Another act in a legal drama featuring a mobster and a violin played out Wednesday when a prison chaplain told a Chicago courtroom minutes before the start of his trial that he was guilty of trying to help an imprisoned mob hit man recover a hidden Stradivarius. Eugene Klein, a Roman Catholic priest, was accused of plotting with Chicago Outfit enforcer Frank Calabrese Sr. to recover a rare, 250-year-old violin that Calabrese hid years earlier in his Wisconsin home, to keep authorities from selling it. They believed it was worth as much as $26 million. Calabrese has killed 13 people.
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Eugene Klein, 65, a Roman Catholic priest, plead guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and attempting to prevent seizure of property
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Accused of trying to help mobster and convicted killer Frank Calabrese Sr.
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Klein administered communion to Calabrese at a Springfield, Missouri, prison
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Calabrese claimed to have hidden a Stradivarius at his home in Wisconsin
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Klein agreed to try and get it for him by posing as a potential home buyer
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He will be sentenced in June and could face 10 years prison
Eugene Klein
Eugene Klein
Klein
Klein
The plan was for another unnamed conspirator to distract the agent during a tour of the home while @placeholder and another person retrieved the violin.