News

April 13, 2009

Marshal tried in mob case

Man who hunted gang leaders in Chicago on trial for allegedly leaking secrets.

MIKE ROBINSON Associated Press Writer

CHICAGO — Once known as a tireless bloodhound who tracked down fugitive gang leaders, deputy U.S. marshal John T. Ambrose now faces trial himself on charges alleging he betrayed his oath and leaked secrets to the mob.

Ambrose, 50, is due to go on trial today for allegedly telling organized crime figures seven years ago that a so-called made member of the Chicago mob had switched sides and was providing detailed information to federal prosecutors. Ambrose denies he ever broke the law in handling secret information.

“The feds are guaranteed to see this as the worst sort of treachery,” says mob expert John Binder, author of “The Chicago Outfit.” “I don’t think I’m overblowing it. They’re going to see him the way the military sees a Benedict Arnold.”

If convicted, Ambrose could face years behind bars.

U.S. District Judge John F. Grady has ordered extraordinary security including screens in the courtroom to conceal the faces of key witnesses from spectators. Inspectors in the government’s supersecret Witness Security Program operated by the U.S. Marshal’s Service will testify behind the screens and use pseudonyms. The idea is to prevent anyone from identifying the inspectors, whose job it is to guard heavily protected witnesses from mob assassins, terrorists or others who might want to silence them.

Ambrose defense attorney Francis C. Lipuma objected to the screens and testimony under false names. “This is going to sensationalize the trial,” Lipuma said at a recent hearing.

Ambrose is accused of leaking information to the mob about an admitted former hit man, Nicholas Calabrese, who was the government’s star witness at the landmark 2007 “Family Secrets” trial that targeted top members of the Chicago mob.

As a trusted federal lawman, Ambrose was assigned to guard Calabrese on two occasions when witness security officials lodged him at “safe sites” in Chicago for questioning by prosecutors. Ambrose is charged with stealing information from a Witness Security Program file on Calabrese and passing it to a go-between believing it would go to reputed mob boss John “No Nose” DiFronzo.

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