Operation Family Secrets: Mob Museum unravels organized crime's grip on Chicago, Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS (CN) — In the heart of Las Vegas, the renowned Mob Museum is exploring a critical moment in American criminal history.

The museum’s event Operation Family Secrets, the first of its kind for the year, featured two central figures: Michael Maseth, a retired FBI agent with over 20 years of experience, and Frank Calabrese Jr., a former member of the infamous Chicago Outfit and son of one of its most feared hitmen.

Their purpose was to unravel the complex web of organized crime that once controlled Chicago and its connections to Las Vegas, supplying an unvarnished look into the complexities of family ties within the mob, the inner workings of federal investigations and the turbulent journey toward justice and redemption.

Calabrese Jr. began last Thursday by reflecting on his upbringing, saying, “As a young kid, I idolized my father. He started off by teaching me about street smarts, going to school and book smarts."

His father, Frank Calabrese Sr., a name synonymous with fear and respect, built a criminal empire that stretched into the heart of Las Vegas. His ascent was marked by violence and betrayal.

“My dad had three personalities,” his son revealed. “Good dad, very street smart, manipulative and a sociopathic killer."

Calabrese Jr. grew up in his father’s shadow, indoctrinated into a world where family and crime were indistinguishable.

“My dad manipulated me one time, and tried to set me up to kill me, because he thought I was being disrespectful,” Calabrese Jr. said. “The problem was my dad didn’t take no for an answer. ‘No,’ to him, was disrespectful.”

Another significant figure in his life was his uncle, Nick Calabrese, whose quiet demeanor hid his lethal nature as a hitman, executing the Outfit’s orders without question.

For Frank Calabrese Jr., the allure of Las Vegas, a city under his father’s influence, was overshadowed by the harsh realities of his life. “We did loan sharking, sports betting, we had adult bookstores, peep shows back then,” he shared about the family business.

“I followed my uncle and my dad into organized crime. I won the Golden Gloves in 1980, undefeated, but when I was ready to go to college, my dad said, “No, you can go to a local college at night. That’s good enough.'”

Calabrese Sr. had his own view of what his son’s future should look like.

“He got me a good job with the city of Chicago,” Calabrese Jr. said. “And he says, ‘You’re going to be my secret weapon moving forward.’ So, graduating out of high school for years, I started following my dad and my uncle into this.”

The turning point for Calabrese Jr. came in 1995 when he was arrested for loan sharking. He turned against his own family to cooperate with the FBI and exposed not only his father’s crimes, but also the hidden ties between the Chicago mob and the casinos of Las Vegas.

Calabrese Jr. described an immense emotional toll as he supplied information that would incriminate his father, a symbol of power in the deceptive glitz of Las Vegas.

Maseth, who was tasked with leading the FBI’s Operation Family Secrets, detailed the agency’s strategy of using wiretaps and surveillance to dismantle the empire that had corrupted both Chicago and Vegas.

It was the unexpected cooperation of Nick Calabrese, however, that opened Pandora’s box and exposed the mob family’s darkest secrets, including its stronghold in Las Vegas. Those revelations were not just confessions; they were the final blows to the Chicago Outfit’s dominance over Las Vegas, according to Maseth.

Maseth recounted that Nick Calabrese was part of a team sent to kill Tony Spilotro — a name intertwined with the underworld of Las Vegas.

Spilotro met a tragic end due to his increasingly reckless actions, according to the night’s two speakers. He flaunted his wealth and engaged in romantic affairs and unauthorized killings, along with a dangerous flirtation with cocaine — a taboo in his organized crime circles.

Nick Calabrese was one of the individuals implicated in Spilotro’s murder. He flipped on the mob and started helping the FBI in 2002. He made several attempts to lead federal agents to the location of the basement where the fatal assault occurred.

The attack plan, as described by authorities, was to overpower and strangle the victims. High-ranking mob figures, including Louie “The Mooch” Eboli and various bosses, were present during the incident, along with several unidentified assailants whose identities remain unknown, according to Maseth,

The testimonies of Frank Calabrese Jr. and Nick Calabrese were crucial; they vividly portrayed the mob’s brutal regime that stretched from Chicago’s streets to the bustling casinos of Las Vegas.

“The mob’s grip on Chicago and its shadow over Las Vegas were finally loosening.” Maseth said.

In the aftermath, Frank Calabrese Jr. looked back on his journey with a mix of emotions. His cooperation had altered his life’s course irrevocably, severing ties with his past but offering a chance at redemption.

For Maseth and his team, the success of Operation Family Secrets was a testament to the FBI’s resilience and strategic acumen. He likened the investigation to “playing a high-stakes game, where each move was as crucial as a bet in Vegas’s most elite poker rooms.”

Meanwhile, as Las Vegas continued to thrive, its neon lights shining as bright as ever, the city had undergone a significant transformation beneath its shimmering surface.

“The once concealed ties linking it to the Chicago Outfit have been irrevocably cut,” Maseth reflected.

He emphasized that the legacy of Operation Family Secrets was ingrained not only in the annals of criminal justice, but also in the very essence of Las Vegas, a city that had witnessed the rise and fall of one of America’s most infamous crime syndicates.

Operation Family Secrets was more than just an FBI operation. According to Maseth, it was “a saga of betrayal, redemption, and relentless justice-seeking. A story echoing through Chicago’s streets and Las Vegas’s corridors, a poignant reminder of the transient nature of power and the fleeting existence of even the most formidable criminal dynasties.”

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