I know of far worse guys who never got sentenced to Supermax. Why Jimmy? Were the feds trying to prove some sort of point using him as an example? Frank Calabrese wasn't even sent to Supermax and he murdered way more guys than Jimmy. I imagine it’s because he told the feds and judges to fuck off.

Thoughts?

Discuss.

Marcello had a position more high than Calabrese,I think after the Family Secret trial,the fact that he was sent to supermax (like Gotti) was a sign that the high level mobsters will pay more respect the simple soldiers.

Gotti was sent to Marion where he was allowed to interact with other prisoners on a daily basis and much more freedom behind bars. Supermax is a totally different animal that is meant for people who plan terrorist attacks and so forth. Not really sure why Marcello is there compared to a place like Florence.

Putting him in the worst supermax is a disgrace. Same with Lombardo. Do you buy Red Wemettes claim he put a hit on a judge & thats why he was sent there considering Red is a known bser & has been caught in so many lies…i dont buy it

I don't buy it either. It is a disgrace!

Have always wondered how he got fucked so bad. While were on the subject of Jimmy "the man", if anyone has any good info on him, I'd love to hear it. Seems like a pretty fascinating guy, but not much information about him. And Red Wemette is the worst. F*** that guy.

Agreed. Jimmy was one bad ass mobster that is for sure. These two photos just fit the Definition of what a mobster should look like. He easily could have fit in with New York if he would have been a member of one of the five families.........

https://gangstersinc.ning.com/profi...profile-of-chicago-mafia-boss-james-marc

Making millions

Marcello had proven to be a loyal, capable, and smart operator. Marcello knew how to earn. Together with his brother Michael, he ran M&M Amusement, a video poker machine business that made him millions. They would place machines in bars and restaurants under the guise of amusement, since gambling was illegal, but players could exchange credits with actual winnings if they were deemed trustworthy enough to play ‘the game’. Authorities estimated that the company had underreported its income by over $4 million between 1996 and 2003.

Casino murders

He also knew how to kill. At least, that’s what Marcello’s fellow Chicago Outfit member Nicholas Calabrese told federal authorities when he decided to become a government witness. Prosecutors believed him and in April 2005 charged Marcello and several other Chicago Mob leaders and hitmen with murder and racketeering charges.

Marcello was accused of involvement in the 1981 murder of Nicholas D’Andrea and the 1986 double homicide of the Spilotro brothers, Anthony and Michael, a killing made famous by Martin Scorsese’s epic gangster movie Casino.

To back up Calabrese’s testimony, authorities had placed a hidden camera and bug at Marcello’s prison and recorded visits he received from his brother Michael and other mob associates. Even behind bars, Marcello remained wary of investigators and he spoke using code words, sometimes even covering his mouth – as the characters in Casino had done.

The discussions, however, offered clues to the underlying topics. “The big thing with them is the Zhivago deal,” Michael said to James during one visit. He was referring to a news story in the Chicago Tribune about “Zhivago and his brother.” The only article that was about two brothers focused on the Spilotro brothers.

Investing in Omerta

Suspicions about Nick Calabrese becoming a government witness had been growing among the Chicago mob thanks in large part to Nick’s brother Frank airing his doubts about his own blood. As a precaution, Marcello had been making monthly payments of $4,000 dollars to Nick’s family. It is supposedly a custom to take care of the relatives of imprisoned mobsters, but this rule is generally broken. Still, it offered Marcello a chance to gain Calabrese’s sympathy and perhaps some protection as well.  

“I told you,” James told his brother. “That was the best investment… Believe me.”

It worked indeed, if only for a while. Calabrese indeed omitted Marcello from several key parts. But eventually he caved and spilled the beans.

Investigators began collecting DNA material from several high-ranking mobsters, including Marcello. “I thought it was gonna be a piss test,” he later told his brother. He also wondered who else had gotten such a visit. Several, his brother Michael answered. Flapjack, Hitler, Pagliacci, and this guy, he said as he rubbed his nose to signify Chicago Outfit boss John “No Nose” DiFronzo.

Pagliacci was a nickname for longtime Outfit leader Joseph Lombardo. Of whom Michael said he might – and indeed did - go on the lam: “Skip, hop, he’s gone.”

“Well, could you blame him?” James asked. “I wish the fuck I had the opportunity.”

He didn’t. Despite offering up homes worth over $12 million as bond, the judge denied his request and Marcello stayed locked up.

Family Secrets out in the open

The trial dubbed Family Secrets began in the summer of 2007 and promised to lift the lid off of decades of Mafia killings the Chicago Outfit had been responsible for. James Marcello stood trial alongside Frank Calabrese Sr. – who faced both his brother Nick and son Frank Jr. as government witnesses against him – Joseph “The Clown” Lombardo, Paul “The Indian” Schiro, Anthony “Twon” Doyle, and Frank “The German” Schweihs - who was called Hitler by Marcello’s brother and was too sick with cancer to stand trial, passing away in 2008.

Though Frank Calabrese Sr., Joseph Lombardo, and Anthony Doyle testified in their defense, Marcello chose to stay silent as the court proceedings went on. He heard testimony against him from Nicholas Calabrese and Michael Spilotro’s daughter Michelle linking him to the murder of the Spilotro brothers.

Michelle recognized Marcello’s voice and claimed he had called the house twice the day her father disappeared. Calabrese claimed Marcello had driven Anthony and Michael Spilotro to their death with promises of promotion to capo for Tony and membership in the mob for Michael. Once they arrived at a home in Bensenville, Illinois, they were awaited by around ten armed mobsters wearing gloves who, together with Marcello and Calabrese, beat and strangled the two brothers to death.

Calabrese also placed Marcello at the murder scene of mob associate Nicholas D’Andrea who was beaten to death by accident after he was questioned about the shooting of a high-ranking member of the Chicago Outfit.

After several months of intense testimony by witnesses, victims, and several defendants, the jury reached a verdict on September 10, 2007. They found Marcello guilty of racketeering, illegal gambling, obstruction of justice by bribing Nick Calabrese, and tax evasion. Several weeks later, he was also found guilty of the double killing of the Spilotro brothers. He was acquitted of the murder of D’Andrea.

On February 5, 2009, he was sentenced to life in prison.

I think most of the Chicago top echelon during that time period would have fit in and thrived anywhere in any family in the country. You are correct about Jimmy though. Guy just looks like a gangster through and through.

Good read. I had seen the transcripts from the prison conversations with his brother. I think it was Marcello who ordered the bombing of a suspected rat's mother's house once too. The guy definitely was a heavy hitter, but the charges brought against him in Family Secrets were pretty weak IMO. As an aside, pretty wild he was even able to offer up $12MM worth of houses in an attempt to post bail. Guy clearly knew how to earn big.

There are actual, literal terrorist murderers that aren't in a Supermax prison. That's insane they would put someone like him there. Do they think he's still running the Outfit? Only thing I can think is that the FEDS wanted to make an example out of him. I don't buy that he was planning on having hits carried out against Prosecutors or Judges involved in the trial. What's he going to do? He's in prison for life, he going to find some solider on the street that's willing to get the Death Penalty for taking out a judge? Don't think so. I think he got severely screwed being involved in the trial with Calabrese Sr who out of the group is the one who should've ended up in SUpermax, he was the one doing the actual killings and he killed a hell of lot more people than the 2 murders that Marcello was involved with.

Also Basciano was sent to Florence but after few years was sent to Big Sandy,the question is why Marcello is still here despite his age?

Not saying that Marcello is an innocent guy or anything, but sending him to that kind of prison for the worst of the worst is inhumane. He's 80 years old.

I was also surprised that he offered up 12 million in properties as bail collateral. I seem to remember one of those houses was his daughter and son in law's for $7 mill in the Chicago suburbs. I'm sure he was a smart enough guy to have the receipts to avoid the properties being seized, but if that guy had 12 mill + worth of properties he must've been making some serious, serious $$$$. Bet he had some bucks squirreled away somewhere too.

I understand the sentence, those guys were getting Life no matter what, I just don't understand the location. Basciano did have a hit list of prosecutors or the judge or something too, right? But again, he's in prison for Life, what's he going to do? There aren't any soldiers out there loyal or stupid enough to get hit with a death penalty charge for a murder like that. Once these guys go to prison for Life, unless you're a Persico with tons of family members in the Family, your power is gone. Marcello was essentially a street boss in the first place I thought.

From what I know of him, he wasn't a violent or flashy guy, so I don't get it....Same with Vito Rizzuto, he didn't even live in the country and they sent him to the super max...Meanwhile Carmine Persico killed more people then cancer and was in the cushiest prison in the country...I guess you gotta pay the right people to get transferred to a better prison

Ha, yeah, that's true about Persico. Dude had a rose garden and was riding mechanical bulls and shit in prison. Plus he was absolutely involved as much as he could be with running the Family thru family. He was in there with Anthony Senter too. Playing the drums in their prison band. Persico was behind and directly involved with more hits than Marcello was ever even suspected of and still held power.

That’s a designation and a tool used to meet out Vengeance by the Gov’t.

I would imagine at some point Carmine Persico did some time at a maximum security prison.

I mean he didn’t just have a list of names of people he wanted killed
He ordered a hit that was carried out on a Judge.

Oh, yeah. That's right. They killed the prosecutor's father who was a parking ticket judge and shared the same office building. Then they killed the hitmen, then the hitmen that killed the hitmen. Don't see how they screwed that up as bad as they did. First hitmen were probably going to be killed no matter what just to cover the tracks.Some loyalty by leadership.

Considering The Snake spent like 3/4ths of his life in the can, I'm sure he spent time in every prison they got. Ha.

Not just that
After that his Borgata than they killed a cop.

Not threatened
KILLED…

Goldy and DiLorenzo: There are no cushy prisons, and as for him on that mechanical bull that was just him posing on it when it was stopped. They have events in all prisons, including days for ethnic groups and races where festivals are held, This includes maximum security places. Those event are few and far between (As they should be in prisons) but no one like it there. He was tortured at the end, made to die slowly and painfully, which is not as it should be. I used to scoff at Italians saying they were targeted and given way less compassionate releases or harsher sentences, but studying this over the years they have a point.

However he was not part of the killing, and the man was not killed for being a cop, it was over a girlfriend he shared with a mafia member.

he's an interesting guy for sure, probably would had been boss over the last decade or two

Absolutely if Marcello wasn’t ever sent to prison he would have been boss.

His father was murdered in the 70s I read.

Oh, I know it's not cushy being in prison, but Carmine wasn't on 23 hour lock down in a maximum security prison that's meant to house the worst of the worst criminals like Marcello is. He was certainly "worse" than Marcello in terms of ordering hits and running the Family as much as he could while in prison too.I guess Marcello was getting information on witnesses while he was locked up before/during the trial, but I still don't know why he'd be in a Supermax years now after the trial. I don't even think that Nick Calabrese is in Witness Protection. I live in Illinois and can remember reading that Nick came back to Chicago after he did his time. Which he got a hell of a lot less of than Marcello did for being a rat while also being directly involved and participating in multiple murders and Marcello was basically convicted of racketeering and driving the Spilotro brothers to their demise in the basement of the house in Bensonville.

They put Sammy in the same place and what'd he do? Sell X? Make the Government look like fools for giving him that deal and he went back to being a gangster? He was in solitary confinement for 7 years. Seemed like a pretty inhumane place with the treatment he was describing.

Goldy, are you sure Sammy Gravano was on a lockdown, or that he got 7 years? I thought he got 5 years in a prison with a section for protected witnesses. When you say he was in solitary confinement for 7 years, did you mean Gravano or one of the others being discussed? Sorry if I lost track. Thanks.

I believe Sammy claims on his podcast/youtube channel that after he went back after the ex thing, he was in solitary for an extended period of time. Not sure on the exact number of years though.

Sammy discusses the 7 years he did in the hole in the same Supermax Prison Marcello is currently housed in in Colorado. Sammy served his entire sentence in that prison from 2002-2017, but not all of it in solitary confinement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUPcdvYrVpo

I get it, thanks, I forgot all about the second prison term. I am a bit suspicious of the 7 year in solitary claim, since it comes from Sammy himself. He may have been in protective custody.

Sure nobody wants to be in prison, but someone who was as violent as Persico was sent to a medium security prison which inmates all over the country try to get transferred too because its easy time..Not like a state prison or a super max

Absolutely.

Absolutely. Plus it was pretty clear that Persico was still in charge and giving orders thru his son up until he went away for Life. Carmine must've sent some envelopes to the right folks.