United States v. Ambrose, No. 09-3832 (7th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CaseAfter Calabrese, a "made" man in the "Chicago Outfit" began cooperating with federal authorities, it became apparent that information about his cooperation was leaking to the mob. Defendant, a Deputy U.S. Marshal, was convicted of stealing government property and disclosing without authorization information regarding a witness protected in the WITSEC program, (18 U.S.C. 641; 18 U.S.C. 3521) and found not guilty of making false statements to law enforcement agents (18 U.S.C. 1001). He was sentenced to four years in prison. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. The district court properly denied a motion to suppress defendant's incriminating statements; there was no evidence of coercion that would render the statements involuntary. Even if the court improperly admitted evidence in violation of the hearsay rule and the Confrontation Clause, any error was harmless. The court affirmed the sentence, noting that Chicago witnesses had declined WITSEC protection because of defendant's conduct.