Seen in these undated photos released by the U.S. attorney's office Monday, April 25, 2005 in Chicago is Joey 'The Clown' Lombardo in the photo at center and in a more recent photo at left. Lombardo is long known as one of the top leaders of organized crime in Chicago. Lombardo, 76, was caught in suburban Elmwood Park Friday Jan. 13, 2006 and was expected to spend the night in a Chicago jail, said FBI spokesman Ross Rice. (AP Photo/HO, U.S. Attorney Office)
Friday the 13th! It'll do it every time!
I am curious about how he got the nickname "The Clown". He doesn't seem like a very funny guy to me.
Mob fugitive hid here [Chicago]: FBI
Federal investigators Saturday described how Joey "the Clown" Lombardo evaded an international manhunt by staying for weeks at a time with several associates throughout the area.
At a Loop news conference at the Dirksen Federal Building, federal investigators said they always believed that Lombardo, who became a fugitive in April, had remained in Chicago this whole time.
Lombardo's life on the lam ended Friday at 8:10 p.m. outside a home in the 2300 block of North 74th Street in Elmwood Park, said Robert D. Grant, special agent-in-charge of the Chicago FBI office.
Lombardo was sitting in the passenger side of a car driven by an elderly man who lived nearby, Grant said.
"He did not resist, but he was not cooperative," Grant said. "He was a passive individual that seemed to be stunned that he had been found. … The agents had to approach the car, open the door and assist him to get out."
Lombardo's appearance was a big departure from photos taken as late as 2002.
"He has very long hair down to his shoulders. He has a very long beard, a baseball cap," Grant said, describing the scene when 12 FBI agents apprehended Lombardo. "For all intents and purposes, the (arresting) agent said he looked like Saddam Hussein."
Lombardo was carrying a suitcase full of clothes, a large amount of money, and his Illinois driver's license, Grant said. He was not armed.
Grant said there were people who assisted Lombardo in hiding out and that possible charges against those people "will be evaluated later."
Agents had been surveying the area periodically as new information came in, Grant said. He said they "were interested in that particular location" on North 74th Street where the arrest was made.
Prosecutors charged Lombardo and Frank "The German" Schweihs with the 1974 murder of Daniel Seifert, a Bensenville businessman scheduled to testify against Lombardo and others in a Teamsters pension fund fraud case.
Schweihs also was charged with joining co-defendant Paul Schiro in a 1986 gangland murder in Phoenix. Schweihs was a fugitive for eight months before being captured last month in a small town in Kentucky.
FBI officials said Lombardo and Schweihs had apparently disappeared a "significant time" before the indictments to avoid capture.
The search for Lombardo included a number of federal agencies, including the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service. Clues had raised suspicions that Lombardo could be in the Caribbean or in Mexico.
Lombardo, a longtime resident of Chicago's West Town neighborhood, has two federal convictions in the 1980s, for conspiring to bribe U.S. Sen. Howard Cannon of Nevada for help in defeating a trucking deregulation bill and for scheming to skim $2 million from a Las Vegas casino.
Joey "The Clown" Lombardo
Saddam Hussein
Why is he known as The Clown? Does he wear a fake flower that shoots bullets?
Joey "The Clown" Lombardo AKA Crazy Joe Davola