'Operation Family Secrets': Inside the FBI takedown that shattered the Chicago Outfit

The Brief

"Operation Family Secrets," launched 20 years ago, is considered the most significant mob prosecution in U.S. history.

It began when Frank Calabrese Jr. secretly cooperated with the FBI against his father, a notorious Chicago mobster.

The case led to charges in nearly two dozen murders and helped dismantle the Chicago Outfit’s leadership.


Part 1 of a 2 part series aired tonight on Fox 32 Chicago.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mob hits, hidden wires, and a son who betrayed his father to end a legacy of crime — 20 years later, we revisit the Chicago case.

https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/o...H4aGzg#ej2xpmtt0ffkr82tx94dlow36e17g46zn

Part 2 aired tonight...

https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/o...-reflects-life-testifying-against-father

the case that crippled the outfit??? i'm not so sure, crazy it was 20 yrs ago though.

Words are misleading because yes in fact it did cripple them at that time, but they have recovered since then to a level where they are still a successful organization in 2025.

They have had to make adjustments that we all know about on here to run their rackets but they are smart and know how to play the game to operate.

went back and re looked at indictment from family secrets 2005 and i'm gonna just lay out some of the facts in it according DOJ and some analysis.

of the 14 indicted only 2 were named as made members of the outfit (james marcello and frank calabrese sr, a 3rd, nick calabrese was but will discount as he was a cooperator). i will add joseph lombardo to that list as i dont think anyone can disagree with the thinking that lombardo was made, despite fact the DOJ didnt.

of the 3 made men that were arrested only 2 were free and on the street, calabrese sr. was still serving sentence from 1995 indictment and 1997 sentencing. james marcello is considered THE BOSS of the outfit at this time having taken over while imprisoned in 2001 after death of john monteleone. so for the feds to get a legit mob boss was a big deal, stepping aside the fact that nowhere in said indictment does it state marcello was the current boss of the outfit.

lombardos status/role in the outfit at this time however is a little less clear. lombardo has been glossed with near every term in the mafia glossary. made man, capo, boss, consigliere and even 'shelved' at one point. but at the time in 2005 what can we say?

lombardo was a member of grand avenue crew, again although not described as an outfit member which is odd. he doesnt appear to be active though in current street level outfit crimes at this time and none are mentioned in indictment. lombardo was convicted of murder of daniel seifert only i think...NOT for being one of the current leaders in outfit.

frank calabrese sr. was not on street and although a member of outfit was not overall leader of 26th street crew but a former leader of the calabrese street crew. parts of indictment did relate to an ongoing criminal enterprise using nick ferriola as a go-between from prison to street. ferriola not described as a made member at the time, possible this has changed since his release. there is no mention of a current capo or acting capo of 26th street crew and therefore zero mention of calabrese sr having any contact with leadership on the outside.

so with just these 3 what do we have;
THE BOSS, james marcello put away for life, thats a success for feds, but any crime family can replace a boss with an acting boss. marcello was imprisoned at mcc so was still able to communicate with associates to a point after arrest. the outfit also has historically moved quickly to install a new regime when top brass have been arrested and this case is no different. names that come up as boss or acting boss post 2005 include: mike sarno, anthony zizzo, john difronzo, peter difronzo, alphonse tornabene, joseph andriacchi, marco d'amico. so no shortage of smart experienced respected outfit members to even temporarily look after affairs until outcome of trial became certain.

joseph lombardos role was unknown at time and seemed to have no bearing on outcome of the case. i dont think it was ever even defined during trial exactly who lombardo was, in 2005 and why he was important to outfit. i believe this was mainly because the feds had him dead to rights for '74 murder and couldnt have cared less what he was up to criminally circa 2005.

frank calabrese sr. was only ever leader of a street crew for the outfit and that role had ended 10 years previous to indictment, 1995. although he continued to operate a smaller part of this crew while imprisoned through nick ferriola exactly how large a portion of the 26th street crews revenue this generated is not known. most would agree the 26th street crew continues to function as an outfit crew so to infer that family secrets stopped this crew entirely would be misleading.

to the other defendants, is there a single one that in 2010 or 2015 or today in 2025 that one could say had they not been indicted certainly could have gone on to an outfit leadership position capo or higher? outside of nick ferriola?

michael marcello, joseph venezia, dennis johnson, thomas johnson, mike ricci, anthony doyle, paul schiro, frank schweihs??? unlikely. frank saladino was found dead on indictment day 2005, he has been described as a possible made member of rockford crime family.

onto the crews now. this indictment involved members or associates from all of 3 crews of the 5 in operation at time for outfit. sounds like a lot but lombardo, schweihs and schiro of the grand avenue crew were not active leaders in outfit, with schiro being imprisoned when indicted. again lombardos role was uncertain and schweihs an influential non-italian member was getting on in years dieing in 2008.

the 26th street crew was not taken down in indictment but more a small part of a street crew operating under direction of a capo, frank caruso.

the melrose park crew was however utterly crippled. both marcello brothers, venezia and the johnsons were all listed as being members of crew. all these defendants received sentences for crimes in indictment related to video poker machine rackets. this left anthony zizzo and tornabene as only members of crew left on street, zizzo disappeared and considered murdered aug 2006 and tornabene succumbing to old age in may 2009. now one could say that the melrose park crew was really but a small part of larger cicero crew, i am still unsure of this but i lean towards the 2 being separate crews with overlapping territories and rackets. i found it odd when in indictment the crews were listed there was no mention of cicero crew at all.

finally the best evidence we have that operation family secrets did not 'CRIPPLE THE OUTFIT' is that in subsequent years there have been plenty of outfit related crimes that eclipse those brought up in indictment pertaining to current outfit activity. i would say mike sarno et al were up to no shortage of outfit crimes circa 2001-2009 relating to high end robberies, video poker machines etc. the robberies alone likely brought more cash into outfit coffers than calabrese sr sportsbook. i will say, jumping ahead a bit but vincent del giudices sportsbook most certainly did in years it was in operation leading up to his 2020 indictment. same could be said for roberry crews operating for grand avenue crew and a long list of other outfit skims and scams that have continued well past 2005.

You sure Lombardo was never confirmed as made??

My opinion is there’s zero chance he wasn’t. There’s no way he was in that Last Supper photo if he wasn’t made, or potentially made at that dinner.

He was Spilotro’s overseer, involved in bribing Sen. Cannon, the skim etc etc etc.

I agree I even believe his brother Rocky Lombardo was also made, but remember being made doesn't say much in The Outfit look at a guy like Gus Alex.

Sorry about confusion if there was any, I agree that Lombardo was indeed made into the outfit at some point. As to how when or why and by who doesn't really matter. In the 05 indictment it was not specified that Lombardo was made unlike Marcello and Calabrese sr. And it's something I always felt was odd is all.

Really need to stop perpetuating this myth. Being made meant everything in Chicago and Nick Calabrese testified just how important it was. Mentioning Gus Alex or any other of the high level Associates does change that and it doesnt mean anything was different in Chicago. You had these high level non Italian Associate in every city but it only gets made a big deal in Chicago for some reason. Probably because of comments like these.

Nick Calabrese testified Joe Lombardo was a member and Grand Ave Captain.