Defense mocks mob trial witness's testimony

The star witness at the trial of five alleged Chicago underworld figures came under attack Monday from an attorney who accused him of making up his eyewitness account of mobster Tony Spilotro's murder.

"You in fact were not even there," attorney Thomas M. Breen, representing alleged mob boss James Marcello, asked prosecution witness Nicholas Calabrese, who was in his fifth and final day on the stand.

"Yes, I was," shot back Calabrese, whose brother Frank is a defendant.

"You, sir, have no personal knowledge of how the Spilotros met their death," Breen insisted. Calabrese answered: "Yes, I do have knowledge."

The defendants are charged with a racketeering conspiracy that included gambling, extortion, loan sharking and 18 long unsolved mob hits including the June 1986 murders of Michael Spilotro and brother Tony, who was the inspiration for Joe Pesci's character in the movie "Casino."

Nicholas Calabrese became a government witness in 2002 after his DNA was found on a bloody glove left at the scene of another mob murder.

He testified earlier that Marcello drove him and two other men to a Bensenville home where the Spilotros were lured into a basement with the promise that Tony would become a "capo" there and Michael a "made guy."

Instead, they were murdered. Calabrese said he helped Louie "The Mooch" Eboli strangle Michael Spilotro with a rope.

Breen tore into the story, claiming Calabrese made it up to please prosecutors and make certain they would not rescind the deal under which he will avoid the death penalty in return for spilling mob secrets.

Breen focused on such details as the witness' claim that he already was wearing gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints when the two doomed brothers entered the suburban basement where they were murdered.

"Did Mike Spilotro say, 'Hey, guys, why is everybody wearing gloves? This looks like a hit.'æ" Breen asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Breen asked Calabrese what he and Marcello said about the Spilotro slayings when they later found themselves together in the federal correctional center at downstate Pekin. He noted that the bodies were discovered buried in an Indiana cornfield 200 miles from the murder scene.

"Did you say, 'Jim, you know that double murder we did? Isn't it interesting that the bodies showed up so far away in Indiana?'æ" he asked.

"You don't ask questions like that," Calabrese said quietly.

Breen also reminded Calabrese that after the Spilotro brothers were murdered, he visited another brother, Pat Spilotro, who is a dentist.

"As a friend or a patient?" Breen asked.

"Both," Calabrese testified.

Under cross examination, Calabrese also testified that he has long been haunted by the murders he committed, including those of friends.

"It's a lot of weight to carry," he said.

He exploded when Breen suggested he might have enjoyed killing Michael Spilotro and John Fecarotta, a member of his own 26th Street mob crew.

"No, I didn't enjoy it," Calabrese said. "I live with it every day, and you're trying to make it out like I enjoyed killing my friend."

Breen noted that by far the majority of the mobsters Calabrese named as carrying out murders, some going back to the 1970s, already were dead when he gave their names to the FBI. A key exception was brother Frank.

"Your brother, Frank, the man you hate, is on there," Breen said, pointing to a list of alleged killers, most of them long since deceased.

Calabrese testified that he used to hate his brother but no longer.

"You've forgiven him," Breen said at another point.

"I haven't forgiven him, I just don't hate him," Calabrese testified.

Calabrese had testified earlier that his brother was a tough, domineering boss who forced him to commit murder and beat his own son, Frank Calabrese Jr. The son also was a witness for the prosecution.

When not painting Nicholas Calabrese as a liar, Breen tried to get him to boast about his exploits as a hit man for the Chicago Outfit.

"Give yourself some credit, sir, you were pretty good," Breen said.

"As I said," Calabrese retorted, "I was stupid and dumb. It doesn't take much to become a coward and do that."