Angelo Anthony Lonardo was a Cleveland crime family mobster who later became the acting boss of the family in the early 1980s. Lonardo was born in 1911 in Cleveland to Joseph and Concetta Lonardo. His godfather was Anthony Milano

Anthony Milano

Anthony "Tony" Milano was an Italian mobster who rose to power in America working for the Cleveland crime family in the American Mafia. He served as the long time Underboss in the Cleveland crime family from 1930 until his retirement in 1976...

. After his father was murdered by a member of the Porrello crime family in 1929, 18 year old Lonardo swore revenge and murdered Salvatore Todaro

Salvatore Todaro

Salvatore "Black Sam" Todaro was a Cleveland, Ohio, mobster who briefly acted as the head of the Cleveland crime family during the late 1920s, while the crime family's boss was absent from Cleveland, away in Italy overseeing personal matters...

. Lonardo was tried and sentenced to life in prison. However, his lawyer was able to get a second trial and he was discharged and released. He later joined Milano's brother Frank in the Cleveland crime family. He eventually worked his way up to underboss in 1976. After his arrest in 1983, Lonardo became a government informant and testified against his former colleagues and several mob figures throughout the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Lonardo, together with Jimmy Fratianno

Jimmy Fratianno

Aladena "Jimmy the Weasel" Fratianno was a Cleveland, Ohio, mobster and later acting head of the Los Angeles crime family before becoming a government witness...

, the acting boss of the Los Angeles crime family

Los Angeles crime family

The Los Angeles crime family is an Italian American criminal organization based in Los Angeles, as part of the American Mafia . Since its inception in the early 1900s, it has spread throughout Southern California. Like most Mafia families in the United States, the L.A. family gained power...

 were the highest ranking mobsters to become federal witnesses, until Gambino crime family

Gambino crime family

The Gambino crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The group is named after Carlo Gambino, boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963...

 underboss, Sammy "the Bull" Gravano

Sammy Gravano

Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano is a former underboss of the Gambino crime family. He is known as the man who helped bring down John Gotti, the family's boss, by agreeing to become a Federal Bureau of Investigation informant and turn state's evidence.Originally a mobster for the Colombo crime...

 during the early 1990s. He eventually went into the federal witness protection program, but left it to return to Cleveland. Angelo Lonardo died in his sleep on April 1, 2006, aged 95. He was laid to rest in Calvary Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.