Operation Family Secrets

Operation Family Secrets was an FBI investigation of mob related crimes in Chicago. According to the FBI it was one of the most successful investigations of organized crime ever conducted by the Bureau. The investigation and trial was accurately dubbed "Family Secrets" because of the betrayal within the Calabrese family. The son, Frank Calabrese, Jr., and brother, Nick Calabrese, of a Chicago Outfit mob hit man, Frank Calabrese, Sr., provided testimony that was instrumental to the success of Operation Family Secrets. The investigation led to indictments of 14 defendants affiliated with the Chicago Outfit, which has been one of the most prolific organized crime enterprises in the United States. The most heinous of their crimes investigated were the 18 murders and one attempted murder that took place over the span between the years 1970 and 1986. All of the murders and other crimes being charged to the defendants were allegedly committed to further the Outfit's illegal activities such as loansharking, bookmaking and protecting the enterprise from law enforcement. Operation Family Secrets was a milestone in the FBI's battle against organized crime in the city of Chicago that is said to have had a significant effect on the operations of the Chicago Outfit. However, it did not end the Outfit's reign in Chicago.

The following list is of the murders committed as objectives of the Chicago Outfit that were investigated in Operation Family Secrets.

The investigation began on July 27, 1998 when Frank Calabrese, Jr., wrote a letter to the FBI saying he wanted help to put his father in jail. The letter was sent without warning from the federal correctional facility in Milan, Michigan, where both Frank Jr. and Frank Sr. were incarcerated since 1995, when four members of the Calabrese family had been sentenced for collecting "juice loans" and racketeering an auto repair business. In his letter Frank Jr. requested a face-to-face meeting in which he planned to give the FBI information about his father's crimes, business of the Chicago Outfit street crews, and the murder of John Fecorotta. Frank Jr.'s letter read, "This is no game. I feel I have to help keep this sick man locked up forever." Frank Jr. and his father had rough patches in their relationship over the years. Frank Jr. had stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash from his father which he blew away on a cocaine addiction and bad business decisions. In the wake of his son's disloyalty, Frank Sr. allegedly forced a gun to his son's head and threatened to kill him. This and many other instances of Frank Sr.'s abuse and poor fathering of his sons contributed to Frank Jr.'s desire to help the FBI bring him down for hard jailtime. Frank Calabrese, Jr. volunteered to record conversations he had with his father while they were imprisoned. He wore a pair of headphones around his neck that the FBI fitted with a hidden microphone to record conversation between the father and son. It was not difficult for Frank Jr. to direct his conversations in the prison courtyard and recreational facilities with his father toward information that would benefit the FBI's quickly assembling investigation. Frank Sr. would tell his son in a bragging manner about criminal activities of his past.

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