Family Secrets

The Case That Crippled the Chicago Mob

By: Jeff Coen

Narrated by: Matthew Boston

Length: 14 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

Even in Chicago, a city steeped in mob history and legend, the Family Secrets case was a true spectacle when it made it to court in 2007. A top mob boss, a reputed consigliere, and other high-profile members of the Chicago Outfit were accused in a total of 18 gangland killings, revealing organized crime's ruthless grip on the city throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.

Painting a vivid picture of murder, courtroom drama, family loyalties and disloyalties, journalist Jeff Coen accurately portrays the Chicago Outfit's cold-blooded - and sometimes incompetent - killers and their crimes in the case that brought them down. In 1998 Frank Calabrese Jr. volunteered to wear a wire to gather evidence against his father, a vicious loan shark who strangled most of his victims with a rope before slitting their throats to ensure they were dead. Frank Jr. went after his uncle Nick as well, a calculating but sometimes bumbling hit man who would become one of the highest-ranking turncoats in mob history, admitting he helped strangle, stab, shoot, and bomb victims who got in the mob's way, and turning evidence against his brother Frank.

©2009 Jeff Coen (P)2017 Tantor

Critic reviews

"[A] revealing, shocking book . . . superbly crafted." ( Publishers Weekly)

Exhaustive, coherent account of a complex trial

The author gives lots of good detail and makes the huge case understandable. The narrator adopts a passable Chicago accent for the gangster’s dialog, although pronunciation of certain place names (“Noperville” “Hyr-on”) suggests he is not native.

“You Do It”

Great true crime story. The performance is the best part. You literally feel your there at the trial of Joey the Clown, Jimmy Marcelo, & Frank Calabrese Sr. I’ve listened to it 3-4 times.

Fantastic

Excellent story about the Chicago Mob. Well done. This was my first audiobook and It won't be the last!

Excellent history

It was a comprehensive telling of the trial that kept things moving along. I was enjoying this book because I lived the first 30 years of my life in Wrigleyville, and connected the cities neighborhoods with the gangsters in the trial.

One of the best

If you want a real, not glamorizing look at mafia, this is an excellent book to get

Really hard core .

Talks about many big name gangsters.Very informative one of the best mob books ever The Chicago outfit was is big.

good story tons of detail

good read holds your attention even though its full of detail it doesn't get boring.

What a bore!

The book is way too verbose with trivial details. I wouldn’t read this again if a gun was held to my head.

Not very good at all.

Would you try another book from Jeff Coen and/or Matthew Boston?

If your big into mafia and audio-books, you will hate this book. First, it sounds like a 1970-80's read. Second, the narrator is awful. But if you can get past that, the data it conveys is interesting. They go into a lot of nonsense that doesn't need to be in the book and duplicate things unnecessarily.

I wouldn't......

This is hard to listen to, between the narrator and the story, it just doesn't hold ones attention.