After being held up in a maximum security prison in Colorado where he was to serve a life sentence after being convicted of murder and racketeering in the Operation Family Secrets trial in 2007, Outfit mobster Joey “The Clown” Lombardo has passed away at the age of 90.

Not much in the way of information surrounding his death has been published yet, which occurred on Saturday 19th October.

The trial, which began in 2007 looked into 18 unsolved murders, one being that of Tony Spilotro who was beaten to death back in June 1986 and buried in a cornfield with his brother Michael. During his time Joey worked with Tony on a number of jobs for the Outfit, from bank robberies to smaller loan sharking operations, right up to helping the mob get a foothold in Las Vegas.

Operation Family Secrets saw many high profile mobsters go down, including some law enforcement officials, as convictions from murder, loan sharking and extortion were just some of the many that were thrown around.

Lombardo was personally implicated for the murder of businessman and federal witness Daniel Seifert in 1974 and not long after the indictment was handed down, he went on the lam for 8 months before a stand-off ensued with the FBI.

In 2009 he was eventually handed his life sentence.

Joey "The Clown" Lombardo, one of the most colourful and feared figures in the history of the Chicago Outfit, passed away on Saturday, 19th October, at the age of 90, while serving a life sentence at a maximum security federal prison in Colorado. His death marks the end of a chapter in organised crime history that stretched back decades, connecting the modern Outfit to the very roots of Chicago's storied criminal underworld.

Born in 1929 on the Near West Side of Chicago, Lombardo rose through the ranks of the Outfit during an era when the organisation still carried the long shadow of Al Capone's legacy. By the time he reached the upper echelons of mob power, he was a trusted associate of boss Joey Aiuppa and a key figure in the Outfit's expansive criminal portfolio, which ranged from loan sharking and labour racketeering to the all-important infiltration of Las Vegas casinos. His work alongside the notorious Tony Spilotro, the Outfit's man on the ground in Vegas, helped the Chicago mob maintain its grip on the desert city even as federal pressure mounted throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

Lombardo's nickname, "The Clown," belied a man who was anything but laughable to those who crossed him. He was personally implicated in the 1974 murder of Daniel Seifert, a businessman and federal witness who was shot dead in front of his wife and young son. It was a brazen, cold-blooded killing that underscored just how ruthless the Outfit's enforcement could be when loyalty was perceived to be threatened.

When federal investigators launched Operation Family Secrets, one of the most significant organised crime prosecutions in American history, Lombardo found himself squarely in the crosshairs. The 2007 trial examined 18 unsolved murders, including the notorious killing of Tony Spilotro and his brother Michael, who were beaten to death in June 1986 and buried in an Indiana cornfield. Rather than face justice, Lombardo went on the run for eight months following the indictment, before a dramatic stand-off with the FBI brought his fugitive days to an end. In 2009, he received his life sentence.

Operation Family Secrets resulted in convictions across murder, extortion, and loan sharking charges, bringing down some of the last major figures of the old-school Chicago Outfit. Lombardo's death closes another door on that era, leaving behind a legacy that serves as a stark reminder of the violence and corruption that defined organised crime in twentieth-century America.