Carollo faces murder charge as victim of reprisal shooting dies," New Orleans Times-Picayune, Dec. 29, 1930, p. 1.
• "Prisoners fight new sentence in drug conviction," New Orleans Times-Picayune, April 16, 1932, p. 3.
• "Widespread raids net 13 arrests on narcotic charges," New Orleans Times-Picayune, Oct. 6, 1935, p. 1.
• "Alleged leader of big narcotic ring brought in," New Orleans Times-Picayune, Oct. 7, 1935, p. 1.
• "Carollo's method of entry interests federal agents," New Orleans Times-Picayune, July 7, 1950, p. 7.
• "Orleans jury indicts Carollo," New Orleans Times-Picayune, Feb. 28, 1970, p. 1.
• "Alleged Mafia leader expires," New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 27, 1970, p. 3.