'Joey The Clown' gets life in prison
FAMILY SECRETS | 'I see no regret in you,' judge says as he sentences Lombardo, 80, to life in prison
The Clown on Monday was dead serious.
(AP file)
Outfit killer Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, 80, cracked no jokes for the courtroom crowd.
He did not flirt with the court reporters or sketch artists, as he did frequently during the Family Secrets trial.
All he did Monday was continue to deny, in a raspy yet strong voice, that he gunned down his friend, Daniel Seifert, in 1974, as Seifert's wife and 4-year-old son -- named Joseph after Lombardo himself -- stood yards away.
Then a federal judge sentenced Lombardo to life in prison.
"In the end, we are judged by our actions, not by our wit or our smiles," U.S. District Judge James Zagel said. "In cases like this, we are judged by the worst things we have done, and the worst things you have done are terrible.
"I see no regret in you."
Lombardo killed Seifert, who was 29, after he learned that his once-close friend was going to testify against him in federal court on a Teamster pension fund fraud case.
Seifert was the sole witness to tie Lombardo to two checks that were critical evidence in the case, but once Seifert was murdered, the case against Lombardo dissolved.
Lombardo and a crew of Outfit killers pounced on Seifert after he opened up his Bensenville area factory for the day.
The killers starting beating Seifert in the office entrance, but he got away and ran off, only to be gunned down nearby as his wife and child stayed in the office.
The last memory Joseph Seifert had of his father was seeing him "lying twisted in the grass," he said in court.
Daniel Seifert's widow, Emma, said the murder destroyed her family. "How do you explain to your 4-year-old why his daddy died," she asked.
While prosecutors did not present any eyewitnesses or DNA evidence against Lombardo for the Seifert murder, they wove an extensive circumstantial case against the Outfit killer, who is a suspect in several other Outfit hits and was once believed to have command over 100 mobsters.
During the Family Secrets case, Lombardo helped the prosecution when he took the stand to defend himself.
Federal prosecutor Markus Funk said Lombardo lied repeatedly on the stand, and the judge and jury agreed, but Lombardo stuck to his story during his sentencing Monday.
"First, I want to say to Emma Seifert, Joe Seifert and Nicky Seifert, I was sorry for the loss then, I'm sorry for the loss now," Lombardo said to Seifert's widow and two sons sitting in court.
"I want the court and the Seifert family to know I did not kill Danny Seifert and had nothing to do with it, before, during or after."
Lombardo read into the court record several documents that he wasn't able to introduce at trial to show he allegedly was reporting to the police that his wallet had been stolen at the time of Seifert's slaying.
Lombardo's attorney, Rick Halprin, suggested two other mobsters had more to gain from Seifert's death.
Even though Lombardo will never see the world again as a free man, the sentence provided no great closure for the Seifert family.
"I'll never feel safe," Emma Seifert said.
"Never."