'Joey the Clown' in clash with prosecutor, clings to alibi

The AP reports:

Reputed mob boss Joseph (Joey the Clown) Lombardo dueled a federal prosecutor for hours of blistering cross examination Wednesday, insisting he was in a police station complaining about a stolen wallet at the time of the murder that could send him to federal prison for life.

"You had your crew hunt him down and shoot him down," Assistant U.S. Attorney Mitchell A. Mars thundered as he questioned Lombardo about the Sept. 27, 1974, mob-style execution of federal witness Daniel Seifert.

"That is not true, Sir," said Lombardo, in his second day on the witness stand before a courtroom filled with curiosity seekers eager to see a figure tied to the top echelons of the Chicago mob for years.

The 78-year-old Lombardo seemed slightly absent minded when a federal marshal first delivered him to the witness stand in a wheelchair but sharpened up as the tone of the cross examination began to catch fire.

Mars pounded at FBI tapes made years ago on which Lombardo was heard saying he would "flatten" a massage parlor and threatening that a 72-year-old St. Louis lawyer "won't get to be 73" without paying old debts.

"You threatened him with his life," Mars said.

"I just said he wouldn't get to be 73," Lombardo said.

"Well, what does that mean for someone who is 72?" Mars snapped.

Imagine that.