Feb 19, 2007 7:37 pm US/Central
Feds Want Anonymous Jury In Mob Murder Case
Prosecutors Say They Worry For Juror Panel's Safety
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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The sensational "Family Secrets" mob trial has not yet begun, and already there are concerns abut the safety of the jury and a fair trial for the defendants.
CBS 2's Mike Parker reports on the strategy by prosecutors to protect the potential jury panel.
Defense attorneys for alleged mob kingpin Joey "The Clown" Lombardo and reputed mob loan shark Frank Calabrese, Sr. are vowing to fight a move to keep secret the names of the jurors in their upcoming murder and conspiracy trial.
"What it does is compound the problem and difficulty of getting fair consideration for my client, Joey," said Lombardo's attorney, Rick Halperin.
Prosecutors looking to put the defendants away for their roles in a number of murders, apparently fearing that jurors might be intimidated or subject to bribery.
If Assistant U.S. Attorney Mitch Mars' request is granted, jurors would only be identified by a number.
CBS 2's legal analyst, Irv Miller, is a former prosecutor.
"These are things that have happened in the past when you're dealing with mob trials," Miller said.
The attorney for Calabrese, Sr., Joe Lopez, said: "There is no danger. These are old men. The outfit is dead." and he added, "I don't know how the defendants can get a fair trial if the jurors are afraid of them."
"You're talking about allegations about 18 murders and you're talking about the infinite resources of the government. It's just layer upon layer upon layer of difficulty and this would just add to it," Halperin said.
Frank Calabrese, Joseph Lombardo, James Marcello, Paul Schiro and Frank Schweihs are charged with conspiring to commit 18 murders going back three decades.
They're among 14 reputed mob figures charged in a racketeering indictment stemming from the FBI's "Operation Family Secrets."
The murders include the 1986 hit on Tony "The Ant" Spilotro, the mob's man in Las Vegas.
"If the judge finds there is a scintilla of evidence that this jury could be either scared or prejudiced by this being a mob trial, he's going to grant this motion," Miller told CBS 2.
The judge will rule on the anonymous jury issue before jury selection begins in May.
The charges grow out of a decades-old federal investigation known as "Family Secrets." The trial is expected to last four or five months.
Federal prosecutors want jurors in a major Chicago mob case to remain anonymous.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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