Will 'Clown' stick to previous story?

August 13, 2007
BY STEVE WARMBIR Staff Reporter
When mobster Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo was in prison in 1989, he was asked during a court deposition what he wanted to do when he got out.
"In my opinion, what I want to do when I get out, I want to go into the woods . . . into the wilderness and get away from everybody, wherever they let me go," Lombardo told a federal prosecutor.

"I want to disappear into the woods and be with the animals if I can," Lombardo continued. "I don't think my wife will come with me."

This week, Lombardo, far from any forest, will take the stand in his own defense in the Family Secrets trial.

He's been accused of being a capo in the Chicago Outfit -- overseeing shakedowns, extortions -- and of killing a man who was to be a federal witness against him.


1989 deposition may give hint
Lombardo has faced criminal charges before but never taken the stand. So it's anyone's guess as to what the wise-cracking gangster will say.
But the best preview of his much-anticipated testimony may lie in a little-known 1989 court deposition that runs 196 pages, in which he was asked to answer many of the same questions likely to face him at trial.

The deposition is part of the public record of a New York civil case in which the feds ejected Lombardo and other mobsters from the Teamsters Union.

One of the most serious allegations against Lombardo is that he was part of a hit team that killed Bensenville businessman Daniel Seifert in 1974, just yards from Seifert's wife and 4-year-old son.

In the deposition, Lombardo denies having anything to do with Seifert's murder or knowing Seifert had been contacted by federal agents.

"I don't recall if I ever knew about it," Lombardo said. "I don't remember. I doubt if I ever recall."

When asked if he was at the scene of the Seifert murder, Lombardo responded: "Absolutely not."

Lombardo also downplays his relationship with Allen Dorfman, the man who helped arrange Teamster pension fund loans to build Las Vegas casinos.

Federal authorities have contended Lombardo controlled Dorfman, while Lombardo's attorney, Rick Halprin, suggests Lombardo was nothing more than an errand boy for Dorfman.


Says he was never 'made'
Lombardo said he would give his opinion to Dorfman, "who I thought was a rat, who was lying to him, who's a bullsh-----."
Dorfman "just looked at me sometimes like I was nuts."

Dorfman was gunned down in a mob hit in 1983. Lombardo had this back-and-forth with the prosecutor about his death:

"Do you know who shot him?" Lombardo was asked.

"They say I did," Lombardo shot back.

"I take it you did," the prosecutor said.

"I sure did," Lombardo said. "I drove the car, and the warden shot him. Now, that's a lie. I'm just lying here. That's not the truth. I was locked up at the MCC [Metropolitan Correctional Center] at the time. When I heard it, I was the sickest man in the world. I had tears in my eyes. I couldn't believe it."

What's more, Lombardo denies ever being "made" as a mob member.

"Now, the only way I can answer that question: I never pricked my fingers and never took an oath over guns or over swords and never put burning paper in my hand," he said.