New York Times Best-Selling Author and Organized Crime Insider and Expert
Exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau, Frank Calabrese, Jr. is an organized crime insider and expert and a New York Times best-selling author. From growing up in the mob to initiating a federal investigation into his father’s dealings while in prison, Calabrese, Jr. knows more than his share about redemption, courage, responsibility, morality, loyalty, criminality, and commerce.
Family Ties in Crime. Growing up, Calabrese, Jr. had ties to the mob through his father, Frank “Frankie C.” Calabrese, Sr., a made man and caporegime who ran major loan sharking and illegal gambling operations for the Chicago Outfit. In 1995, Calabrese, Sr. and eight of his crew members – including his brother Nick Calabrese and two sons Frank, Jr. and Kurt – were arrested after the owner of a seized auto repair shop turned FBI informant. They were indicted by federal authorities and charged with using threats, violence, and intimidation to enforce their loan sharking racket from 1978 until 1992. In 1997, they received federal prison sentences ranging from 18 months to 10 years.
Operation Family Secrets. In the time leading up to the arrest, Frank Calabrese, Jr. had become more involved in organized crime – from counting betting slips to riding with his father as he made collections. In 1986, Calabrese, Jr. was spared committing his first murder when his uncle Nick stepped in after Frank, Sr. had arranged the hit. During this time, Senior had also been growing more and more abusive. When Calabrese, Jr. stole more than $800,000 cash in order to escape the street crew and strike out on his own, Senior caught up with him, and shoved a gun in his face. This altercation – in tandem with Senior’s false promise to walk away and let his son walk away from criminal life after jail – led Calabrese, Jr. to write to the FBI and volunteer to wear a wire to record his father while the two were in prison together in Milan, Michigan.
During their imprisonment, Calabrese, Jr. recorded his father admitting to multiple murders in great detail. Faced with the evidence gathered by his nephew, Nicholas Calabrese, who was serving time in a different institution, also agreed to testify against the Chicago Outfit. On April 25, 2005, Frank Calabrese, Sr. and a large number of high-profile Chicago Outfit gangsters were charged with murder, racketeering, extortion, and running an illegal gambling business as part of the federal-government-initiated “Operation Family Secrets” investigation. This effort culminated a ten-year federal campaign and reopened 18 unsolved gangland murders that had spanned more than 30 years. The trial started in June 2007 – with Frank, Jr. and Uncle Nick as star witnesses – and in September 2007 Calabrese, Sr. was convicted of a racketeering conspiracy that included murder, extortion, and loan sharking. He was also found guilty of seven of the 13 murders he was accused of committing during the trial and sentenced to life in prison.
The Good that Came from the Bad. Today, Frank Calabrese, Jr. lives openly in Arizona, with his family and, in addition to being a New York Times best-selling author, holds down a “regular” job with a large corporate entity. His book, Operation Family Secrets, was released in 2011 and is a fascinating story about how the son of one of Chicago’s most violent mobsters made the unprecedented decision to work with prosecutors in order to incriminate his father and help take down the last great American crime syndicate – the 100 year-old Chicago Outfit.
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Operation Family Secrets: A First-Hand Look inside the Investigation and Trial. In a decade-long investigation and trial, the federal government successfully uses the RICO act as the crime-fighting weapon to take down the Calabrese Crew of South Side Chicago and the Outfit as major criminal enterprises whose criminality spans over 100 years.
My Family Secrets: In Defense of the Family. Where do you draw the line against unchecked family abuse and dysfunction? How far should loyalty within bloodlines go? How do you counteract manipulation and deceit? Frank Calabrese, Jr. shares his moving story and the turbulent life journey of pitting himself against his ruthless gangster father.
Criminality and Commerce. In today’s ultra-competitive business environment, extortion and illegality is making a comeback. Frank Calabrese, Jr., through his first-hand experiences inside a South Side Chicago street crew, talks about how businesses can avoid getting wooed, taken advantage of or drawn into the wrong competitive arena, where many pay with their reputations, careers, and lives.
Operation Family Secrets: A One-On-One Interview with Frank Calabrese, Jr. Author of the New York Times best-seller, Operation Family Secrets, Frank Calabrese, Jr. sits with co-writer Kent Zimmerman in a one-on-one, multi-media interview presentation. Calabrese delivers a riveting blow-by-blow account of his participation in the 1997- 2009 FBI investigation and the U.S. Attorneys’ successful prosecution. He discusses Operation Family Secret’s powerful effect on Chicago’s organized crime and business world, and his subsequent journey to a new open life with family and friends. A no-holds-barred Q&A session follows.
OVERARCHING THEMES
Redemption and Courage. Take a stand against threats and danger, and don’t allow yourself to be controlled by sinister forces, even if they come from within the family unit.
Inspiration and Spiritual Motivation. Transform your personal flaws into virtues. Forgive yourself, move onward, and summon the courage to create a new life.
Priorities. Reprioritize allegiance to your family, spouse, partner, and especially your children. Maintain a healthy balance between career and relationships.
Reinvention. Regain happiness and a sense of purpose. Sweeping life changes often means rebuilding from the ground up, but you can successfully start over.
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