He killed Tony “The Ant” Spilatro and his brother, Michael. Spilatro was a mob enforcer in Las Vegas. Both were found buried in a cornfield in 1986.
The reason the feds pinned the murder on Calabrese Sr. was because of evidence collected by his son. The story’s fascinating, and has more complicated family dynamics than a typical mob tale.
"So, in Chicago was a little different than New York,” said Frank Calabrese Jr., son of Calabrese Sr., who was an influential figure in the well-entrenched Chicago Outlet, made infamous by Al Capone in the 1920s. “You weren't supposed to bring your kids into this life. You're supposed to make a better life for your kids. As a young kid, my dad just wanted to teach me a little bit about street smarts, [then you] go to school and learn book smarts. So that's what I did. The problem was, he started bringing me in and the more I did, the better I was, and the more he'd see [himself] in me.”
One of the businesses Calabrese Sr. had his son participate in was loan sharking, as the mobster had one of the biggest operations in Chicago in the 70s and 80s, along with collecting the money from his father’s sports betting operations and adult bookstores.
“This was mostly through my high school years,” he noted.
Calabrese Jr. said the turning point came when he and his father were sentenced to prison together in the late 1990s. That was when he saw his escape opportunity from mob life for good.
“In prison with my dad,” Calabrese Jr. said, “he made promises to me and I made promises to him. And the one promise he made was he'd never pull me back into this life. He [saw] me doing such good time, that he started to want to pull me back into [this] life, and I’d seen it. So, for eight months, I wanted to make sure that I was right on what he was doing. And he did. So, I needed to have him locked up forever. For my freedom; for my family's freedom.”
Writing the first such letter of its kind to the FBI, Calabrese offered to flip on his father and help the agency convict members of the Chicago Outfit. The FBI agreed, and Special Agent Michael Maseth visited Calabrese Jr. in prison. The two agreed the best course of action would be to place a wire on Calabrese and get his father’s confession on tape.
“Two enemies, the FBI and a mobster, coming together in prison, having to wire me up, having to trust one another and everything we went through,” Calabrese said.
The resulting recording enabled the FBI to begin “Operation Family Secrets,” considered to be one of the most successful organized crime investigations the agency ever oversaw, indicting 14 mobsters for 18 different murders.
Years later, after his release from prison, Calabrese Jr. emphasized that he wanted to live a normal life outside of the mob, but remained cautious.
“I had to live my life," he said. "I passed on witness protection — the biggest reason was, I felt if my dad couldn't get to me that he might hurt somebody I love. I didn't want to put my family through witness protection. So, what I did was I picked up and I moved to Arizona. Another thing I did was I put word out to a lot of people in the street that I could hurt a lot of people. I said, ‘Look, this is between me and my dad, I don't care about the mob. I don't care about you guys. As long as you don't get in the middle of it.’”
He’s since dedicated his life to educating others about his story and the realities of mob life in America. Now, living in Las Vegas, Calabrese Jr. plans on doing more work with the Mob Museum, including a discussion with FBI Special Agent Mike Maseth on Jan. 18 entitled “Operation Family Secrets: The case that took down the mob.”
Add in his more intimate, recurring "Cocktails and Conversation with Calabrese” parties and “Coffee with Calabrese” events at the Museum, and there’s no shortage of opportunities for the former mobster to share his story, all at a venue Calabrese feels a strong connection to.
“I really fell in love with the museum. I say, ‘Here is a place where I belong.’”
Calabrese Jr. is will be talking about his life, experiences as a mobster and his dad, the late Frank Calabrese Sr., Jan. 18 at the Mob Museum in downtown Las Vegas. Also catch him at his “Coffee with Calabrese” events every Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in January at the Underground speakeasy, and his “Cocktails and Conversation with Calabrese” parties once a month at the Underground distillery through June. For more information, and specific dates, visit themobmuseum.org/events.
Guest: Frank Calabrese Jr.
