Angelo Anthony Lonardo (January 21, 1911 − March 31, 2006) was a mobster who became the acting boss of

Cleveland crime family The Cleveland crime family or Cleveland Mafia is the collective name given to a succession of Italian-American organized crime gangs based in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. A part of the Italian-American Mafia (or ''Cosa Nostra'') phenom ...

in the early 1980s. Lonardo was born in 1911 in Cleveland to

Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

and Concetta Lonardo. His godfather was Anthony Milano. After his father was murdered by a member of the Porrello crime family in 1927, 16-year-old Lonardo swore revenge and murdered Salvatore Todaro with his cousin Dominic Sospirato. Lonardo was tried and sentenced to life in prison. However, his lawyer was able to get a second trial and he was discharged and released. He later joined Milano's brother Frank in the

. He eventually worked his way up to underboss in 1976. After his arrest in 1983, Lonardo became a government informant and testified against his former colleagues and several mob figures throughout the US. Lonardo and

Jimmy Fratianno Aladena James Fratianno (born Aladena Fratianno; November 14, 1913 – June 29, 1993), also known as "Jimmy the Weasel", was an Italian-born American mobster who was acting boss of the Los Angeles crime family. After his arrest in 1977, Fratianno ...

, the acting boss of the

Los Angeles crime family The Los Angeles crime family, also known as the L.A. Mafia or the Southern California crime family, is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate based in Los Angeles as part of the larger Italian-American Mafia. Since its inception in the ea ...

, were the highest-ranking mobsters to become federal witnesses, until Gambino crime family underboss, Sammy "the Bull" Gravano during the early 1990s. He eventually went into the federal witness protection program, but left it to return to

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

. Lonardo died in his sleep on April 1, 2006, aged 95. He was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Cleveland.

References

*Porrello, Rick. ''To Kill the Irishman: The War that Crippled the Mafia''. Novelty, Ohio: Next Hat Press, 2004. *Vigil, Vicki Blum (2007). ''Cemeteries of Northeast Ohio: Stones, Symbols & Stories''. Cleveland, OH: Gray & Company, Publishers. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lonardo, Angelo 1911 births 2006 deaths People from Cleveland American crime bosses American gangsters of Sicilian descent Cleveland crime family Federal Bureau of Investigation informants People who entered the United States Federal Witness Protection Program Burials in Calvary Cemetery (Cleveland)