Family Secrets: The Case That Crippled the Chicago Mob

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.

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4/5: From: Amazon; Posted: Jun-27-2009; the Chicago Outfit makes the NY mob look like something out of a Dizney PG flick; Definitely worth getting for those interested in the topic. This is the real deal.Only wish the author had covered some more of the hits. Who knows why it was left out. Anyway, what we have here is well worth reading. A real eye-opener.; read full review | report as inappropriate

4/5: From: Amazon; Posted: May-25-2009; Good start.; I only wish more books would be written about the Chicago Outfit. This is the definitive account of the trial of the century in Chicago. The fact that the Author sat in the courtroom comes through his writing style. If you want to...; read full review | report as inappropriate

4/5: From: Amazon; Posted: May-08-2009; The allure of the Chicago Mob has dimmed; I've lived in the Chicago area for most of my life. Perhaps that's at least part of the reason I find this "Chicago mob" book to be somewhat on the dull side. So a mobster decides to rat out his buddies and gives information on a couple...; read full review | report as inappropriate

5/5: From: Amazon; Posted: May-04-2009; Chicago Mob Characters Come Alive; 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...; read full review | report as inappropriate

Selected Reviews

4/5: From: Amazon; Posted: Jun-27-2009; the Chicago Outfit makes the NY mob look like something out of a Dizney PG flick; Definitely worth getting for those interested in the topic. This is the real deal.Only wish the author had covered some more of the hits. Who knows why it was left out. Anyway, what we have here is well worth reading. A real eye-opener.; read full review | report as inappropriate

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