Joseph Patrick Lombardo (born Giuseppe Lombardi;[1] January 1, 1929 – October 19, 2019), also known as "Joey the Clown", was an American mobster and a high-ranking member of the Chicago Outfit crime organization.

[1] On December 15, 1982, 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] Following his release, Lombardo took the unusual step of taking out a small classified ad in the Chicago Tribune 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.

[9] 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 $50,000 recognizance 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 U.S. District Judge James Zagel denied.

"[10] 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, Donald Stephens, had met with several members of the Chicago Outfit.

[9] On January 13, 2006, after over eight months at large, a bearded, unkempt Lombardo, was captured by FBI agents outside the Elmwood Park, Illinois home of his longtime friend Dominic Calarco.

Attorneys Mitchell Mars, T. Markus Funk, and John Scully, Lombardo took the stand in his own defense, denying any involvement in the September, 1974 murder of Daniel Seifert, claiming to have been at a police station at the time of the slaying, reporting the disappearance of his wallet.

In addition, prosecutors pointed out that employees of an electronics store identified Lombardo as the purchaser of a police scanner used in Seifert's murder.

"[28][29][30] In September 2006, while in federal lockup at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago, Lombardo had a heart attack and was brought to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was diagnosed as having had a minor heart attack; he was put into an operating room where he underwent surgery, to have a stent installed—his fourth stent procedure.

[3] 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.

[34] Prosecutors said Marion Lombardo appeared to have sold three parcels[clarification needed] in Florida held by the MJJ Trust for more than $4.5 million in 2003.

They said two warranty deeds recording the sale of the Florida property referred to Marion Lombardo as "a married woman".