Joseph Lombardo
Encyclopedia
Joseph Patrick “Joey the Clown” Lombardo Sr. (born Giuseppe Lombardi; January 1, 1929), also known as "Joe Padula," "Lumbo," and "Lumpy", is an imprisoned American
mafioso
and a high-ranking member of the Chicago Outfit
crime organization. He is currently alleged to either be the Consigliere
or Boss
of the Outfit.
loan collector. In 1963, Lombardo was arrested and charged with kidnapping and loan shark
ing, but he was acquitted after a factory worker who had owed $2,000 and who was behind on his payments could not positively identify Lombardo. Lombardo hung out with other Italian mobsters at the "Red Velvet" in Chicago. The acquittal was Lombardo's 11th in 11 arrests. Lombardo, who by the late 1960s was referred to as an "up-and-comer" in the Chicago Outfit along with Angelo J. LaPietra
"The Hook", and the pair would take over the Outfit's operations in Las Vegas
in 1971.
, Anthony Spilotro
and several others. However, the charges were dropped after the main witness, Daniel Seifert, was killed outside his plastics factory in Bensenville, Illinois
two days before his scheduled court appearance. In 1974, Lombardo was implicated by government informant Alva Johnson Rodgers in the deaths of Seifert (the Teamsters' witness), Robert Harder, Sam Annerino, Raymond Ryan and Allen Dorfman
, over a 15-year period. Lombardo was also accused of personally murdering disgraced police officer and turncoat
informant
, Richard Cain
. Lombardo managed to escape conviction on all these charges.
of $800,000 from construction owner Robert Kendler and the attempted bribery of Nevada
US Senator Howard Cannon
to get Cannon to stop or at least delay legislation regulating the trucking industry. Lombardo ultimately was convicted after a co-defendant agreed to testify against him. In 1983, Lombardo was sentenced to 15 years for his role in the bribe conspiracy. (Also convicted in the same case was Allen Dorfman
, a major figure in the Teamster
pension fund scandals of the 1960s and 1970s. Dorfman was murdered shortly after his conviction.) In 1986, Lombardo was convicted of maintaining hidden interests in several Strip
casinos (including the Stardust Resort & Casino
) and for skimming over $2 million in proceeds from 1974 until 1978, and was sentenced to 16 years—later reduced to 14 years.
that read: "I never took a secret oath, with guns and daggers, pricked my finger, drew blood or burned paper to join a criminal organization. If anyone hears my name used in connection with any criminal activity, please notify the FBI, local police, and my parole officer, Ron Kumke."
. Federal authorities also notified Lombardo during the probe that his life might be in danger.
On April 25, 2005, Lombardo, along with 13 other defendants was indicted as part of the federal government's Operation Family Secrets
investigation, which lifted the veil on 18 killings since the 1970s that federal investigators had attributed to the Outfit. Lombardo was indicted for his role in at least one murder, as well as for running a racket based on illegal gambling, loan sharking and murder. Although Lombardo had known for weeks that an indictment was coming—agents had visited his machine
shop on Chicago's Near West Side
several months earlier and taken DNA swabs—he was not under surveillance by federal agents in the weeks leading up to the indictment. And as federal agents rounded up the 14 defendants on April 25, 2005, they realized that Lombardo had disappeared and become a fugitive
.
While Lombardo's whereabouts were unknown, he wrote letters to his lawyer, Rick Halprin -- but directed toward the judge in the trial—in which he claimed to be innocent, requested a very minimal bond, offered to take a lie detector test, and asked to be tried separately from the other defendants in the Family Secrets case—all requests that Judge James Zagel
denied.
The first letter from Lombardo surfaced on May 4, 2005 and was four pages long and riddled with spelling errors. "I am no part of a enterprise or racketeering . . . have no part in the poker machines, extorcinate loans, gambling and what ever else the indictment says," the letter read. "About the 18 murders in the indictment, I want you to know that I was not privy before the murders, during the murders, and after the murders, and to this present writing to you." Lombardo also told Zagel in the letter, "I am not a violent man in anyway shape or form. I do not own or have any weapons of any kind. if the F.B.I. should find me I will come peacefully and no resistance at all." Lombardo also asked Zagel for "any ideas or suggestion of what I should do," and said the judge can "notify my lawyer" who can "reach me by the media." In August and September 2005, Lombardo sent more letters to his attorney, indicating that he had been following local news coverage of a state hearing involving allegations that the mayor of Rosemont, Illinois
had met with several members of the Chicago Outfit
. In response, Halprin quipped of his still-at-large client's newspaper-reading habit: "I doubt that he has a home subscription."
The FBI
then offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to Lombardo's capture. After nine months at large, a bearded, unkempt Lombardo, with long hair and having gained some weight, finally was captured by FBI
agents on January 13, 2006 outside the Elmwood Park, Illinois
home of his longtime friend Dominic Calarco. Federal agents had been tipped off to Lombardo's whereabouts after Lombardo had visited dead Outfit mobster Tony Spilotro's dentist brother, Patrick, for a decaying tooth. At his arraignment, Lombardo pleaded, "Not guilty." He also revealed that he had atherosclerosis
and had not seen a doctor while he was at large because "I was--what do they call it? I was unavailable," prompting laughter in the courtroom.
During the trial, which was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney's Mitchell Mars, T. Markus Funk
, and John Scully, Lombardo took the unusual step for a mobster of taking the stand in his own defense, denying any involvement in the Seifert murder and claiming to have been at a police station at the time of the slaying, reporting the disappearance of his wallet. However, federal prosecutors noted Lombardo's fingerprint on the title application for a car used in the murder of Seifert. In addition, prosecutors pointed out that employees of an electronics store identified Lombardo as the person who had purchased a police scanner used in Seifert's murder.
In April 2009 Family Secrets: The Case That Crippled the Chicago Mob by Jeff Coen, the Chicago Tribune
reporter for the trial, was published by Chicago Review Press.
On February 2, 2009, Zagel sentenced Lombardo, seated in a wheelchair and wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, to life in prison for the convictions. "Mr. Lombardo, you are not like the toxic creature I've seen forming in one of your co-defendants," Zagel told Lombardo, referring to Chicago Outfit hit man Frank Calabrese, Sr.
, whom Zagel had sentenced to life in prison the previous week. "You evidence some balance and judgment and based on the evidence before me, some ability to charm people. In the end, we are judged by our actions and not on our wit or our smiles....In cases like these, the things that matter most are the worst things we do. The worst things you have done are terrible, and I see no regret in you. I think you felt you were engaged in a game in which you drew satisfaction in how you played the game....It wasn't a game," and it involved, "the destruction of a human life." Judge Zagel agreed with federal prosecutor T. Markus Funk, and sentenced Lombardo to life.
Lombardo kept his family life private and enjoyed spending time with his three grandchildren: Joseph, Michael, and Nicholas Lombardo. Lombardo lived in the same modest condominium building on West Ohio Street, on the Near West Side
of Chicago, from the time he was married until he became a fugitive in 2005.
Lombardo and his wife, Marion, divorced in 1991, but Lombardo continued to reside in the same condominium building, moving after his divorce to a basement unit. In 2006, federal prosecutors alleged that Lombardo's divorce was a sham to hide money. "If you think it's a sham divorce, investigate it," Lombardo's attorney, Rick Halprin, told reporters on February 9, 2006.
Lombardo earned the nickname "The Clown" from his joking nature and from various humorous incidents involving him, including grinning wide for mug shot
s and for departing a 1981 court appearance at the federal courts building in Chicago holding a Chicago Sun-Times
newspaper in front of his face—with a hole cut out so he could see. In 2005, Halprin, spoke to the Chicago Tribune
about his client's nickname saying, "That's a name he doesn't relish, and neither do I. The guy I know is not a clown."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
mafioso
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
and a high-ranking member of the Chicago Outfit
Chicago Outfit
The Chicago Outfit, also known as the Chicago Syndicate or Chicago Mob and sometimes shortened to simply the Outfit, is a crime syndicate based in Chicago, Illinois, USA...
crime organization. He is currently alleged to either be the Consigliere
Consigliere
Consigliere is a position within the leadership structure of Sicilian and American Mafia crime families. The word was popularized by Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather , and its film adaptation...
or Boss
Crime boss
A crime boss or boss is a person in charge of a criminal organization. A boss typically has absolute or near-absolute control over his subordinates, is greatly feared by his subordinates for his ruthlessness and willingness to take lives in order to exert his influence, and profits come from the...
of the Outfit.
Early life
Born Giuseppe Lombardi, Lombardo was one of 11 children born to Italian immigrants, Mike Lombardi, a butcher, and Carmela Lombardi. The family, which immigrated from Bari, Italy, was known to be very poor.Traveled with the crvici family.Lombardo, a high school dropout, at some point changed the final letter of his last name. He joined the Outfit in the 1950s.Chicago Outfit career
Lombardo began his Outfit career as a jewel thief and as a juiceVigorish
Vigorish, or simply the vig, also known as juice or the take, is the amount charged by a bookmaker, or bookie, for his services. In the United States it also means the interest on a shark's loan. The term is Yiddish slang originating from the Russian word for winnings, выигрыш vyigrysh...
loan collector. In 1963, Lombardo was arrested and charged with kidnapping and loan shark
Loan shark
A loan shark is a person or body that offers unsecured loans at illegally high interest rates to individuals, often enforcing repayment by blackmail or threats of violence....
ing, but he was acquitted after a factory worker who had owed $2,000 and who was behind on his payments could not positively identify Lombardo. Lombardo hung out with other Italian mobsters at the "Red Velvet" in Chicago. The acquittal was Lombardo's 11th in 11 arrests. Lombardo, who by the late 1960s was referred to as an "up-and-comer" in the Chicago Outfit along with Angelo J. LaPietra
Angelo J. LaPietra
Angelo J. "The Hook" LaPietra was a Chicago mobster and member of the Chicago Outfit, involved in extensive loansharking operations in the city's First Ward during the 1970s and 80s. He earned his nickname "The Hook" due to the way he murdered his victims—those that did not, or could not pay up...
"The Hook", and the pair would take over the Outfit's operations in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
in 1971.
Seifert murder
In 1974, Lombardo was charged with embezzling $1.4 million from the Teamsters Union pension fund, along with Allen DorfmanAllen Dorfman
Allen Dorfman was an American attorney, and a leading official of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters . He was a close associate of longtime IBT President Jimmy Hoffa...
, Anthony Spilotro
Anthony Spilotro
Anthony "The Ant" Spilotro was an Italian-American mobster and enforcer for the Chicago Outfit in Las Vegas during the 1970s and 1980s. His job was to protect and oversee the Outfit's illegal casino profits...
and several others. However, the charges were dropped after the main witness, Daniel Seifert, was killed outside his plastics factory in Bensenville, Illinois
Bensenville, Illinois
Bensenville is a village located primarily in DuPage County, Illinois, with a small section near O'Hare International Airport in Cook County, Illinois, overlapping into the city of Chicago. As of the 2000 census, the village population was 20,703. Bensenville is home to the Edge Ice Arena, home of...
two days before his scheduled court appearance. In 1974, Lombardo was implicated by government informant Alva Johnson Rodgers in the deaths of Seifert (the Teamsters' witness), Robert Harder, Sam Annerino, Raymond Ryan and Allen Dorfman
Allen Dorfman
Allen Dorfman was an American attorney, and a leading official of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters . He was a close associate of longtime IBT President Jimmy Hoffa...
, over a 15-year period. Lombardo was also accused of personally murdering disgraced police officer and turncoat
Turncoat
A turncoat is a person who shifts allegiance from one loyalty or ideal to another, betraying or deserting an original cause by switching to the opposing side or party...
informant
Informant
An informant is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law enforcement world, where they are officially known as confidential or criminal informants , and can often refer pejoratively to the supply of information...
, Richard Cain
Richard Cain
Richard Cain was a notoriously corrupt Chicago police officer, made man in the Chicago Outfit and a close associate of Mafia boss Sam Giancana. Several conspiracy theorists have claimed that Cain was directly involved in the 1963 assassination of U.S. President John F...
. Lombardo managed to escape conviction on all these charges.
Extortion and bribery
In 1982, Lombardo was charged with the extortionExtortion
Extortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...
of $800,000 from construction owner Robert Kendler and the attempted bribery of Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
US Senator Howard Cannon
Howard Cannon
Howard Walter Cannon was an American politician. He served as a United States Senator from Nevada from 1959 until 1983 as a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life:...
to get Cannon to stop or at least delay legislation regulating the trucking industry. Lombardo ultimately was convicted after a co-defendant agreed to testify against him. In 1983, Lombardo was sentenced to 15 years for his role in the bribe conspiracy. (Also convicted in the same case was Allen Dorfman
Allen Dorfman
Allen Dorfman was an American attorney, and a leading official of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters . He was a close associate of longtime IBT President Jimmy Hoffa...
, a major figure in the Teamster
Teamster
A teamster, in modern American English, is a truck driver. The trade union named after them is the International Brotherhood of Teamsters , one of the largest unions in the United States....
pension fund scandals of the 1960s and 1970s. Dorfman was murdered shortly after his conviction.) In 1986, Lombardo was convicted of maintaining hidden interests in several Strip
Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...
casinos (including the Stardust Resort & Casino
Stardust Resort & Casino
The Stardust Resort & Casino was a casino resort located on along the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada.The Stardust opened in 1958, although most of the modern casino complex was built in 1991. At its March 13, 2007 demolition it was the youngest undamaged high-rise building to ever be...
) and for skimming over $2 million in proceeds from 1974 until 1978, and was sentenced to 16 years—later reduced to 14 years.
Life after prison: 1992-2006
After Lombardo was released from federal prison on November 13, 1992, he took the unusual step of taking out a small classified ad in the Chicago TribuneChicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
that read: "I never took a secret oath, with guns and daggers, pricked my finger, drew blood or burned paper to join a criminal organization. If anyone hears my name used in connection with any criminal activity, please notify the FBI, local police, and my parole officer, Ron Kumke."
Indictment, disappearance, and Family Secrets trial
In 2003, Chicago newspapers began reporting that federal investigators were looking into solving old mob murders. In 2003, the FBI swabbed Lombardo for DNADNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
. Federal authorities also notified Lombardo during the probe that his life might be in danger.
On April 25, 2005, Lombardo, along with 13 other defendants was indicted as part of the federal government's Operation Family Secrets
Operation Family Secrets
Operation Family Secrets was an FBI investigation of mob related crimes in Chicago. According to the FBI it was one of the most successful investigations of organized crime done by the FBI ever. The investigation and trial was accurately dubbed "Family Secrets" because of the betrayal within the...
investigation, which lifted the veil on 18 killings since the 1970s that federal investigators had attributed to the Outfit. Lombardo was indicted for his role in at least one murder, as well as for running a racket based on illegal gambling, loan sharking and murder. Although Lombardo had known for weeks that an indictment was coming—agents had visited his machine
shop on Chicago's Near West Side
Near West Side, Chicago
The Near West Side, one of the 77 defined community areas of Chicago, is located , adjacent to the downtown central business district . The rich history of the Near West Side of Chicago has its genesis in the Hull House phenomenon...
several months earlier and taken DNA swabs—he was not under surveillance by federal agents in the weeks leading up to the indictment. And as federal agents rounded up the 14 defendants on April 25, 2005, they realized that Lombardo had disappeared and become a fugitive
Fugitive
A fugitive is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from private slavery, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals...
.
While Lombardo's whereabouts were unknown, he wrote letters to his lawyer, Rick Halprin -- but directed toward the judge in the trial—in which he claimed to be innocent, requested a very minimal bond, offered to take a lie detector test, and asked to be tried separately from the other defendants in the Family Secrets case—all requests that Judge James Zagel
James Zagel
James Block Zagel is a United States district judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and a novelist.- Early life and education :...
denied.
The first letter from Lombardo surfaced on May 4, 2005 and was four pages long and riddled with spelling errors. "I am no part of a enterprise or racketeering . . . have no part in the poker machines, extorcinate loans, gambling and what ever else the indictment says," the letter read. "About the 18 murders in the indictment, I want you to know that I was not privy before the murders, during the murders, and after the murders, and to this present writing to you." Lombardo also told Zagel in the letter, "I am not a violent man in anyway shape or form. I do not own or have any weapons of any kind. if the F.B.I. should find me I will come peacefully and no resistance at all." Lombardo also asked Zagel for "any ideas or suggestion of what I should do," and said the judge can "notify my lawyer" who can "reach me by the media." In August and September 2005, Lombardo sent more letters to his attorney, indicating that he had been following local news coverage of a state hearing involving allegations that the mayor of Rosemont, Illinois
Rosemont, Illinois
Rosemont is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States located immediately northwest of Chicago. The village was incorporated in 1956, though it had been settled long before that...
had met with several members of the Chicago Outfit
Chicago Outfit
The Chicago Outfit, also known as the Chicago Syndicate or Chicago Mob and sometimes shortened to simply the Outfit, is a crime syndicate based in Chicago, Illinois, USA...
. In response, Halprin quipped of his still-at-large client's newspaper-reading habit: "I doubt that he has a home subscription."
The FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
then offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to Lombardo's capture. After nine months at large, a bearded, unkempt Lombardo, with long hair and having gained some weight, finally was captured by FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
agents on January 13, 2006 outside the Elmwood Park, Illinois
Elmwood Park, Illinois
Elmwood Park is a village bordering the northwest side of the City of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 25,405 at the 2000 census. The community has long maintained a large Italian-American population, with a more recent influx of Polish-American and Hispanic...
home of his longtime friend Dominic Calarco. Federal agents had been tipped off to Lombardo's whereabouts after Lombardo had visited dead Outfit mobster Tony Spilotro's dentist brother, Patrick, for a decaying tooth. At his arraignment, Lombardo pleaded, "Not guilty." He also revealed that he had atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis is a condition in which an artery wall thickens as a result of the accumulation of fatty materials such as cholesterol...
and had not seen a doctor while he was at large because "I was--what do they call it? I was unavailable," prompting laughter in the courtroom.
During the trial, which was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney's Mitchell Mars, T. Markus Funk
T. Markus Funk
T. Markus Funk is an American lawyer, author, and academic.- Before working for Justice :Prior to joining the Department of Justice, Funk taught law at Oxford University, and was a law clerk to Judge Morris S. Arnold, U.S. Court of Appeal for the Eighth Circuit, and Catherine D. Perry, U.S....
, and John Scully, Lombardo took the unusual step for a mobster of taking the stand in his own defense, denying any involvement in the Seifert murder and claiming to have been at a police station at the time of the slaying, reporting the disappearance of his wallet. However, federal prosecutors noted Lombardo's fingerprint on the title application for a car used in the murder of Seifert. In addition, prosecutors pointed out that employees of an electronics store identified Lombardo as the person who had purchased a police scanner used in Seifert's murder.
In April 2009 Family Secrets: The Case That Crippled the Chicago Mob by Jeff Coen, the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
reporter for the trial, was published by Chicago Review Press.
Conviction and sentencing
On September 10, 2007, Lombardo was found guilty of racketeering, extortion, and loan sharking. On September 27, 2007, the same jury found Lombardo guilty of the 1974 Seifert murder. Lombardo continually professed his innocence, telling Zagel at a sentencing hearing on February 2, 2009 that "I was not given a fair trial and now I suppose the court is going to sentence me to life in prison for something I did not do. I did not kill Daniel Seifert and also I did not have anything to do with it."On February 2, 2009, Zagel sentenced Lombardo, seated in a wheelchair and wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, to life in prison for the convictions. "Mr. Lombardo, you are not like the toxic creature I've seen forming in one of your co-defendants," Zagel told Lombardo, referring to Chicago Outfit hit man Frank Calabrese, Sr.
Frank Calabrese, Sr.
Frank Calabrese, Sr. , also known as "Frankie Breeze," is a made man and a caporegime who ran major loansharking and illegal gambling operations for the Chicago Outfit. He is best known as a central figure in Operation Family Secrets and the subsequent Federal trial.-Early life:Frank Calabrese, Sr...
, whom Zagel had sentenced to life in prison the previous week. "You evidence some balance and judgment and based on the evidence before me, some ability to charm people. In the end, we are judged by our actions and not on our wit or our smiles....In cases like these, the things that matter most are the worst things we do. The worst things you have done are terrible, and I see no regret in you. I think you felt you were engaged in a game in which you drew satisfaction in how you played the game....It wasn't a game," and it involved, "the destruction of a human life." Judge Zagel agreed with federal prosecutor T. Markus Funk, and sentenced Lombardo to life.
Personal life
Lombardo has always kept family silent over the years, but his family is rather significant and important; Lombardo married Marion Nigro in a Catholic ceremony in 1951. Lombardo appears to have two brothers named Ralph and Rocco. His attorney was John Spilotro, whose uncle was Tony Spilotro.Lombardo kept his family life private and enjoyed spending time with his three grandchildren: Joseph, Michael, and Nicholas Lombardo. Lombardo lived in the same modest condominium building on West Ohio Street, on the Near West Side
Near West Side, Chicago
The Near West Side, one of the 77 defined community areas of Chicago, is located , adjacent to the downtown central business district . The rich history of the Near West Side of Chicago has its genesis in the Hull House phenomenon...
of Chicago, from the time he was married until he became a fugitive in 2005.
Lombardo and his wife, Marion, divorced in 1991, but Lombardo continued to reside in the same condominium building, moving after his divorce to a basement unit. In 2006, federal prosecutors alleged that Lombardo's divorce was a sham to hide money. "If you think it's a sham divorce, investigate it," Lombardo's attorney, Rick Halprin, told reporters on February 9, 2006.
Lombardo earned the nickname "The Clown" from his joking nature and from various humorous incidents involving him, including grinning wide for mug shot
Mug shot
A mug shot, mugshot or booking photograph, is a photographic portrait taken after one is arrested. The purpose of the mug shot is to allow law enforcement to have a photographic record of the arrested individual to allow for identification by victims and investigators. Most mug shots are two-part,...
s and for departing a 1981 court appearance at the federal courts building in Chicago holding a Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
newspaper in front of his face—with a hole cut out so he could see. In 2005, Halprin, spoke to the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
about his client's nickname saying, "That's a name he doesn't relish, and neither do I. The guy I know is not a clown."
External links
- MSNBC.com - Attorney: Reputed mobster 'Joey the Clown' gives surrender terms (Associated Press)
- ABC7Chicago.com - Joey 'the Clown' has a tough time getting medical help in federal lockup by Chuck Goudie
- Lombardo To Be Defended On Government's Dime (Associated Press)
- Illinois Police and Sheriff's News - Wanted: Joseph Lombardo Wanted
- Illinois Police and Sheriff's News - Who's Who in the Chicago Outfit for 1997
- Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator Website