Top News

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
CHICAGO (CBS) ― Monday's stunning guilty verdicts lowered the boom on the Chicago Outfit. But as CBS 2's John Bulldog" Drummond explains for four of the defendants, the nightmare is just beginning.

Uncle Sam hasn't tolled a ten-count over the mob yet, but the Chicago Outfit is on the floor after all five defendants were found guilty.

A federal jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict Monday in the mob trial of five men on charges involving decades of extortion, gambling, loan sharking and 18 long-unsolved murders.

Those convicted are alleged mob capo Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, 78, convicted loan shark Frank Calabrese, 70, convicted jewel thief Paul Schiro, 70, reputed mob boss James Marcello, 65, and retired Chicago police officer Anthony Doyle, 62. None of the defendants showed any emotion when the verdicts were read.

The verdicts capped an extraordinary 10-week trial that laid bare some of the inner workings of The Outfit, as the Chicago mob is known. The prosecution's star witness was an admitted hit man who took the stand against his own brother to spell out the allegations, crime by crime.

Interested observer James Jack, a former Chicago police detective, is writing a book on the Family Secrets case. He was in the court room when the verdict was read.

"I wasn't surprised at all about how it came out," Jack said. "I knew deep in my heart that they were going to convict them on all accounts."

The jury deliberated less than 20 hours over 10 weeks of evidence that prosecutors described as a history of the mob in Chicago, including 18 long-unsolved murders.

The defendants were accused during the 10-week trial of taking part in a racketeering conspiracy dating to the 1970s involving the Chicago Outfit.

The defendants could be sentenced to life if they are found to have committed at least one murder. But that decision will be made later by the jury in a second round of deliberations. All defendants except Doyle are accused of murdering at least one of the 18 victims in the indictment.

CBS 2 Legal Analyst Irv Miller said because of the age of "most of these defendants, this is a life sentence… For the government now to seek a life sentence instead of the maximum 20 years for the mobster defendants, it's kind of a meaningless effort," he said.

The lawyers weren't allowed to talk, but for one friend of the convicted James Marcello, the emotions bubbled over.

One of the murder victims was a government witness when he was slain in 1974. For his widow Emma Seifert and her family, the ordeal is almost over.

But Seifert's brother Ronald spoke out on the case when he spoke to CBS 2 producer Ed Marshall.

"I'm just glad they convicted Joey," he said.

When asked if he was glad they convicted him, Seifert said yes, "Because he was part of, I think, he was involved with my brother -- killing my brother."

Many of the murders were carried out because mobsters were afraid the victims would cooperate with the federal government in its efforts to crack down on organized crime, prosecutors told the jury during closing arguments.

Among the victims was Tony "The Ant" Spilotro, who was the inspiration for the Joe Pesci character in the movie "Casino."

All of the defendants denied involvement in a conspiracy to commit murders or other charges listed in the indictment.
Lombardo and Calabrese testified in their own defense and admitted that they associated with mobsters but said they were not mob members.

Doyle, the one defendant not accused of personally taking part in a murder, brushed aside secretly taped conversations he had with Calabrese in the visitors room at a federal prison in Michigan. He began Monday upbeat, but Monday night, he too is jailed, his bond revoked.

He said Calabrese's remarks were "mind-boggling gibberish" and incomprehensible to him.

Some of the most dramatic testimony at the trial came from Calabrese's brother, Nicholas, who admits he was a mob hit man and is now helping the government in exchange for what he hopes will be a break at sentencing.

He said his brother strangled victims with ropes and then cut their throats to make certain that they were dead.
But Calabrese's attorney Joseph Lopez cautioned jurors not to believe the word of an admitted hit man who would "shoot you in the head over a cold ravioli."

"This certainly sends a message to those who are planning to grow up as mobsters, perhaps you know may end your life in the federal penitentiary as opposed to walking around as a wealthy guy," Miller said immediately after the verdicts were read. "It looks like the jury believed the testimony of all the witnesses that testified against these defendants. They believe the brother, the son, the tap recordings -- it's a slam dunk for the government."

However, the head of the Chicago Crime Commission says while the conviction was a tremendous victory for federal prosecutors, it will not destroy organized crime in Chicago.

James Wagner says the convicted mobsters were consulted by their mob colleagues while they were on trial. He says younger men have already replaced the convicted defendants in the mob hierarchy.

Wagner says The Outfit has already moved into crimes that are more difficult to prosecute, including mortgage and credit fraud.

The jury will return Tuesday morning to hear arguments from the government about the 18 unsolved murders. Tuesday, will be some measure of closure for the families of the murder victims. Prosecutors in a rare two-pronged proceeding will tie four of the defendants to 18 gangland slayings such as the Spilotro Brothers and William and Charlotte Dauber.

Wagner says there's an important lesson out there for people thinking of filling the shoes of the men who were found guilty:

"I think that the verdict is important for the outfit because it shows the ability of the government to continue to investigate and prosecute no matter how long it takes," he said.

(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)