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Family Secrets: The Case That Crippled the Chicago Mob

Family Secrets: The Case That Crippled the Chicago Mob
By Jeff Coen

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Product Description

Even in Chicago, a city steeped in mob history and legend, the Family Secrets case was a true spectacle when it made it to court in 2007. A top mob boss, a reputed consigliere, and other high-profile members of the Chicago Outfit were accused in a total of eighteen gangland killings, revealing organized crime’s ruthless grip on the city throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.
            Painting a vivid picture of murder, courtroom drama, family loyalties and disloyalties, journalist Jeff Coen accurately portrays the Chicago Outfit’s cold-blooded--and sometimes incompetent--killers and their crimes in the case that brought them down. In 1998 Frank Calabrese Jr. volunteered to wear a wire to gather evidence against his father, a vicious loan shark who strangled most of his victims with a rope before slitting their throats to ensure they were dead. Frank Jr. went after his uncle Nick as well, a calculating but sometimes bumbling hit man who would become one of the highest-ranking turncoats in mob history, admitting he helped strangle, stab, shoot, and bomb victims who got in the mob’s way, and turning evidence against his brother Frank.
            The Chicago courtroom took on the look and feel of a movie set as Chicago’s most colorful mobsters and their equally flamboyant attorneys paraded through and performed: James “Jimmy Light” Marcello, the acting head of the Chicago mob; Joey “the Clown” Lombardo, one of Chicago’s most eccentric mobsters; Paul “the Indian” Schiro; and a former Chicago police officer, Anthony “Twan” Doyle, among others.
            Re-creating events from court transcripts, police records, interviews, and notes taken day after day as the story unfolded in court, Coen provides a riveting wide-angle view and one of the best accounts on record of the inner workings of the Chicago syndicate and its control over the city’s streets.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #25573 in Books
  • Published on: 2009-04-01
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 400 pages

Features

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Coen, a Chicago Tribune reporter, dissects one of the most pivotal mob criminal prosecutions, the Family Secrets case, in his revealing, shocking book on self-destructive Cosa Nostra members engaged in a death dance of suspicion and betrayal. Members of the Chicago Syndicate, also known as the Outfit, under the taut leadership of Frank Calabrese Sr., did their share of graft, bribery, extortion, bookmaking and murder, much like in the glory Capone days, but in 1998, Calabresi's son Frank Jr.—who had had it with his father's abusive ways and broken promises—decided to become an FBI turncoat and get the goods on his father and the powerful men around him. Giving an unfettered glimpse into the strata of the Chicago criminal organization, Coen tallies the strategies of the clever mob mouthpieces, the extensive wise guy body count, and the Feds' relentless pursuit through the indictment and sentencing. Superbly crafted, this is a tragic, clear-sighted account of how Chicago's mighty mob was brought to heel. Photos, map. (Apr.)
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Review

"[A] revealing, shocking book . . . superbly crafted."  —Publishers Weekly


"A telling look inside the twisted world of organized crime, sure to interest those who follow mob mayhem."  —Kirkus Reviews


"[An] authoritative account . . . indispensable to truly knowing how Chicago works."  —Chicago Tribune


"Painting a vivid picture . . . riveting . . . one of the best accounts on record."  —TheChicagoSyndicate.com



"[Coen has produced] a careful account."  —Bloomsbury Review



"(An) episodic telling . . . a useful and lucid history . . . [the book] teems with disturbing local color."  —Gaper's Block



"The book reads like a fast paced crime thriller and, indeed, though it is nonfiction, it makes for fascinating reading."  —The Times



"Coen's narrative is compelling even when covering materials where we already know the trial's outcome and gives the participants—from lawyers to prosecutors to defendents—a rich, full rendering which is no easy feat."  —Chicagoist.com

About the Author

Jeff Coen is a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, covering federal trials and investigations from the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in downtown Chicago. He was present in the courtroom throughout the Family Secrets trial, and his pieces on the case were featured in a popular series in the Chicago Tribune.

Customer Reviews

A READ YOU CAN'T REFUSE5
As a first time author, Jeff Coen's debut work is a powerful and riveting account of the most memorable and landmark mob trial in Chicago history, a city long known for its gangster reputation.

Building the case in rich and informative detail leading up to the trial in the summer of 2007, Mr. Coen expertly provides background of The Outfit and it's colorful players.

As an avid mob watcher, I had the opportunity to witness this trial many times which also included the days of testimony of Nick Calabrese and his father, Frank. Mr. Coen's extraordinary re-creation of this event brought this experience back to life; the deafening silence in court listening to witnesses recall events, tension filled exchanges during direct and cross examination, facial and body language of the defendants, interaction among the attorneys, days filled with raw emotion and exhaustion at the end of the court day, and the anticipation of what would happen next. True trial theatre. In spite of the seriousness of the subject matter, this book nor the trial didn't lack in humor. Mr. Coen covered all of it.

This book is the best I've read about the Chicago mob in decades! I couldn't put it down sitting for hours at a time. The book is a must have to add to an organized crime library.

Essential reading on the heirs of Al Capone5
This fascinating and frightening read is a must for anyone even casually interested in the Chicago Outfit. Coen seamlessly weaves a story that takes us through decades of bad behavior and its consequences. It features a cast of creepy characters with names like "The Clown" and "The Hook." The worst of the bunch is Frank Calabrese Sr, a greedy madman who wouldn't think twice about killing his own brother or bullying his sons --but is bothered by the fact that he has to burn a holy card in the mob initiation ceremony. Incredible details fill the book, and justice is served cold by the long arm or the law. Screaming for a film adaptation. You won't be disappointed.

Chicago Mob Characters Come Alive5
This is a great read! Family Secrets provides a chilling look into the lives and thinking of these violent mob characters.

The book pieces together the crimes and events that took place over decades, and just culminated in the dramatic courtroom testimony that exposed the depth of brutality and treachery of this mob family.

The events and personalities read like imaginative crime fiction... but are backed up with incredible facts, evidence, and courtroom testimony.

Like they say, you just couldn't make this stuff up!