WHEN Franky Forliano's stepfather sat down at the dinner table one evening with human blood splattered on his normally-pristine white T-shirt, she knew not to ask any questions.
Her stepdad, Harry Aleman, was the notorious Chicago mobster believed to be responsible for 12 vicious murders in the 1970s and 1980s – and she witnessed some of his most violent actions in her own home.
Franky reveals in new TV show I Lived With A Killer, that her life was peppered by watching beatings on their front porch, visits by the FBI and trips to see her dangerous stepfather in prison.
Aleman, who married her widowed mother Ruth Mustari in 1964, worked as an enforcer for notorious Italian-American organised crime syndicate Chicago Outfit, and Franky was forbidden from opening the front door in case any of his enemies came for revenge.
The group was famously led by gangster Al Capone, and became known as the most powerful, brutal criminal organisation in the Midwest – specialising in gambling, prostitution, extortion, political corruption and murder.
Harry married widower Ruth Mustari in 1964 – and she was often required to provide alibis for him and not ask questions
'There was blood all over his shirt'
Aleman came from a criminal family – he was the nephew of future acting mob boss Joseph Ferriola, and his father Louis was involved in narcotics trafficking in his native Mexico.
Franky distinctly remembers the occasion her stepdad- who was famous for his temper – came to the dinner table with blood on his shirt after beating someone up.
"There was a knock at the door," she recalls. "It's this guy and he's going 'hey Harold' really loud. And my stepdad's name is Harry not Harold.
"He turned around and took a look at my mother and said 'honey, don't worry about anything I'll be right back in a minute'.
"That was it. He went and got the door and it must have took just a couple of minutes and he came back in.
"We all turned and looked and there was blood all over his T-shirt.
"And my mum was like, 'what happened' and he was like, 'don't worry about it it's OK'.
"We continued eating our dinner. It was a normal thing that we didn't ask a lot of questions."
'He punched him and threw him out the door'
When she was older, Franky witnessed her stepfather's violence first-hand.
"Henever wanted us to answer the door," she reveals.
"That was his rule because he was always sceptical of who it could be. I was home one night and I was getting dressed to go out and I heard a knock at the door and he went and answered.
"I heard my stepdad get loud and he said 'I told you not to come to my house'.
"Now I'm paying attention, I'm listening."
She continued: "The guy was trying to explain why he was there and he was being kind of loud, and the next thing I know my stepdad just like punched him a couple of times and threw him out the front door."
'We didn't have a phone to stop the FBI eavesdropping'
It wasn't long before Aleman was first accused of murder – and he trained his family on how to deal with the FBI if they ever came over.
"We didn't have a phone in our house so they couldn't eavesdrop on our conversations," Franky recalls.
"I knew they couldn't search me. That they had to come back with a warrant."
'Murder of his cousin's ex-husband got him jailed'
The FBI tried to get Aleman convicted of the murder of Billy Logan, who was the ex-husband of his cousin, in a 1977 trial – but they couldn't believe it when judge Frank Wilson acquitted him despite two strong witnesses.
It later turned out Aleman's lawyer had bribed Frank to free him.
Just three weeks later, the FBI found a high profile car thief dead with two gun shot wounds to the head.
Then, in 1989, his former mob lawyer, Robert Cooley, decided to reveal that he had bribed the judge with $10,000 in the Logan murder trial in 1977.
Aleman went on trial again and was found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to a minimum of 100 years in prison.
Just before he died in jail from lung cancer aged 71 in 2010, he finally admitted to his daughter: "I did a lot of bad things in my life."
I Lived With A Killer: Harry 'The Hook' Aleman will air on Tuesday, April 16 at 9pm on Crime + Investigation
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