Fitz and FBI agent Grant take the stand in mob leak case

Chicago's two top federal law enforcement officials testified one after another Monday, denying they botched the 2006 questioning of a deputy U.S. marshal suspected of leaking secrets to the mob.

The deputy marshal, John Ambrose, was not under arrest at the time, so there was no reason to give him Miranda warnings, U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald said Monday morning in federal court.

In fact, Ambrose "was told from the very get-go that he was not in custody and had not been charged with a crime -- yet," Robert Grant, Chicago's top FBI official, testified Monday afternoon.

Grant also acknowledged, however, that he and Fitzgerald had never before teamed up to interview a suspect and that Ambrose was clearly feeling the heat.

"It was noticeable that his carotid artery was bulging out of his neck," Grant said of the meeting on Sept. 6, 2006, at FBI headquarters.

Ambrose's lawyer, Francis Lipuma, is seeking to have admissions made by his client thrown out, saying Ambrose should have been given his Miranda rights.

The hearing before U.S. District Judge John Grady began with three days of testimony in December and is set to continue on Tuesday.

Ambrose has pleaded not guilty to charges he tipped off a family friend that mobster Nicholas Calabrese was in the Witness Security Program and cooperating with the FBI.

Calabrese's testimony last summer was a key in the conviction of his brother, Frank Calabrese Sr., and three other reputed Outfit figures in connection with 18 gangland slayings from decades earlier. Prosecutors say his cooperation had been a closely guarded secret when Ambrose outed him.

A key issue for Grady to decide is whether a reasonable person in Ambrose's position would feel he was free to leave the meeting.

In his cross-examination, Lipuma has stressed that Ambrose was questioned in an FBI conference room with agents stationed outside and couldn't even go to the restroom without agents escorting him.

Grant testified Monday that the agents were part of a "security detail" and not an arrest team, which would have been larger.

"Their job was to be there in case we asked for help," Grant said.

Testifying earlier on Monday, Fitzgerald again rejected the idea that he and Grant had "interrogated" Ambrose.

Fitzgerald said their goal was merely to show Ambrose the evidence against him and to persuade him to cooperate with the FBI.

"It was a conversation," Fitzgerald said. "It was a discussion. It was an interview. ... We weren't grilling him."

Lipuma questioned Fitzgerald closely about various documents drafted in advance of the meeting that appeared to show plans to arrest Ambrose.

Fitzgerald said the documents showed only that prosecutors were prepared to make an arrest, not that a final decision had been made.

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