After Joey (the Clown) Lombardo – aka “Lumpy” – of the Chicago Outfit was indicted in 2005, he went on the lam and was the subject of an international manhunt.
When a college student saw Lombardo’s picture blasted on local TV news, she recalled taking a picture of a “dapper man” the year before. She was convinced the picture she’d taken was of Joey the Clown himself – the same exact guy the cops were hunting.
So, she contacted the Chicago Tribune and sold them the “rare” photo which they immediately published on their front page.
As it turned out, the photo was not of Joey the Clown Lombardo but of Stanley Swieton – an innocent 69-year-old guy just out riding his bike.
The red-faced Tribune quickly apologized and the student photographer told the newspaper, “I guess I’m a little surprised that there are two elderly gentlemen with really great classic style.”
Lombardo was captured eight months later, was eventually convicted of several crimes after a very public trial, and sentenced to life in prison. He died in 2019.
