64 Facts About Joseph Lonardo

When national Prohibition began in 1920, Lonardo became a dealer in corn sugar, an essential ingredient in the manufacture of corn whiskey.

Joseph Lonardo became a "sugar baron" by driving other legitimate corn sugar merchants out of business, encouraging home distillation, and using intimidation, murder, and theft to eliminate or drive his criminal competitors out of business.

Joseph Lonardo had the support of the D'Aquila crime family of New York City, and engaged in widespread bribery of local judges, police, and politicians.

Joseph Lonardo began demanding unquestioning loyalty while taking little risk, alienating many bootleggers, home distillers, and organized crime figures.

When Joseph Lonardo returned to Cleveland, he attempted to regain control of the Cleveland mafia.

Joseph Lonardo's bodyguards were arrested as suspects in the Yorkell and Brownstein murders, leaving Lonardo unprotected.

Joseph Lonardo was born October 20,1884, in Licata, Sicily, to Antonia and Angelo Joseph Lonardo.

Joseph Lonardo had three brothers, Dominic, Frank, and John, and a sister.

Angelo Porrello operated a sulfur mine near Licata, and the four Joseph Lonardo sons worked alongside Porrello's seven sons in the mine.

Joseph Lonardo emigrated from Italy to the United States, entering the country on February 4,1901.

Joseph Lonardo settled in New York City's Little Italy neighborhood, and his three brothers and his sister emigrated to the United States soon thereafter.

Joseph Lonardo became a naturalized citizen on August 14,1914.

Joseph Lonardo worked in various commission houses at first, then sold fruit for a living, and later opened a confectionery.

Joseph Lonardo was convicted of aggravated assault in 1906 for stabbing a man, and imprisoned for 22 months in the Ohio State Reformatory.

Joseph Lonardo was accused of robbery in 1909 but not indicted.

Joseph Lonardo shot and killed a man during an argument in 1916, but a grand jury declined to indict him.

The barriers to entry into the illegal liquor industry were low, which meant that Joseph Lonardo could reduce, but not entirely eliminate, the competition.

Joseph Lonardo essentially established a cottage industry in the production of illegal corn whiskey.

Frank Joseph Lonardo oversaw the collection of the corn whiskey and its distribution to buyers.

Joseph Lonardo offered his corn sugar customers easy credit, which encouraged expansion in home distilling and drove most legitimate corn sugar merchants out of business.

The vast majority of home distillers used by Joseph Lonardo were immigrants, and few law enforcement officers wanted the media to depict them breaking into the homes of poor immigrants.

Joseph Lonardo then began to use intimidation and murder to force other corn sugar dealers and purchasers of home-distilled liquor out of business.

Joseph Lonardo used the same tactics to discourage home distillers from selling liquor directly to speakeasies, and to encourage retailers to sell liquor at the highest possible price.

When his better corn sugar customers ran into trouble with the law, Joseph Lonardo often donated money for attorneys and bail.

Joseph Lonardo overcame resistance to his criminal activities by maintaining good relationships with people in Little Italy, helping to resolve their disputes and donating money to those in need.

Joseph Lonardo was aware of the precarious position he held.

Joseph Lonardo had several bodyguards, including Charles Colletti and Lawrence Lupo, and he was rarely seen in public without at least one of them by his side.

Joseph Lonardo encountered new problems as boss of the Cleveland crime family.

Joseph Lonardo demanded a percentage of the profits from the sale of corn whiskey, but appeared to take little risk.

The Porrellos were the only significant corn sugar suppliers other than Joseph Lonardo, who had intimidated or eliminated nearly all other competitors.

Joseph Lonardo tolerated their operation only because the Porrellos were lifelong friends.

Joseph Lonardo was convicted of various violations of liquor laws and for threatening a law enforcement officer and sentenced to jail.

Joseph Lonardo agreed to use his political influence, although Porrello had to pay him $5,000.

Joseph Lonardo either took no action or failed to win Raymond Porrello's release before he left.

John Lonardo served as caretaker of Joseph's businesses while Joseph was in Sicily.

Joseph Lonardo returned to Cleveland in August 1927, and worked hard to put his business back in order.

Joseph Lonardo then ordered Lawrence Lupo to kill Todaro, ostensibly for abusing a Jew who worked for the mafia.

The seriousness of Gentile's announcement impressed Joseph Lonardo, who rescinded the assassination order the next day.

Joseph Lonardo was not eager to start a gang war.

Joseph Lonardo met several times with the Porrellos to discuss what was happening, allegedly seeking a merger of the two gangs and their bootleg operations.

Masseria encouraged Todaro to murder Joseph Lonardo and take over the Cleveland crime family in order to embarrass Salvatore D'Aquila.

Joseph and John Lonardo arrived at the barber shop without any bodyguards about 8:15 PM and proceeded into the back room, which was used for playing cards.

When John Joseph Lonardo reached him, the gunman hit Joseph Lonardo between the eyes with the butt of his pistol.

John Joseph Lonardo fell unconscious, and bled to death on the sidewalk.

Joseph and John Lonardo were buried on October 18,1927.

John and Joseph Lonardo were both buried in silver caskets at Calvary Cemetery in Cleveland.

Joseph Lonardo's death ignited what the press called the "Corn Sugar War", a series of power-grabs and retaliatory blood feuds that left another Joseph Lonardo and seven Porrellos dead before it ended.

Police in 1927 believed Joseph Lonardo's death was only one in a series of five murders recently committed in the city.

For much of his adult life, Joseph Lonardo suffered from an unidentified disease in his right eye.

The surgery proved ineffective in the long run, and by the end of his life Joseph Lonardo was blind in his right eye.

Once he achieved wealth, Joseph Lonardo became well known for being a flashy dresser.

Joseph Lonardo wore expensive tailored suits, closed the cuffs with diamond-studded cufflinks, used a diamond-encrusted tie pin, and wore several diamond rings.

Concetta herself later claimed that she and Joseph Lonardo had lived together as man and wife since 1902.

Angelo "Big Ange" Joseph Lonardo was later underboss of the Cleveland crime family from 1976 to 1983.

Joseph and Concetta Lonardo separated about 1925, and Concetta died on January 24,1943, in East Cleveland.

On September 8,1925, Joseph Lonardo married 29-year-old Fannie Lanzone in Sandusky, Ohio.

Joseph Lonardo met her while in Sicily in 1926 and began an affair with the married woman.

Joseph Lonardo convinced her to come to the United States with him, and she agreed.

Joseph Lonardo lived in Cleveland in a lavishly furnished apartment Lonardo rented on her behalf.

Joseph Lonardo was 24 years old in November 1927 when US officials deported her back to Italy.

Joseph Lonardo deeded most of his property to his heirs several months before his death.

The worth of the remainder of Joseph Lonardo's estate was assessed at about $2 million by the probate court.

Concetta Joseph Lonardo was named administrator of the estate, and Joseph Lonardo's will distributed most of his remaining wealth and property to her and his five children.

Fannie Joseph Lonardo's suit was finally dismissed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in 1932.