Feds: Guns, cash stashed in reputed mobster's home

[March 25, 2010]  CHICAGO (AP) -- Federal agents searching a convicted mobster's home near Chicago found loaded guns, nearly $730,000 in cash and tape recordings that may contain "criminal conversations" hidden behind a basement wall, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

Caption: This Tuesday evidence photo provided by the FBI and U.S. Marshalls Service shows a bag of money found at the Oak Brook home of reputed mobster Frank Calabreese Sr. Federal officials say seven loaded firearms, jewelry and more than $700,000 cash were discovered in a secret compartment during a search of the suburban home. (AP photo/FBI, U.S. Marshalls Service)

FBI agents and U.S. Marshals executed a search warrant Tuesday at Frank Calabrese Sr.'s home in Oak Brook, and discovered the stash -- along with jewelry, recording devices and handwritten notes -- in a secret compartment behind a large family portrait hanging on the wall. Agents also found about $26,000 in bundled cash in a locked desk drawer in the bedroom of his wife, Diane, according to the documents filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

Calabrese, 71, was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted last year with several other reputed members of the Chicago Outfit in a racketeering conspiracy that included 18 murders -- Calabrese himself was found responsible for 13 mob murders.

It marked the largest mob case in decades and exposed the seedy inner workings of organized crime in Chicago. Calabrese and three others were ordered to pay more than $24 million, including millions in restitution to the families of murder victims.

Documents found during Tuesday's search might prove that Calabrese and his wife attempted to launder illegal assets to avoid paying court-ordered restitution, according to the document. Deeds and other documents evidencing the transfer of property were found in a bankers' box and a plastic bin in the home's garage.

Calabrese's attorney, Joseph Lopez, said Wednesday evening that he did not know who stashed the items. He said Calabrese has not lived in the house since the mid-1990s, when he was sent to prison for another conviction.

Lopez also said he wasn't sure who was on the recordings, saying "it could be Frank Sinatra."

Calabrese is being held under strict security at a federal prison in Springfield, Mo.

A phone number for Diane Calabrese or anyone associated with the home's address could not be located Wednesday. U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Randall Samborn said his office, the FBI and the U.S. Marshal's Service would not comment.

Authorities said they believe that the seven firearms they found were used in criminal activity because they were wrapped in cloth to prevent fingerprints from being left behind. They also discovered about 1,000 pieces of jewelry still inside display boxes and bags, including loose diamonds, the affidavit said.

Calabrese was among five associates of the Chicago Outfit convicted in September 2007 at the Operation Family Secrets trial. Four members were found guilty of taking part in a racketeering conspiracy that included illegal gambling, extortion, loan sharking and 18 mob murders that had gone unsolved for decades. A fifth defendant, a retired Chicago police officer, was convicted of racketeering conspiracy but not accused of any murders.

Witnesses said Calabrese used hidden compartments inside houses to hide the proceeds of illegal activities

Calabrese's brother, Nicholas Calabrese, was the government's star witness. He testified that his brother carried out mob hits, sometimes strangling his victims with a rope and then slashing their throats to make sure they were dead. Two victims were killed in a darkened Cicero restaurant while the Frank Sinatra record of "Strangers in the Night" was playing on the jukebox, he said.

[Associated Press; By TAMMY WEBBER]

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