John Fecarotta, a Chicago Outfit enforcer known as “Big Stoop,” was murdered outside a Northwest Side bingo hall on September 14, 1986, by fellow mobsters who blamed him for botching the burial of Anthony and Michael Spilotro three months earlier. The killing went officially unsolved for nearly two decades. When DNA testing finally matched blood on a glove dropped at the scene to Outfit hitman Nicholas Calabrese, the John Fecarotta murder became the case that opened Operation Family Secrets, the federal prosecution that convicted the top surviving leadership of the Chicago Outfit.
Who John Fecarotta Was
Fecarotta, 58 at the time of his death, was a career criminal tied to the Outfit’s Chinatown crew under Angelo “The Hook” LaPietra. The President’s Commission on Organized Crime identified him as a “ghost” employee of Local 8 of the Industrial Workers Union, where he drew “an unearned salary and apparently used his union position as a legitimate cover.”1Chicago Tribune. A Deadly Gangland Masquerade He lost that job in 1982 during a federal grand jury investigation into ghost payrollers.
Chicago police considered him a street boss and labor racketeer, suspected him in at least two murders, and described him as the “No. 3 man behind Angelo LaPietra.”2Chicago Tribune. Police Say Mobster Trusted His Killer He had also worked for 25 years as a “watchman” catching cheaters in North Side gambling boss Ken Eto’s operations.
Why the Outfit Killed Him
Fecarotta’s death was payback for the Spilotro job. On June 14, 1986, Anthony “Tony the Ant” Spilotro, the Outfit’s Las Vegas overseer, and his brother Michael were beaten and strangled in a suburban Chicago basement.3Chicago Sun-Times. Chicago Mob Hitman Nicholas Calabrese Dead The plan was for the brothers to disappear, with a follow-up ruse to convince the FBI they had fled to Europe.
That plan collapsed on June 22, 1986, when a farmer named Mike Kinz spotted disturbed ground in a cornfield near Morocco, Indiana, about 60 miles southeast of Chicago, and discovered the shallow grave.4UPI. Spilotro Brothers Beaten and Buried5New York Times. Bodies of Missing Crime Figures Found Buried on Indiana Farm Federal sources later said Fecarotta had supervised the murder crew and personally picked the burial site.6Chicago Tribune. Mobster Death Linked to Hit on Spilotros He was also believed to be sharing sensitive Outfit intelligence with his wife and girlfriend.7The Mob Museum. Epic Family Secrets Trial Crippled Chicago Outfit Outfit leadership marked him for death.
How the Hit Went Down
Exactly three months after the Spilotros disappeared, Fecarotta was lured to Brown’s Banquets Inc. at 6050 W. Belmont Avenue.6Chicago Tribune. Mobster Death Linked to Hit on Spilotros He thought he was one of a three-man crew heading out to kill someone else. He wore gloves. He carried a .38-caliber revolver. A fake dynamite bomb built from railroad flares had been staged in a nearby stolen car.1Chicago Tribune. A Deadly Gangland Masquerade
The killer was someone Fecarotta trusted. According to Chicago police commander Earl Johnson, the assailant persuaded Fecarotta to empty his own revolver by claiming the firing pin might be faulty and offering to compare it to his own gun.2Chicago Tribune. Police Say Mobster Trusted His Killer With Fecarotta disarmed behind the wheel, the shooter opened fire. Struck in the side, Fecarotta ran from the car toward the bingo hall across the street. The killer chased him down, grabbed the back of his neck near the entrance, and fired a final shot into the back of his head.
At least three witnesses saw the killer’s face. Inside the abandoned 1986 Buick Century, its motor still running, investigators found five bullets on the seat, the disabled revolver in the glove compartment, and a two-way radio described as a “trademark of the Angelo LaPietra gang.” No suspects were named at the time.
The Bloody Glove That Solved the Case
The killer also dropped a pair of blood-stained black golfing gloves as he walked away. For more than a decade the gloves sat in evidence with little apparent value.8UPI. Bloody Glove Key to Unsolved Mob Hits The shooter was Nicholas “Nicky Slim” Calabrese, a made member of the Outfit’s 26th Street crew, who had accidentally shot himself during the struggle with Fecarotta and bled into the gloves.9Chicago Tribune. Mobster: Fear Led Me to Kill, Then Rat
Acting on a tip, FBI agents inspected Calabrese’s forearm and found a gunshot wound consistent with the incident. DNA testing then matched the blood on the gloves to him. Calabrese later testified that he learned of the match in early 2000. Facing forensic evidence he could not beat, and fearing the death penalty, he contacted the FBI in 2002 from prison, where he was already serving a racketeering sentence, and offered to cooperate.
Calabrese testified that he carried out the Fecarotta hit alongside his brother Frank Calabrese Sr. and John “Johnny Apes” Monteleone, a street captain of the 26th Street crew.10NBC News. Calabrese Testimony on Fecarotta Murder11Chicago Tribune. Grand Jury Lifting Veil on Unsolved Mob Hits Monteleone was dead before charges could be brought.
Operation Family Secrets
The Fecarotta case has been described as the one that “really started” Operation Family Secrets.12Las Vegas Review-Journal. He Wanted Out of Mob Life, So He Turned on His Father The broader investigation had begun in 1998, when Frank Calabrese Jr. contacted the FBI’s Chicago office offering to build a case against his father.13FBI. Operation Family Secrets Held with his father at the federal prison in Milan, Michigan, the younger Calabrese wore a wire in the prison yard between February and June 1999, capturing his father discussing murders and Outfit operations.14The Guardian. Frank Calabrese Jr: The Mobster Who Shopped His Dad Additional recordings between 1999 and 2000 caught Frank Calabrese Sr. discussing with corrupt Chicago police officers Anthony “Twan” Doyle and Michael Ricci how to get rid of the bloody glove from the Fecarotta scene.15The Mob Museum. Family Secrets With Frank Calabrese Jr
The prison recordings, plus the DNA match, gave investigators the leverage to turn Nicholas Calabrese. Once he flipped, the case exploded. He admitted killing 14 people and gave firsthand accounts of 18 previously unsolved mob murders, including the Spilotro killings, in which he said he held Michael Spilotro’s legs while another Outfit member strangled him.3Chicago Sun-Times. Chicago Mob Hitman Nicholas Calabrese Dead FBI Special Agent John Mallul called his cooperation “exceptional.”13FBI. Operation Family Secrets A government memo described him as “the most important organized crime witness who ever testified in the Northern District of Illinois.”16ABC Local. Government Fratto Memo
In April 2005 a federal grand jury returned a 43-page racketeering indictment naming 14 defendants and covering the 18 unsolved murders.17U.S. Department of Justice. Family Secrets Indictment Press Release Five defendants stood trial in 2007:
- Frank Calabrese Sr., 26th Street crew member linked to more than a dozen gangland murders.
- James “Little Jimmy” Marcello, acting boss of the Outfit’s Cicero crew, convicted of driving the Spilotro brothers to their deaths.
- Joseph “Joey the Clown” Lombardo, a consigliere convicted of the 1974 murder of federal witness Daniel Seifert.
- Paul “The Indian” Schiro, the Outfit’s West Coast representative in Arizona.
- Anthony “Twan” Doyle, a retired Chicago police officer who had assisted Calabrese Sr. from inside the department.
All five were found guilty on September 10, 2007. U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel sentenced Calabrese Sr., Marcello, and Lombardo each to life in prison in early 2009.18WBEZ. Jimmy Marcello Gets Life in Prison19NBC Chicago. Joey the Clown Lombardo Sentenced to Life Doyle received 12 years for conspiracy, and Schiro also drew a lengthy sentence.7The Mob Museum. Epic Family Secrets Trial Crippled Chicago Outfit20ABC 7 News. Frank Calabrese Sr. Dies in Prison21Chicago Sun-Times. Son of Joseph Lombardo ‘The Clown’ Victim Surprised by Mobster Death
The glove that Nicholas Calabrese dropped on the sidewalk outside a bingo hall in 1986 ended up dismantling the leadership of the Chicago Outfit.