Read Frank Calabrese Sr.'s recent letter to family friend Frank Coconate.
He's known as 'Frank the Breeze' and for good reason.
A 19-page letter written by the outfit killer is as wordy as Calabrese was breathless when he testified in court.
In his typewritten letter, Calabrese portrays himself as a man of God and a person of deep prayer, even though he appears to be threatening friends, relatives and acquaintances throughout the composition.
Chicago mob boss Frank Calabrese, Sr. talked in code with some of those who would later topple his criminal empire during the Family Secrets prosecution.
Since Calabrese and his outfit cronies were convicted of racketeering last year, all have had rooms at the feds' 'Deadbolt Inn' in downtown Chicago.
And it was from the Metropolitan Correctional Center that 'the Breeze' sent a letter to an old family friend, Frank Coconate. While Mr. Coconate decided not to discuss the matter on television, he did provide ABC7 with the letter from Frank:
- in which Calabrese launches a series of questions about the personal, criminal, business and investment activities of his son Frank, Jr. and brother Nick, the mobsters who turned on him and testified against him at trial
- "Frankie, Jr. does not know how to be a trew (sic) friend to anyone...he lies so much its (sic) pathetic...I pray with gods (sic) blessings. That I may be on the streets some day..."
- Calabrese, Sr. is especially interested in Junior's whereabouts, businesses and purchases since his son testified in court, publicly connecting his father to numerous gangland murders.
"Our investigation has uncovered is that Junior has been attempting to sell his story...He's always wanted to be famous, he always wanted to go to Hollywood, he always wanted to be a big shot and this is the way he figured he could do that," said Joe Lopez, Calabrese Lawyer.
The I-Team traced Calabrese, Jr. to Scottsdale, Arizona. The last business he owned was a Chicago pizza parlor. It's now vacant.
The pizza joint and several high-end condo's where Junior lived out have 'Frank the Breeze' convinced that his son turned on him for money and that Junior has cleaned out family investments.
ABC7 lost the trail of Calabrese, Jr. at his grandmother's desert home. She had thrown him out a week earlier after a family argument.
The letter to Coconate names several Calabrese relatives and acquaintances whom Calabrese wants to help in his case, possibly the upcoming sentencing.
Calabrese prose turns threatening as he writes about one relative who is cheating in his city job: "If he does not cooperate in telling us the truth, someone is going to give this information to TV news forecasters like Chuck Goady and the newspaper. I am not looking for this to happen to him, and it will not, if he will answer our questions right of (sic) whatever he knows."
Regarding a female acquaintance of Frank, Jr. he writes: "She's been lying about everything. We're not done with her yet."
It is unclear whether the letter from Frank was the cause of Calabrese, Sr.'s placement in solitary confinement last month at the MCC.
According to the court filing by Calabrese's lawyer he was put in "the hole...pursuant to the prevention of acts of violence and terrorism."
"His position is, you can do what you want to me and God's the ultimate arbiter of what I've done if I've done anything ," said Lopez.
Even though Frank Calabrese, Jr. was a mobster in his own right and accompanied his dad on the occasional gangland hit, he now has the FBI watching his back.
After the I-Team tried to talk with him in Arizona, ABC7 received a letter from FBI boss Robert Grant in Chicago politely asking us to stop.
