1. Joseph Lombardo began his Outfit career as a jewel thief and as a juice loan collector.
19 Facts About Joseph Lombardo
1. 2.
In 1963, Joseph Lombardo was arrested and charged with kidnapping and loan sharking, but was acquitted after a factory worker who had owed $2,000 and who was behind on his payments could not positively identify Joseph Lombardo.
3.
On December 15,1982, Joseph Lombardo was convicted, along with Teamsters Union President Roy Williams and insurance executive Allen Dorfman, with bribery of Nevada Democratic State Senator Howard Cannon in order to get a trucking deregulation bill blocked.
4.
Joseph Lombardo was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in the bribe conspiracy.
5.
In 1986, Joseph Lombardo was convicted of skimming over $2 million in proceeds in several Strip casinos, and was sentenced to another 10 years in prison.
6.
Joseph Lombardo was released on November 13,1992, after serving only 10 years in prison.
7.
Joseph 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.
8.
The first letter from Joseph Lombardo surfaced on May 4,2005, was four pages long and riddled with spelling and grammatical errors.
9.
On January 13,2006, after over eight months at large, a bearded, unkempt Joseph Lombardo, was captured by FBI agents outside the Elmwood Park, Illinois home of his longtime friend Dominic Calarco.
10.
Joseph Lombardo was carrying $3,000 at the time of the arrest.
11.
On September 10,2007, Joseph Lombardo was convicted of racketeering, extortion, loan sharking and murder.
12.
On February 2,2009, Zagel sentenced Joseph Lombardo, seated in a wheelchair, to life in prison for the convictions.
13.
Joseph Lombardo served his sentence at ADX Florence supermax prison, where he died on October 19,2019, at the age of 90.
14.
Joseph Lombardo earned the nickname "The Clown" from his joking demeanor and for his various antics, including grinning wide for mug shots 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.
15.
Joseph Lombardo married Marion Nigro in a Catholic ceremony in 1951.
16.
Joseph 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.
17.
In 2006, federal prosecutors alleged that Joseph Lombardo's divorce was a sham to hide money.
18.
Prosecutors said Marion Joseph Lombardo appeared to have sold three parcels in Florida held by the MJJ Trust for more than $4.5 million in 2003.
19.
Joseph Lombardo's lawyer had stated that the assets had been placed in an "irrevocable trust" for Joseph Lombardo's family.