Marshal accused of leaking information about witness in court
A federal deputy marshal wept on the witness stand Tuesday as he described his shock in discovering he faced possible criminal charges for allegedly leaking information about a protected witness in an investigation of the Chicago mob.
"I felt like I had been thrown into a vat of quicksand," John Ambrose testified at a pretrial hearing, tears welling in his eyes. "My body was shaking. ... I was trying to grasp what was going on around me."
The hearing to determine if statements Ambrose, 39, made to authorities before he was formally charged are admissible at his trial adjourned without a ruling and was set to continue Wednesday.
Among those testifying Tuesday was U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald, who was the first to confront Ambrose about the accusations during a meeting at an FBI building in Chicago on Sept. 6, 2006, months before Ambrose was charged.
He described Ambrose as deeply stressed -- to the point that Fitzgerald wondered if he might be suicidal.
"His carotid artery was throbbing in his neck," Fitzgerald told the court. "(Ambrose) said, 'I screwed up, but it's not what you think.' ... He said he wanted to keep his job. He said, 'My job means everything to me.'"
Ambrose was assigned several times to guard Nicholas Calabrese, the star witness in the government's Operation Family secrets investigation of 18 long-unsolved mob murders that ended with several convictions earlier this year. He is charged with leaking information to the Outfit concerning Calabrese's trips to Chicago to testify before a federal grand jury.
Ambrose, a nine-year veteran of the U.S. marshals service, has pleaded not guilty.
The legal issue U.S. District Judge John F. Grady is expected to rule on later this week is whether Ambrose was or wasn't under arrest when he spoke to Fitzgerald and other federal authorities.
Prosecutors argue Ambrose was not under arrest so statements he made suggesting he had passed on leaked information should be admissible in court.
But defense attorneys counter that Ambrose was in custody, even pointing out that at least three FBI agents accompanied him into a restroom during breaks -- one standing on each side of the urinal, and one agent standing behind him. He should have been read his rights, including his right to remain silent and have a lawyer present, they say.
Ambrose testified Tuesday that he was intimidated during the meeting at the FBI building. He said Fitzgerald gave him an ultimatum: To either cooperate immediately or face charges and the loss of his job.
"He advised me I had a short window of opportunity," Ambrose told the court.
When he expressed concern about his own safety and the safety of his family, Ambrose said another prosecutor even told him "not to worry" because "the mob hasn't killed anyone since the mid '80s."
Fitzgerald denied he ever presented an ultimatum to Ambrose, saying only that investigators wanted to get a full picture of what happened.
"I told him that we have an open mind, that we have facts but we don't have all the facts. ... Certain things we might have wrong," Fitzgerald said.
Ambrose came under suspicion when eavesdropping FBI agents heard reputed mobster Michael Marcello chatting with his jailed brother, James Marcello, in the visitors room at the Milan, Mich., federal prison.
Michael Marcello told his brother that he had a source within federal law enforcement who was the son of a police officer convicted in the Marquette 10 police corruption trial of the 1980s. Ambrose fit the description.
The Marcellos' code name for Ambrose was "the baby sitter," Fitzgerald said.