
Operation Family Secrets
How a Mobster's Son and the FBI Brought Down Chicago's Murderous Crime Family
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Narrated by:
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Todd McLaren
About this listen
The Calabrese family of Chicago is a close-knit, middle-class, multi-generational Italian-Irish-American clan. They operate family businesses. They work day and night striving for the American Dream. All three sons forge a bond with their controlling father, Frank Sr., and their soft-spoken favorite uncle, Nick. As a boy, the oldest son, Frank Jr., realizes that his father and uncle are also "made" members of another close-knit family: the outfit.
In Operation Family Secrets, Frank Calabrese, Jr., tells the turbulent tale of a family dominated by a violent patriarch who breaks a long-standing unwritten outfit code and "brings the street into his home" by enlisting two of his sons into the outfit's 26th Street/Chinatown crew. Calabrese reveals for the first time the outfit's "made" ceremony and describes being put to work alongside his father and uncle in loan sharking, gambling, labor racketeering, and extortion, and plotting the slaying of a fellow gangster, while they commit the bombing murder of a trucking executive, the gangland execution of two mobsters whose burial in an Indiana cornfield was reenacted in Martin Scorsese's blockbuster film Casino, and numerous other hits.
The Calabrese crew's colossal earnings and extreme ruthlessness made them both a dreaded criminal gang and the object of an intense FBI inquiry. Eventually Frank Jr., his father, and Uncle Nick are convicted on racketeering violations, and "Junior" and "Senior" are sent to the same federal penitentiary in Michigan. Upon arrival, Frank Jr. makes a life-changing decision: to go straight rather than agree to his father's plans to resume crew activities after serving his sentence. But he needs to keep his father behind bars in order to regain control of his life and save his family. Frank Jr. makes a secret deal with prosecutors, and for six months - unmonitored and unprotected - he wears a wire as his father recounts decades of hideous crimes.
©2011 Frank Calabrese, Junior, Keith Zimmerman, Kent Zimmerman, and Paul Pompian (P)2011 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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Story
One of the most feared Chicago mobsters, Sam Giancana, clawed his way to the top of the Mafia hierarchy by starting as a hit man for Al Capone. He was known as one of the best vehicle escape artists, a tenacious business man, and a ruthless killer. He partied with major stars such as Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe and did business with agents ranging from the CIA to the Vatican to the shah of Iran. When politician Joe Kennedy gave Giancana the chance to use mob muscle to get his son John elected, Giancana jumped at the task.
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Kennedy Assassination Solved
- By Darlene A. Geloso on 05-30-20
By: Sam Giancana, and others
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Mob Cop
- My Life of Crime in the Chicago Police Department
- By: Fred Pascente, Sam Reaves
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Former Chicago police officer and Outfit associate Fred Pascente is the man who links Tony Spilotro, one of Chicago's most notorious mob figures, to William Hanhardt, chief of detectives in the Chicago Police Department. Pascente and Spilotro grew up together on Chicago's Near West Side, and as young toughs they were rousted and shaken down by Hanhardt.
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So bad.
- By Nick on 04-14-17
By: Fred Pascente, and others
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The Rise and Fall of a "Casino" Mobster
- The Tony Spilotro Story Through A Hitman's Eyes
- By: Frank Cullotta, Dennis N. Griffin
- Narrated by: Clay Lomakayu
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Tony Spilotro was the Mob's man in Las Vegas. A feared enforcer, the bosses knew Tony would do whatever it took to protect their interests. The "Little Guy" built a criminal empire that was the envy of mobsters across the country, and his childhood pal, Frank Cullotta, helped him do it. But Tony's quest for power and lack of self-control with women cost the Mob its control of Vegas; and Tony paid for it with his life.
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Complete waste of money.
- By Nick on 08-02-17
By: Frank Cullotta, and others
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Ghost
- My Thirty Years as an FBI Undercover Agent
- By: Michael R. McGowan, Ralph Pezzullo
- Narrated by: Mike Dawson
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Within FBI field operative circles, groups of people known as “Special” by their titles alone, Michael R. McGowan is an outlier. Over the course of his career, McGowan has worked more than 50 undercover cases. In this extraordinary and unprecedented book, McGowan will take listeners through some of his biggest cases, from international drug busts to the Russian and Italian mobs to biker gangs and contract killers to corrupt unions and SWAT work. Ghost is an unparalleled view into how the FBI, through the courage of its undercover Special Agents, nails the bad guys.
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Interesting story, but narration eh
- By Ahdumb on 10-06-18
By: Michael R. McGowan, and others
What listeners say about Operation Family Secrets
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Dr. Ron
- 09-08-22
Good Chicago Outfit Book
This book talks about well known Outfit guys who controlled the Pilsen/Chinatown area on Chicago's near South Side. Good and insightful. Horrific and ruthless sometimes. If you want to know the streets, this book is for you.
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- Shaft58
- 10-07-16
The playback was choppy through my bluetooth
i enjoyed having a book i read being read to me. i woukd love to here the other Operation Family Secrets book made to audio.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Thomas W.
- 12-12-21
Justice comes from left field.
Amazing story of an is of and under the radar street crew that went unchecked for 30 years.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Chris And Mo
- 01-22-21
The best mob book I've heard
The best mob book I've heard in here. Definitely a must read/listen. get it now
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1 person found this helpful
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- ahippieadventure
- 02-06-13
Riveting Listen!
What did you love best about Operation Family Secrets?
I love the fact that Frank Jr. opens his heart and mind in this book. I was able to equate his thought processes to those I see with people who are "chronically abused". He shows his humanity most when he repeatedly holds out the hope that the man he loves as father will change his ways. Even when I was saying to myself "No way in hell is he going to change." after the fourth time Frank Jr. expressed the hope that ...maybe this time... It just doesn't happen when an abuser does not equate themselves with being abusive. Frank Sr. abused in every facet of his life and the lives of his family members.
What did you like best about this story?
I like that he consistently shows his humanity as he repeatedly holds out the hope that the man he loves as father will change his ways. Even when I was saying to myself "No way in hell is he going to change." after the fourth time Frank Jr. expressed the hope that ...maybe this time... It just doesn't happen when an abuser does not equate themselves with being abusive. Frank Sr. abused whatever he possibly could in every facet of his life and the lives of his family members.
Which scene was your favorite?
There was no favorite scene, the entire book had me in suspense! Listening to this book was like experiencing the aftermath of a natural disaster. Stunning surprise after stunning surprise, except instead of being an act of nature, this is with the behaviors of a man with no conscience who does his best to work people like puppets.
Any additional comments?
I am glad that Frank Jr. was able to weigh his choices, recognize and do what needed to be done to ensure the safety of himself and his family... and probably a whole lot more even generations of people.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Kristen Jenkins
- 05-27-23
Wow
I can’t even imagine. My Father died when I was 4 but I can only imagine how you must of felt!
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- A better way.
- 05-03-24
The heartfelt detail and genuine agony of the author.
Absolutely phenomenal! One of my bast selections yet. I am now planning on partaking in a family secrets tour in Chicago. Salute to all the law enforcement and men who stood up and said “no more”. Also heartfelt prayers and sorrows go to the families who were affected by the senseless violence because of greed and poor choices.
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- Rich
- 08-30-21
Great Story with a Sometimes Boring Delivery,
The narration is very bland, and at times is irritating. The narrator assumes an affect at times when speaking as a gangster and other key characters. The delivery is lazy and irritating., other than that this is a good one.
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- Anonymous User
- 12-27-22
Sincere.
Frank Jr. did what he knew needed to be done and is a man's man for it. He is not a rat. Sometimes, you just have to wrap things up that you know should've been wrapped long ago
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- chiefhiawatha
- 07-29-22
What’s the overarching story
A collection of tales for hours. No overarching story told. Returned after several hours of listening.
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1 person found this helpful