Defense Delivers Show in Mob Trial
The Godfather it ain’t.
But Chicago’s Family Secrets mob trial has drawn plenty of spectators, the Washington Post reports.
“The 10-week trial has spawned a subculture of its own: Chicagoans who feel as if the mob was a shadowy but ever-present force as they grew up in this city, and who wanted to see some of its most flamboyant characters in the flesh—and put behind bars,” the newspaper reports.
Among those on trial is Frank Calabrese Sr., accused of taking part in 13 murders. Calabrese’s son and brother both cooperated against him.
In closing arguments yesterday, the lawyer for the defendant Calabrese, Joseph Lopez, wore a “hypnotic pink-and-black checkered tie” as he talked loudly and ridiculed the brother-turned-witness, Nicholas Calabrese, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Lopez said the brother was “a walking piece of deception” who “would shoot you in the head over a cold ravioli.”
