Uploaded May 2021 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Check out The Original Tombstone Tourist website at thetombstonetourist.com/graves/joseph-lonardo for the complete biography and more exciting content!
Joseph "Big Joe" Lonardo (also known as "The Corn Sugar Baron") was the first ever crime boss of the Cleveland crime family. He and his brother John were murder by his own Underboss Salvatore "Black Sam" Todaro.
In the early evening of October 13, 1927, someone telephoned Lonardo and asked him to come to the barber shop owned by Ottavio Porrello at 10902 Woodland Avenue. Joseph and John Lonardo arrived at the barber shop without any bodyguards (which was highly unusual) about 8:15 PM and proceeded into the back room, which was used for playing cards. A few minutes later, two men entered the card room from the barber shop and opened fire. Angelo Porrello, who was in the card room, claims he did not know who the men were and survived only by hiding under the card table. Joseph Lonardo was killed instantly when two bullets entered his skull near his left eye, three bullets entered his left shoulder and upper left arm, and two bullets entered his right side. John Lonardo was shot in the left leg and stomach. The two gunmen fled out the front door of the barber shop and onto Woodland Avenue. John Lonardo followed them. One of the gunmen stopped in front of Anthony Caruso's butcher shop at 10906 Woodland. When John Lonardo reached him, the gunman hit Lonardo between the eyes with the butt of his pistol. John Lonardo fell unconscious, and bled to death on the sidewalk.
The Lonardo Crime Family monument can be found at Calvary Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio in Section 47, Plot 234 about 100 feet off the road.
#famousgraves #gravesite #grave #cemetery #cemeterylovers #mafia #truecrimestories
Check out The Original Tombstone Tourist website at thetombstonetourist.com/graves/joseph-lonardo for the complete biography and more exciting content!
Joseph "Big Joe" Lonardo (also known as "The Corn Sugar Baron") was the first ever crime boss of the Cleveland crime family. He and his brother John were murder by his own Underboss Salvatore "Black Sam" Todaro.
In the early evening of October 13, 1927, someone telephoned Lonardo and asked him to come to the barber shop owned by Ottavio Porrello at 10902 Woodland Avenue. Joseph and John Lonardo arrived at the barber shop without any bodyguards (which was highly unusual) about 8:15 PM and proceeded into the back room, which was used for playing cards. A few minutes later, two men entered the card room from the barber shop and opened fire. Angelo Porrello, who was in the card room, claims he did not know who the men were and survived only by hiding under the card table. Joseph Lonardo was killed instantly when two bullets entered his skull near his left eye, three bullets entered his left shoulder and upper left arm, and two bullets entered his right side. John Lonardo was shot in the left leg and stomach. The two gunmen fled out the front door of the barber shop and onto Woodland Avenue. John Lonardo followed them. One of the gunmen stopped in front of Anthony Caruso's butcher shop at 10906 Woodland. When John Lonardo reached him, the gunman hit Lonardo between the eyes with the butt of his pistol. John Lonardo fell unconscious, and bled to death on the sidewalk.
The Lonardo Crime Family monument can be found at Calvary Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio in Section 47, Plot 234 about 100 feet off the road.
#famousgraves #gravesite #grave #cemetery #cemeterylovers #mafia #truecrimestories
