Jul 18, 2005 7:14 pm US/Central
Conversations Of Reputed Mobsters Caught On Tape
28,000 Taped Conversations To Play At Trial
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The defendents pleaded not guilty.
CBS
In a blockbuster development in federal court Monday, key evidence in the Operation Family Secrets trial is on course to use the voices of organized crime to send the players to prison.
Prosecutors say they have 28,000 taped conversations between reputed mobsters. And CBS 2's John Drummond reports that they are ready to play out the tough talk in open court.
Conspicuous by his absence at the hearing was 76-year-old Joey "The Clown" Lombardo, who has flown the coop. So too is Lombardo's co-defendant, Frank "The German" Schweihs. Both men are the subject of an international manhunt.
Most of the other defendants in the government's family secret case were in court and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Lawyers in the case have their work cut out for them. They will listen to some 300,000 minutes worth of conversations their clients had with different subjects. Most of the recorded conversations were the result of phone wiretaps that have been downloaded and placed on CDs.
Attorney Joe Lopez says his client Frank Calabrese feels he will be vindicated. Calabrese is linked to 13 murders.
"My client is anxious to go to trial and clear himself, very anxious. He feels the charges are groundless. It doesn't really matter his brother and son are cooperating," Lopez said.
Another defendant, former Chicago policeman Anthony Doyle, is charged with racketeering, but his lawyer scoffed at that:
"This is a false charge and Mr. Doyle is anxious, literally, to go to war against the government to clear his name. He's been a distinguished Chicago police officer," said Doyle's attorney, Ralph Meczyk.
The defense lawyers are up in arms that their clients have been ordered not to talk with each other at downtown's Metropolitan Correctional Center.
But the government says, that is standard operating procedure in cases involving multiple defendants.
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