These are transcripts of consensual and hidden recordings used by the federal government to build their case against the subjects targeted in Operation Family Secrets case in Chicago. I will be summarizing the transcripts, similar to how B and others do for the Mary Ferrell files. I'll go in chronological order and there are a ton so who knows if I'll ever finish, but I'm willing to give it the old college try.
Frank Calabrese, Sr. is a made guy in the 26th Street crew of the Chicago Outfit. At the time of this recording (2/14/99), Sr. was imprisoned in FCI Milan in Michigan with his son and namesake, Frank, Jr. Jr. had been convicted along with his father of operating an extortion and loansharking crew. Jr. had written to FBI agents expressing his wish to cooperate against his father so he was fitted with a recorder hidden inside a walkman.
Jr. approaches Sr. in the common area of the prison and shows him a newspaper he received in the mail from Calabrese family friend Frank Coconat[e]. "Reported mobster trips, tangled" ["Reputed Mobster's Trip Tangles Case" is the actual name of the article; dated 12/18/98] is actually the headline of an article in the Chicago Tribune referring to a trip to Las Vegas made by James DiForti, another made member of the 26th Street crew who was out on bail pending a murder charge. The "Poker" referenced is a nickname for DiForti. "Come out in a couple weeks" is probably a reference by Jr. to DiForti making bail again after meeting the increased bond (2.5 million) set after his ill-timed vacation.
The Shorty referred to by Sr. is Joseph "Shorty" LaMantia, also a member of the 26th Street crew. Sr. and Jr. discuss the article further before Sr. asks his son if he had heard from Uncle Nicky. "Uncle Nicky" is Nicholas Calabrese, Sr.'s brother, who was imprisoned on the same charges but doing his time at another facility. The "Angela" that Jr. mentions is Nick's wife. "Michael" refers to Michael Talarico, also a member of the 26th Street crew.
Family Secrets Wire Transcripts
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Family Secrets Wire Transcripts
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Last edited by Snakes on Wed Apr 20, 2016 8:42 am, edited 2 times in total.
Re: Family Secrets Wire Transcripts
Sr. is pissed off that Talarico visited Nick, particularly since he already told him to stay away via "Ronnie" [Ronnie Jarrett, 26th Street crew member]. It's not immediately clear to me who "Uncle Joey" is. Jr. is wondering if Talarico told Nick anything concerning "them [the feds] pullin', uh, Uncle Nicky's stuff up," in the words of Sr. This is in reference to the FBI, ironically acting on a tip from Jr., pulling some gloves found at the John Fecarotta (26th Street crew member) murder scene from 1986. Jr. had informed the feds that he knew Nick to be behind the murder so the gloves were pulled to test for any of Nick's DNA; this inquiry is him fishing for information from Sr. Sr. doesn't believe that Talarico knows anything because his connections are in the Chicago PD and it was the "G" who pulled the evidence.
Mooney is Chicago PD detective Bob Moon. Moon worked closely with the feds because he was a veteran officer who was experienced in working with Outfit figures. Sr. mentions Jimmy (DiForti) coming out a week after the evidence was pulled, indicating that he believes DiForti may have provided the feds with information concerning the Fecarotta hit. Sr. then mentions an instance of when "they" came to see him, referring to Anthony Doyle and Michael Ricci, former Chicago cops who were also Outfit associates and errand runners for Sr. Sr. then describes Moon's relationship with the FBI.
Sr. describes an instance where Moon walked by while they were held in the "cage" - presumably referring to their initial lockup at central. "Philly" is probably referring to Phillip Tolomeo, a member of Calabrese's crew. Sr. also gives Jr. a new codename for DiForti; "Tires."
Mooney is Chicago PD detective Bob Moon. Moon worked closely with the feds because he was a veteran officer who was experienced in working with Outfit figures. Sr. mentions Jimmy (DiForti) coming out a week after the evidence was pulled, indicating that he believes DiForti may have provided the feds with information concerning the Fecarotta hit. Sr. then mentions an instance of when "they" came to see him, referring to Anthony Doyle and Michael Ricci, former Chicago cops who were also Outfit associates and errand runners for Sr. Sr. then describes Moon's relationship with the FBI.
Sr. describes an instance where Moon walked by while they were held in the "cage" - presumably referring to their initial lockup at central. "Philly" is probably referring to Phillip Tolomeo, a member of Calabrese's crew. Sr. also gives Jr. a new codename for DiForti; "Tires."
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Last edited by Snakes on Wed Apr 20, 2016 8:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Family Secrets Wire Transcripts
Sr. continues to suspect DiForti as being behind the Fecarotta murder evidence being pulled. He also uses "Joy" as a codename for Nick, referring to him as "she." Sr. also expresses doubt that the gloves are even Nick's, thinking that perhaps they belonged to Fecarotta.
They continue to discuss the ownership of the gloves and Sr explains that investigators typically test for blood now while in the seventies it was more for hair.
The individuals Sr mentions will be "comin' back the week after Friday" are Doyle and Ricci, presumably to update him on the situation with the gloves.
They continue to discuss the ownership of the gloves and Sr explains that investigators typically test for blood now while in the seventies it was more for hair.
The individuals Sr mentions will be "comin' back the week after Friday" are Doyle and Ricci, presumably to update him on the situation with the gloves.
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Re: Family Secrets Wire Transcripts
Sr explains to Jr that DiForti was not involved in the Fecarotta hit, so if they did bring charges against Nick they had no corroborating eyewitness to verify DiForti's testimony. Since DiForti wasn't the informant it's all moot, but it's still interesting to read.
It's difficult to know for certain who is being referred to on this page but Sr continues by stating that word had gotten out to Nick that "they were goin' to see him this week." This is probably the federal investigators who will be taking DNA samples from Nick to test against the blood found on the gloves. Doyle and Ricci were going to give Ronnie Jarrett a specific arrival time. Sr also takes this opportunity to give Jarrett a nickname; the "Tall Guy." Jarrett was actually a short man. According to Sr, the logic behind this is that if anyone were listening to future conversations and heard him mention the "Tall Guy" they couldn't possibly construe that as meaning Jarrett.
Sr continues to discuss codenames. It's hard to know exactly who he is referring to at the end of this page but it appears that Jarrett will take the information from Doyle and Ricci and give it Sr's godson, who will in turn pass it on to Nick. The godson is, I believe, Nicholas Ferriola, another member of the 26th Street crew and son of the late Joseph Ferriola, former West Side boss. Not sure who the Gabada is that is mentioned at the bottom of the page.
It's difficult to know for certain who is being referred to on this page but Sr continues by stating that word had gotten out to Nick that "they were goin' to see him this week." This is probably the federal investigators who will be taking DNA samples from Nick to test against the blood found on the gloves. Doyle and Ricci were going to give Ronnie Jarrett a specific arrival time. Sr also takes this opportunity to give Jarrett a nickname; the "Tall Guy." Jarrett was actually a short man. According to Sr, the logic behind this is that if anyone were listening to future conversations and heard him mention the "Tall Guy" they couldn't possibly construe that as meaning Jarrett.
Sr continues to discuss codenames. It's hard to know exactly who he is referring to at the end of this page but it appears that Jarrett will take the information from Doyle and Ricci and give it Sr's godson, who will in turn pass it on to Nick. The godson is, I believe, Nicholas Ferriola, another member of the 26th Street crew and son of the late Joseph Ferriola, former West Side boss. Not sure who the Gabada is that is mentioned at the bottom of the page.
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Re: Family Secrets Wire Transcripts
This should be interesting. I have read through most of these once or twice but Frank senior talks in so many circles they are hard to digest. I am curious to see your take on the transcripts where he talks about Johnny Difronzo and Joey the clown. Do you think the Frank Cocanante is the same one who is pals with Joe Fosco ?
Re: Family Secrets Wire Transcripts
Yes, same guy.Sam22 wrote:This should be interesting. I have read through most of these once or twice but Frank senior talks in so many circles they are hard to digest. I am curious to see your take on the transcripts where he talks about Johnny Difronzo and Joey the clown. Do you think the Frank Cocanante is the same one who is pals with Joe Fosco ?
Re: Family Secrets Wire Transcripts
Posting these pages as images is getting to be a pain in the ass so I'll just link to the whole document, which I should have done in the first place. We're picking up where we left off, on Page 12:
https://web.archive.org/web/20120114133 ... ps_1_6.pdf
"Menza" is referring to Ronnie Jarrett; it supposedly means "half" in Italian but I can't find it anywhere so it may be slang. Jarrett was half-Italian. "Rota" (Italian for "tires") is referring to DiForti, who is now known by three names in these recordings: "Rota," "Tires," and "Poker." Sr explains the background for a couple of the nicknames. "The Bull" is Angelo LaPietra, boss of the Southside in the early eighties. The "Johnny" mentioned in the last paragraph is John Monteleone, a high-ranking member of the Southside/26th Street Crew.
Page 13
(NON-PERTINENT CONVERSATION)
Page 14
Sr explains to Jr that Doyle is going to give him a date on when the evidence is being taken out of the station. He also says that if Doyle would have known about the evidence being pulled he would have "glommed" (stolen) it.
Page 15
(NON-PERTINENT)
Page 16
Jr inquires to Sr about whether or not anyone is on the visitor's list for both them and Nick. Sr responds in the negative and shoots down Jr's suggestion that his mother could get on both lists because he doesn't want her involved. Jr suggests feeling out Nick's frame of mind by writing a letter (Sr had previously mailed letters to Nick in code) but Sr doesn't want to let on that he is having suspicions about his brother. Sr proposes getting word to James Marcello, Nick's cellmate and Melrose Park boss, about the recent goings-on with the Fecarotta evidence. This way, Marcello could monitor Nick's actions and report them back to Sr through intermediaries.
Page 17
This page gives the first instance that Nick talking could hurt someone besides Sr; Marcello would have a "big fuckin' problem" if Nick were to cooperate. This gives Marcello (who had grown close to Nick in prison) even more reason to keep an eye on Nick for Sr. Jr is afraid that this may make Nick look weak in Marcello's eyes but Sr explains that it's a chance they have to take because of the stakes involved. Sr explains that if Nick and DiForti both cooperate, they could potentially corroborate their respective stories supporting Marcello's involvement in some Outfit murders.
Page 18
Sr continues explaining why Nick and DiForti cooperating would have serious implications against a lot of guys. He mentions five (without naming) currently in prison and four or five more on the street, including Ronnie Jarrett, that could be hurt by this scenario. Jr hypothetically asks how much time Nick would be looking at if he were to be convicted of the Fecarotta hit. Sr ignores the question and inserts a plausible defense for Nick if indicted: Nick could say that he and Fecarotta had gotten in an argument with Fecarotta shooting Nick in the arm.
Page 19
Sr continues by saying that Nick could then claim that he chased Fecarotta out of the car thinking that he (Nick) was dying, implying some type of temporary insanity defense which would be a stretch, to say the least. They go back to what kind of time Nick would be looking at. Sr suggests Jr visit Nick in prison when he gets out (Jr is due to get out in 2000; roughly a year from the time of the recording).
Page 20
They both continue to discuss DiForti as a possible cooperator and hypothesize that he is giving info on the Fecarotta murder, which he really wasn't involved in, in order to save his own skin concerning his own murder charge. Sr goes on to explain that there are a couple of other hits that both Nick and DiForti were involved in but suggests that DiForti may not give any info on them if he wants to "dry beef." A "dry beefer" is providing information on a confidential basis without having to testify in court. Basically a C.I. Jr explains that if DiForti's word is all that's against Nick then he may stand up and face the charges without cooperating.
https://web.archive.org/web/20120114133 ... ps_1_6.pdf
"Menza" is referring to Ronnie Jarrett; it supposedly means "half" in Italian but I can't find it anywhere so it may be slang. Jarrett was half-Italian. "Rota" (Italian for "tires") is referring to DiForti, who is now known by three names in these recordings: "Rota," "Tires," and "Poker." Sr explains the background for a couple of the nicknames. "The Bull" is Angelo LaPietra, boss of the Southside in the early eighties. The "Johnny" mentioned in the last paragraph is John Monteleone, a high-ranking member of the Southside/26th Street Crew.
Page 13
(NON-PERTINENT CONVERSATION)
Page 14
Sr explains to Jr that Doyle is going to give him a date on when the evidence is being taken out of the station. He also says that if Doyle would have known about the evidence being pulled he would have "glommed" (stolen) it.
Page 15
(NON-PERTINENT)
Page 16
Jr inquires to Sr about whether or not anyone is on the visitor's list for both them and Nick. Sr responds in the negative and shoots down Jr's suggestion that his mother could get on both lists because he doesn't want her involved. Jr suggests feeling out Nick's frame of mind by writing a letter (Sr had previously mailed letters to Nick in code) but Sr doesn't want to let on that he is having suspicions about his brother. Sr proposes getting word to James Marcello, Nick's cellmate and Melrose Park boss, about the recent goings-on with the Fecarotta evidence. This way, Marcello could monitor Nick's actions and report them back to Sr through intermediaries.
Page 17
This page gives the first instance that Nick talking could hurt someone besides Sr; Marcello would have a "big fuckin' problem" if Nick were to cooperate. This gives Marcello (who had grown close to Nick in prison) even more reason to keep an eye on Nick for Sr. Jr is afraid that this may make Nick look weak in Marcello's eyes but Sr explains that it's a chance they have to take because of the stakes involved. Sr explains that if Nick and DiForti both cooperate, they could potentially corroborate their respective stories supporting Marcello's involvement in some Outfit murders.
Page 18
Sr continues explaining why Nick and DiForti cooperating would have serious implications against a lot of guys. He mentions five (without naming) currently in prison and four or five more on the street, including Ronnie Jarrett, that could be hurt by this scenario. Jr hypothetically asks how much time Nick would be looking at if he were to be convicted of the Fecarotta hit. Sr ignores the question and inserts a plausible defense for Nick if indicted: Nick could say that he and Fecarotta had gotten in an argument with Fecarotta shooting Nick in the arm.
Page 19
Sr continues by saying that Nick could then claim that he chased Fecarotta out of the car thinking that he (Nick) was dying, implying some type of temporary insanity defense which would be a stretch, to say the least. They go back to what kind of time Nick would be looking at. Sr suggests Jr visit Nick in prison when he gets out (Jr is due to get out in 2000; roughly a year from the time of the recording).
Page 20
They both continue to discuss DiForti as a possible cooperator and hypothesize that he is giving info on the Fecarotta murder, which he really wasn't involved in, in order to save his own skin concerning his own murder charge. Sr goes on to explain that there are a couple of other hits that both Nick and DiForti were involved in but suggests that DiForti may not give any info on them if he wants to "dry beef." A "dry beefer" is providing information on a confidential basis without having to testify in court. Basically a C.I. Jr explains that if DiForti's word is all that's against Nick then he may stand up and face the charges without cooperating.
Re: Family Secrets Wire Transcripts
This might be useful about "Menza", which should probably be "Mezza": http://blogs.transparent.com/italian/me ... -or-mezza/
Re: Family Secrets Wire Transcripts
By the way, appreciate your efforts here. It looks time consuming, but worth it.
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AustraliaSteve
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Re: Family Secrets Wire Transcripts
This is great stuff. Thank you Snakes.
(...cough...)
https://mafiainaustralia.wordpress.com
https://mafiainaustralia.wordpress.com
Re: Family Secrets Wire Transcripts
Snakes, you're the shit!
Re: Family Secrets Wire Transcripts
Yes Nick ferriola was frank sr godson which I always found interesting as I never heard of joe ferriola and frank sr were that close. They lived literally a block from each other but even in frank jr book he never mentions joe even though he mentions pretty much every other member of the outfit at some point.Snakes wrote: Sr explains to Jr that DiForti was not involved in the Fecarotta hit, so if they did bring charges against Nick they had no corroborating eyewitness to verify DiForti's testimony. Since DiForti wasn't the informant it's all moot, but it's still interesting to read.
It's difficult to know for certain who is being referred to on this page but Sr continues by stating that word had gotten out to Nick that "they were goin' to see him this week." This is probably the federal investigators who will be taking DNA samples from Nick to test against the blood found on the gloves. Doyle and Ricci were going to give Ronnie Jarrett a specific arrival time. Sr also takes this opportunity to give Jarrett a nickname; the "Tall Guy." Jarrett was actually a short man. According to Sr, the logic behind this is that if anyone were listening to future conversations and heard him mention the "Tall Guy" they couldn't possibly construe that as meaning Jarrett.
Sr continues to discuss codenames. It's hard to know exactly who he is referring to at the end of this page but it appears that Jarrett will take the information from Doyle and Ricci and give it Sr's godson, who will in turn pass it on to Nick. The godson is, I believe, Nicholas Ferriola, another member of the 26th Street crew and son of the late Joseph Ferriola, former West Side boss. Not sure who the Gabada is that is mentioned at the bottom of the page.
I agree with phat,I love those old fucks and he's right.we all got some cosa nostra in us.I personnely love the life.I think we on the forum would be the ultimate crew! - camerono
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joeycigars
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Re: Family Secrets Wire Transcripts
HmmmPete wrote:Yes Nick ferriola was frank sr godson which I always found interesting as I never heard of joe ferriola and frank sr were that close. They lived literally a block from each other but even in frank jr book he never mentions joe even though he mentions pretty much every other member of the outfit at some point.Snakes wrote: Sr explains to Jr that DiForti was not involved in the Fecarotta hit, so if they did bring charges against Nick they had no corroborating eyewitness to verify DiForti's testimony. Since DiForti wasn't the informant it's all moot, but it's still interesting to read.
It's difficult to know for certain who is being referred to on this page but Sr continues by stating that word had gotten out to Nick that "they were goin' to see him this week." This is probably the federal investigators who will be taking DNA samples from Nick to test against the blood found on the gloves. Doyle and Ricci were going to give Ronnie Jarrett a specific arrival time. Sr also takes this opportunity to give Jarrett a nickname; the "Tall Guy." Jarrett was actually a short man. According to Sr, the logic behind this is that if anyone were listening to future conversations and heard him mention the "Tall Guy" they couldn't possibly construe that as meaning Jarrett.
Sr continues to discuss codenames. It's hard to know exactly who he is referring to at the end of this page but it appears that Jarrett will take the information from Doyle and Ricci and give it Sr's godson, who will in turn pass it on to Nick. The godson is, I believe, Nicholas Ferriola, another member of the 26th Street crew and son of the late Joseph Ferriola, former West Side boss. Not sure who the Gabada is that is mentioned at the bottom of the page.
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dixiemafia
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Re: Family Secrets Wire Transcripts
Great stuff, can't wait to see the rest!
If I didn't have my case coming up, I would like to come back with you gentlemen when this is over with and really lay the law down what is going on in this country.....