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CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman, John Drummond, Ed Marshall and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
CHICAGO (CBS) ― The jury in the mob Family Secrets trial is deliberating at this hour on the fate for four mobsters accused of 18 outfit murders.

Jurors heard Tuesday from attorneys on both sides, before beginning deliberations on the charges and whether they should get life sentences.

As CBS 2's John "Bulldog" Drummond reports, a prosecutor's words set off an angry outburst at the Dirksen Federal Building Tuesday.

The jury heard a litany of grisly murders performed by outfit enforcers, a Chicago version of Murder Incorporated.

Prosecutor Mitch Mars charged "murder is a staple of the Outfit… a tool… to eliminate witnesses.

Mars said the mob targeted William Dauber because they believed he was an informant. Dauber and his wife, Charlotte, were gunned down on a rural Will County road in July of 1980.

Prosecutor Mars said defendant Frank Calabrese Sr. drove the lookout car in the double homicide. Mars said "they were waylaid on a highway… followed by a vehicle… fired on… Charlotte was an innocent victim… no reason to kill her… she just go in the way, in the line of fire."

Then there was Nicholas D'Andrea, whose body was found in his burnt out Mercedes in September 1981. Prosecutors say he was bludgeoned to death with the butt of a shotgun.

Defendant James Marcello, the government contends, was involved in that slaying.

Mars described it as "exceptionally brutal and heinous… wanton cruelty."

In another homicide, prosecutors say Daniel Seifert was murdered in September 1974 because he was a government witness.

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."

During the trial, Frank Calabrese Sr.'s brother Nick admitted he was a mob hit man and testified against the defendants.

He said his brother strangled victims with ropes and then cut their throats to make certain that they were dead.

Defendant Joseph "The Clown" Lombardo was a defendant in another trial at the time and after Seifert's death, the government's case unraveled.

"His fingerprints are all over this murder… so he could walk away from a federal prosecution," Mars said.

Late Tuesday afternoon Mars said in rebuttal "[Calabrese] has left a trail of bodies."

Calabrese yelled out "Them are lies!"

Marshals closed in on Calabrese, but Calabrese did not get up; he sat sneering and scowling.

A federal jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict Monday on other charges, involving decades of extortion, gambling, and loan sharking.

It took about two and a half months to get to the point of those convictions, but the courtroom is expected to be packed again as prosecutors, defense attorneys, and the jury turn their attention to the murders.

To convict the five men on Monday, 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.

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

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

Doyle is not accused in any murders, but the other four all are. If any of them are found to have committed at least one murder, they could be sentenced to life in prison.

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.

Frank Calabrese Sr.'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."

Frank Calabrese's own son helped the FBI tape conversations with his father while both served time for a loan-sharking conviction. In court, the son translated for jurors: When his father tells him to "keep 10 boxes of Spam ham, 'He's telling me to keep $1,000 a month for myself,"' he said.

Lombardo and Calabrese testified in their own defense and admitted that they associated with mobsters but said they were not mob members.

Lombardo also took the stand and admitted running what his attorney, Rick Halprin, called "the oldest and most reliable floating crap game on Grand Avenue." But he denied committing murder or being part of mob.

Lombardo is probably the best-known defendant. After the indictment was unsealed, he went on the lam for eight months before finally being cornered by an FBI organized crime squad in an alley outside Chicago.

True to his nickname, "The Clown" later answered a judge who wanted to know why hadn't seen a doctor lately: "I was supposed to see him nine months ago, but I was -- what do they call it? -- I was unavailable."

Doyle, the retired police officer, was accused of leaking inside law enforcement information to the mob. During the trial, he dismissed tapes that the FBI made of him as he spoke with Calabrese in the visitors room at federal prison.

Prosecutors said it was mob code talk. Doyle said he couldn't understand what Calabrese was telling him and considered it "mind-boggling gibberish."

Chicago Crime Commission director James 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.

Miller said the trial was a historic event.

"This is probably one of the significant trials in the history of this district," Miller said. "It covers not just the city of Chicago, it covers the suburbs; the entire metropolitan area. It even extends all the way out into Phoenix; one of these murders was committed out in Phoenix. It goes back to the early '70s. The history of the Chicago mob permeates the history of the city of Chicago, and this trial showed an inside look at what went on in these decades."

Still, Miller said, there is question about whether the case is a deterrent for others to go into the convicted men's roles, since others have filled mobsters' places when they have been convicted in the past.

"By this life sentence that the jury may be determining today, maybe that's even a greater incentive to keep these guys from getting into the footsteps of the Lombardos and the Calabreses."

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