Defendant: I was a loan shark, not killer
With a voice that sounded more like Mr. Rogers than Tony Soprano, accused mobster Frank Calabrese Sr. took the stand in his own defense Thursday, denying he took part in Outfit murder after Outfit murder.
Calabrese, of Oak Brook, is accused of the lion's share of the 18 murders alleged in the Family Secrets indictment, but as he sat in the witness box, dressed in a modest white sports jacket, Calabrese denied them all, insisting his life's work of crime was simply making illegal loans.
"My earnings spoke for itself. I made millions. So how would I have time to do this?" Calabrese said politely to his attorney, Joe Lopez, as if speaking to a Sunday school teacher.
Prosecutors -- who have not yet had a chance to cross-examine Calabrese -- are likely to contrast Calabrese's newfound Miss Manners style with expletive-laden tape recordings they have of him. The tapes were made by his son, Frank Calabrese Jr.
Nick Calabrese, the brother of Frank Calabrese Sr., also testified, detailing the numerous murders he said he committed with his brother or knew about Frank Sr. committing.
In the tapes his son made, speaking in heavy code, Frank Sr. appears to detail several mob murders, and even the ritual by which one becomes a "made" mob member -- a ceremony that involves drawing your own blood, swearing an oath to the mob and burning a holy card in your hand.
Despite that evidence, Calabrese Sr. maintained he never was a full-fledged member of the mob but just did business with mobsters, partnering with them so that he could operate his loan shark business.
Lopez stayed away from the tapes on Thursday but keyed in on prior testimony in the trial that alleged Calabrese Sr. once had a blasting cap detonate in his hand as he was preparing a bomb intended to kill someone. Such an injury, Lopez alleged, would have taken off a finger.
"Is there anything wrong with them?" Lopez asked, referring to Calabrese's fingers.
"Not a thing," smiled Calabrese, wiggling all 10 of his fingers for the jury.
Lopez also tried to blunt previous testimony that Calabrese Sr. muscled James Stolfe, owner of Connie's Pizza, for "street tax."
Stolfe testified that Calabrese Sr. showed up at his restaurant one day after a long period of not seeing him. While he was there, two thugs showed up and told him they'd need $300,000 for him to stay in business. Calabrese Sr., Stolfe said, said he'd see what he could do about it, and later told him he got it lowered to $100,000, and that Stolfe should make the payments to him.
Prosecutors contend it was Calabrese Sr. all along who was extracting the payment, but he testified he intervened on Stolfe's behalf, got the amount reduced, fronted the money for Stolfe, and then had Stolfe repay him.
"I got it knocked down to $100,000," Calabrese insisted. "I loved the man (Stolfe). … We would go to the car show together every year."
U.S. district attorney James Zagel frequently interrupted Calabrese as he rambled on, trying to slip in information prosecutors objected to.
"He's answering questions that you're not asking. … It's frankly irrelevant," Zagel told Lopez.