Mob hitman and confidant of Tony Spilotro, Nick Calabrese, passes away at 80 years old.
The dude who offed notorious Mob muscle man Tony "The Ant" Spilotro from Sin City has checked out. Chicago Mob hitman turned FBI fink Nicholas Calabrese, age 80, kicks the bucket, as per a source from CBS News.
Calabrese was under the Witness Protection Program, details about his final days remain scarce. He was slapped with a 12-year and four-month stint in prison back in '09 for his part in 14 contract kills, including those of Spilotro and his sibling, Michael Spilotro. His release from prison was kept under wraps by the media.
Calabrese was the second high-ranking mobster in the Chicago Outfit to flip on the government. Alongside his nephew, Frank Calabrese Jr., he testified against his old man, Frank Calabrese Sr., and other major Outfit heavyweights in the "Family Secrets Trial."
Frank Sr. was a ruthless loan shark who ran covert gambling ops for the Outfit. He copped a life sentence in '09 for murder, racketeering, extortion, and illegal gambling. He shuffled off his mortal coil a year later at 75.
Martin Scorsese’s ‘Casino’
Spilotro served as the foundation for Joe Pesci’s character in Martin Scorsese's "Casino." In the '70s and '80s, he was a capo for the Chicago Outfit in Vegas, supervising the illicit skimming of profits from their four Nevada casinos: The Stardust, The Fremont, The Hacienda, and The Marina.
Spilotro ran into trouble with the Outfit following rumors of his relationship with the wife of Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal, a Mob associate and sports bookie who managed the casinos. Robert De Niro's character Sam “Ace” Rothstein was modeled on Rosenthal in the movie.
It’s also been suggested that Spilotro’s side hustles – robbing residential and commercial properties with his "Hole in the Wall Gang" – expedited his end.
Murdered and Buried
The Spilotro brothers vanish on June 14, 1986. Their lifeless bodies were found a month later, buried in an Indiana cornfield, stripped down to their Undies and severely beaten.
In accordance with Calabrese's testimony, the brothers were enticed to Bensenville, Ill., under the ruse that Michael would be inducted into the Outfit. Calabrese testified that he and 10 other Outfit associates pounded and strangled the pair at a residence in Bensenville.
Calabrese got a lighter sentence for his cooperation with the U.S. justice system. US District Judge James Zagel expressed that his actions helped offset his crimes by "helping penalties to be paid for the murders of others and allowing families to know how and why their [dear ones] perished." But Zagel warned that Calabrese would never taste real freedom.
"The organization you testified against will not grant forgiveness or relent in their pursuit of you," Zagel warned.
