The Associated Press
CHICAGO- A federal deputy marshal was indicted in the leak of highly confidential information about a government witness to a reputed leader of a Chicago organized crime family.
John Thomas Ambrose, 38, was charged in the four-count indictment Thursday with theft of Justice Department property, disclosing confidential information and lying to federal agents who questioned him about the leak.
Ambrose already had been accused in a criminal complaint of leaking information about Nicholas Calabrese, the key witness in the government’s Operation Family secrets investigation of 18 long-unsolved mob murders.
Because Ambrose already had been charged in the case, the indictment had been expected and little of its contents revealed new information.
Ambrose came under suspicion when eavesdropping FBI agents heard reputed mobster Michael Marcello chatting with his jailed brother, James Marcello, in the visitors room at the Milan, Michigan, federal prison in 2003.
Michael Marcello told his brother that he had a source within federal law enforcement, and Ambrose fit the description of the source Marcello described, officials said. Federal officials said Ambrose’s fingerprints were later found on the Calabrese file.