Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo
Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo is likely to testify in his own defense in the Family Secrets trial, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.
Lombardo may announce in court his intention to testify as early as Tuesday, if the prosecution wraps its case up as expected.
Lombardo's attorney, Rick Halprin, had no comment Tuesday, but Lombardo's unusual defense and Halprin's cross-examination during the case are clearly pointing toward Lombardo taking the stand.
Lombardo would likely hit the stand in the next week or two when defense attorneys begin presenting their cases.
Lombardo is using a so-called withdrawal defense from the racketeering conspiracy charge he faces.
He's saying if he ever was a part of any Outfit conspiracy, he long has since withdrawn from it.
In the early 1990s, after he got out of prison, he took out an ad in a Chicago newspaper, saying he wasn't a mobster, and if anyone saw him hanging around with any, to notify his parole officer.
Lombardo's attorney's questioning of various witnesses has helped shape the defense, by contending Lombardo was nothing more than a errand boy for more powerful people in the mob, such as Allen Dorfman.
(Reading the transcripts of the interactions between Lombardo and Dorfman, secretly recorded by the FBI, may lead one to a different conclusion over who was in charge.)
Throughout the trial, Halprin has tried to minimize Lombardo's role.
But there's only one person who's going to be able to tell jurors he wasn't a mob leader and has retired from the life.
Lombardo himself.
If he does take the stand, he'll face a cross-examination from a top prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's office in Chicago.
And he'll face a jury who has already heard powerful testimony from the widow of a man who was going to be a federal witness against Lombardo, in a case from 1974, and was gunned down with his family nearby.
Lombardo, while not book smart, has always been considered among the brighter reputed mob leaders.
We'll see just how bright, once he takes the stand.
Any mention of the Elmwood Park police or any others almost catching him while he was on the run?
STEVE WARMBIR RESPONDS: No testimony of that.
Steve,
Theres been little mention of the defensive attorney's handling of the feds witnesses.
I would be curious to know if Dr. spilotoro was questioned , and if so what was the climate of the courtroom when it was happening?
did defense lawyers have to tread lightly or were they as direct as most of us bloggers about Tony's lifestyle, the poeple TOny was supposedly responsible for killing and what the good doc gained from his brothers connections?
I mean lets face it anyone who knows someone in that "line of work" benefits in one way or another. ( tv, stereo, jewelry something???)
Please tell us who cross examined Dr. Spilotor, as well as Marcello's "mistress"...and how it went. If there are any other heated crosses please share-besides the ons you've talked about of course.
STEVE WARMBIR RESPONDS: I've certainly touched on the defense cross-examinations in the daily trial stories when they've scored points.
Thomas Breen, the attorney for James Marcello, scored a point with the dentist when Spilotro testified that his sister-in-law, Ann, told him Michael and Anthony Spilotro went to meet Marcello on the day they were slain.
Now, Ann Spilotro never testified to that, and Breen pounced on it. He chided Pat Spilotro for conducting his own investigation of his brothers' murders.
No one really beat up the dentist for what his brother did or for any alleged benefits he may have received from having a brother in the Outfit.
The questions you and other posters raise are ethical ones, and they are interesting, but they weren't really relevant to his testimony.
As for James Marcello's former mistress, Breen also questioned her.
Breen didn't verbally beat her up but pointed out that Marcello helped her raise her children, which included a child with special needs.