Jurors in Chicago's biggest mob trial in years began deliberating the fate of five defendants Tuesday in a case described by defense attorneys as built on the testimony of "a walking piece of deception."
Prosecutors said the testimony of mob hit man Nicholas Calabrese - who linked four of the five men to a murder scene - matched up with physical evidence at the scene and with recorded jailhouse conversations with one of the defendants.
Jurors also heard from more than 100 witnesses, listened to hours of secretly recorded audio tapes, and saw dozens of photos of crime scenes, victims and suspected members of the Outfit, as the city's organized crime family is known.
Jurors left at 2 p.m. Tuesday, despite indicating last week that they planned to work from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The office of U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel gave no explanation for the early departure.
The defendants are all in their 60s or 70s, and one alternated between using a cane and wheelchair in court. They are accused by prosecutors of engaging in a racketeering conspiracy, detailed in a 43-page indictment, that included illegal gambling, extortion, loan sharking and 18 murders between 1970 and 1986.
The men on trial are reputed mobster Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, 78; convicted loan shark Frank Calabrese Sr., 70; convicted jewel thief Paul Schiro, 70; reputed mob boss James Marcello, 65; and retired Chicago policeman Anthony Doyle, 62. If convicted, all but Doyle could face life in prison.
Defense attorneys attacked the case as one built largely on the testimony of Nicholas Calabrese - Frank Calabrese's brother - who the defense said admitted lying to authorities in the past and was only cooperating with the government now to escape the death penalty.
Defense attorney Joseph Lopez labeled Nicholas Calabrese a "grim reaper," a "walking piece of deception" and a man who would "shoot you in the head over a cold ravioli."
Prosecutors said Nicholas Calabrese's testimony matched up with stories that his brother told his son Frank Calabrese Jr. while in prison. The younger man secretly wore a wire for the government.
Nicholas Calabrese linked all the defendants except Doyle to a murder scene. Doyle is not accused of killing anyone, but he is charged with being part of a racketeering conspiracy that included murder.
Taking the stand in his own defense, Doyle testified that during a secretly recorded conversation with Frank Calabrese Sr. in prison, he agreed with much of what the prisoner wanted without knowing what it was, and that the code words Calabrese used were "mind-boggling gibberish."
Lombardo lived up to his "clown" moniker by wisecracking on the stand. He told jurors he's not a member of the Outfit and learned everything he knows about the mob from James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson movies.
Frank Calabrese Sr. told jurors he did business with Outfit members but never took the oath of a made guy.
The prosecutors and witnesses detailed grisly killings, with so-called friends allegedly luring men to their deaths, and bodies buried at construction sites.
In one notorious case, Tony "The Ant" Spilotro, known as the mob's man in Las Vegas and the inspiration for Joe Pesci's character in the 1995 movie "Casino," was beaten to death and buried in an Indiana cornfield.
This is about "the history of organized crime in Chicago," Assistant U.S. Attorney Mitchell Mars told the jurors in his closing arguments last week.
Prosecutors mocked many of the explanations offered by defense attorneys as unbelievable or ridiculous, and they asked jurors to disregard the claim by Lombardo's defense that he withdrew long ago from any criminal activity he might have been engaged in.
"Once you belong to the Outfit, you belong for life," Mars said. "These are people that cheat, steal and kill each other. They can make who they want, they can break who they want."
Lopez urged jurors to think of Frank Calabrese Sr.'s presumed innocence like the white cloak surrounding the cartoon character "Casper the Friendly Ghost."
"As you shut the (jury room) door," Lopez said, "he's still presumed innocent
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