White Dog (1982 film)

White Dog is a 1982 American drama horror film, which Samuel Fuller directed from a screenplay he and Curtis Hanson had dramatized, which, in turn, they based on Romain Gary's 1970 novel of the same title. The film depicts the struggle of a dog trainer named Keys (Paul Winfield), who is black, trying to retrain a stray dog found by a young actress (Kristy McNichol), that is a "white dog"—a dog trained to make vicious attacks upon, and to kill, any black person. Fuller uses the film as a platform to deliver a message against racism as it examines the question of whether racism is a treatable problem or an incurable condition.

The film's theatrical release was suppressed for a week in the United States by Paramount Pictures out of concern over negative press after rumors began circulating that the film was racist. Prior to the date, it was released internationally in France in July 1982. Its first official American home video release came in December 2008 when The Criterion Collection released the original uncut film to DVD.

Critics praised the film's hard-line look at racism and Fuller's use of melodrama and metaphors to present his argument, and its somewhat disheartening ending that leaves the impression that while racism is learned, it cannot be cured. Reviewers consistently questioned the film's lack of wide release in the United States when it was completed and applauded its belated release by Criterion.

## Plot

While driving through the Los Angeles hills at night, white actress Julie Sawyer accidentally runs over a stray White Shepherd dog. After the veterinarian treats him, Julie takes him home while trying to find his owners. A rapist breaks into her house and tries to attack her, but the dog protects her. She decides to adopt him, against the wishes of her boyfriend Roland Graele. Unbeknownst to her, the dog was trained by a white racist to attack black people on sight. The dog sneaks out of the house and kills a black truck driver. Later, Julie takes the dog to work with her, and he mauls a black actress on the set.

Julie takes the dog to a trainer, Carruthers, who tells her to euthanize the dog. Another dog trainer, Keys, who is black, decides to try to retrain the dog. He dons protective gear and keeps the dog in a large enclosure, taking him out on a chain and exposing himself to the dog each day and making sure he is the only one to feed or care for the dog.

The dog escapes and kills an elderly black man in a church. Keys recovers him and opts not to turn him over to authorities to continue the training, over Julie's protests. He warns her that the training has reached a tipping point, where the dog might be cured or go insane. He believes that curing the dog will discourage white racists from training dogs like this.

Eventually, the dog becomes friendly towards Keys. Julie confronts the dog's original owner, who has come to claim him. She angrily tells him the dog has been cured by a black person in front of his grandchildren who knew the dog to be a loving pet. Just as Julie and Keys celebrate their victory, the dog, without warning, turns its attention to Carruthers and attacks him. To save his employer's life, Keys is forced to shoot and kill the dog.

## Cast

- Kristy McNichol as Julie Sawyer
- Paul Winfield as Keys
- Burl Ives as Carruthers
- Jameson Parker as Roland Grale
- Parley Baer as Wilber Hull

## Production

White Dog'''s roots lie with a 1970 autobiographical novel written by Romain Gary of the same title. The story was purchased for use by Paramount in 1975, with Curtis Hanson selected to write the screenplay and Roman Polanski hired to direct. Before shooting commenced, Polanski was charged with rape and fled the country, leaving the production in limbo. Over a span of six years, the project was given to various writers and producers, who all focused on the stray dog story from Gary's original work. Gary's activist wife was replaced in the script with a young, unmarried actress because Paramount wanted to contrast the dog's random attacks with a loving relationship between the protagonist and the dog. Paramount executives noted that they wanted a "Jaws with paws" and indicated that they wanted any racial elements to be downplayed. In one memo, the company noted: "Given the organic elements of this story, it is imperative that we never overtly address through attitude or statement the issue of racism per se."

By 1981, Gary's wife, and then Gary himself, had both committed suicide. At the same time, Hollywood was under threat of strikes by both the Writers' and Directors' Guilds. Needing enough films to carry the studio through in case the strikes happened, White Dog was one of 13 films considered to be far enough along to be completable in a short time frame. With a push from Michael Eisner, White Dog was one of seven that Paramount put on a fast track for production. Eisner pushed for the film to be one of the selected ones because of its social message that hate was learned. Producer Jon Davison (film producer) was less certain and, early on, he questioned how the film was being marketed. Hanson, back on board as the film's screenwriter, suggested that Samuel Fuller be named the film's director as he felt Fuller was the only one available with the experience needed to complete the film on such a short schedule and with a low budget, while still doing so responsibly with regard to the sensitive material. Davison agreed after visiting Fuller and seeing Fuller act out how he would shoot the film.

Fuller readily agreed, having focused much of his own career on racial issues. Already familiar with the novel and with the concept of "white dogs", he was tasked with "reconceptualizing" the film to have the conflict depicted in the book occur within the dog rather than the people. In an earlier Variety magazine interview, Fuller stated that viewers would "see a dog slowly go insane and then come back to sanity." Before filming began, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Black Anti-Defamation Coalition (BADC), and other civil-rights leaders began voicing concerns that the film would spur racial violence. In an editorial in the Los Angeles Times, Robert Price, executive director of the BADC, criticized the studio for producing the film based on a book by a white man and using a primarily white cast and crew, rather than producing the film with African Americans in key positions. He also considered Gary's work to be a "second-rate novel" and questioned its use when "bookshelves are laden with quality novels by black writers who explore the same social and psychological areas with far more subtlety?"

Fuller, however, was confident in his work and the idea that the film would be strongly anti-racist, particularly with the changes he had made to the original work. The original novel's hate-filled Muslim black trainer, who had deliberately retrained the dog to attack white people, was converted into the character of Keys, who genuinely wished to cure the animal. Fuller also changed the novel's original ending into a more pessimistic film ending. The film was shot in only forty-five days at a cost of US\$7 million. Five white German Shepherd Dogs played the unnamed central character.

After filming commenced, Paramount Pictures brought in two African-American consultants to review and approve the depiction of the black characters: Willis Edwards, vice president of the local NAACP chapter, and David L. Crippens, the vice president and stage manager of the local PBS affiliate. In the end, they walked away with different views of the film. Crippens did not find the film to have any racist connotations, while Edwards found it inflammatory and felt it should not have been made, particularly not during that year, when a series of murders of black children was occurring in Atlanta. The two men provided a write-up of their views for the studio executives, which were passed to Davison along with warnings that the studio feared a film boycott. But Fuller was neither told of these discussions, nor given the notes, until two weeks before filming was slated to conclude. Known for being a staunch integrationist and for his regularly giving black actors non-stereotypical roles, Fuller was furious, finding the studio's actions insulting. He reportedly had both representatives banned from the set afterwards, though he did integrate some of the suggested changes into the film.

The film was completed in 1981, but Paramount was hesitant to release the film out of continuing concerns that the film would be misconstrued. Though no one from the organization had viewed the completed film, the NAACP threatened boycotts. In early 1982, the studio finally held a preview screening in Seattle and later, in August, in Denver, with mixed responses. It was finally released in the US at five Detroit theatres on November 12, 1982, for just one week, with no trailer, no poster and no promotion at all. It did no business and was shelved as uncommercial by Paramount. Dumbfounded and hurt by the film's shelving, Fuller moved to France and never directed another American film.

Later in April 1987, during an interview held in Milan, Fuller stated that Paramount shelved the film also because they feared negative reactions from the Ku Klux Klan.

## Themes

White Dog is a "blunt, highly cinematic parable about race relations" that questions whether racism is a curable mental illness or learned behavior, or if it is an untreatable disease. The unnamed white German Shepherd is the metaphor of racism, with his radically contrasting moments of innocent, typical dog behavior when not around black persons, and his snarling viciousness when he sees a target. Paul Winfield's character Keys, who believes he can help the dog unlearn this behavior, represents the view that racism can be unlearned. Keys's attempts to reprogram the dog become a "bold literalization of the race war," and as the film progresses Keys becomes obsessed with the idea that he can cure the dog. Much like Captain Ahab, he declares that if he fails with this dog, he will find another and another until he succeeds. Keys's counterpart, Carruthers, a white trainer, believes the dog is irredeemable and should be killed, representing the view that racism cannot be cured.

> The snarling dog, its white fur stained with bright red stage blood, becomes a typically imposing, outscale Fuller image – the embodiment of snarling, irrational and implacable hatred. Typical, too, is the way Fuller emphasizes the radical contrast between the dog in its innocent, unaroused state – big brown eyes staring up at McNichol – and its plunging, salivating attack mode.

Scenes showing Kristy McNichol innocently burying her hands in the dog's fur and his normal loving behavior when alone with her provides a stark image of "how hatred can be familiar, reassuringly close." J. Hoberman argues that the film "naturalizes racism in an unnatural way" in the contrasting depictions of white characters horrified by the dog's behavior, and black characters who grimly accept it as a fact of life. The film's ending has been argued to emphasize Fuller's own view that racism is something that is learned, but that once learned is a "poison" that can never truly "be banished from those it infects." But on the other hand, the dog is actually cured of attacking blacks, but not cured of his own hatred since the last thing he does is to attack a white man, and without being provoked into doing so at that. The ending implies therefore that it is hatred (and not racism) that cannot be banished from those it infects.

In Romain Gary's original novel, this was not the story that was told—the dog started to attack white people because a black man embittered by white racism deliberately retrained him to do so.

## Distribution

Paramount felt the film was too controversial for release, giving it only a few preview showings and a one-week run in Detroit before shelving it. The film's first theatrical release occurred in France on July 7, 1982. In the United Kingdom, it was part of the 37th Edinburgh International Film Festival and the 27th London Film Festival in 1983, and was released late that year by United International Pictures. It received positive reviews in both countries. Lisa Dombrowski of Film Comment notes, "In the end, Sam Fuller's White Dog was muzzled by a collision of historically specific economic and political interests, as support for freedom of expression took a back seat to Paramount's bottom line and the NAACP's ongoing battles with Hollywood over representation and employment. A Sam Fuller thriller was simply not the kind of antiracist picture that a major studio knew how to market in 1981 or that African-American organizations wanted Hollywood to make at the time."

In 1983, White Dog was edited for a direct-to-television broadcast and made available for purchase by cable channels. The following year, NBC bought broadcast rights for \$2.5 million and slated the film to air during the February sweeps, then canceled the broadcast two days later due to pressure from the continuing NAACP campaign and concerns of a negative reaction by both viewers and advertisers. The film was eventually aired on other cable channels such as HBO, Showtime, and The Movie Channel sporadically and without fanfare. It was also infrequently screened at independent film houses and film festivals.

In 1991, Michael Schlesinger, then head of Paramount's repertory division, convinced his bosses to let him book the film as part of a complete Fuller retrospective at New York's Film Forum. He did not tell them that it would be a full one-week booking, instead of the usual single day, and billed as its New York premiere. The film received rave reviews and crowds packed the theatre; at year's end, The Village Voice called it the best film of the year. Demands to play the film increased. After some deliberation, Paramount said he could continue to accept dates provided that there would be no "racial" outcry; if there were, he would have to stop. He accepted the deal, and it successfully played revival houses in the rest of the country without incident.

Its first official American home video release came on December 2, 2008, when The Criterion Collection released the film to DVD. The DVD has the uncut version of the film, video interviews from the original producer and writer, an interview with the trainer of the dog used in the film, and a booklet of critical essays. The National Society of Film Critics bestowed the distributor with a special film heritage award for releasing the film.

## Reception

Because of its limited release, it only grossed \$46,509. The film was praised by critics upon its release, particularly for its treatment of racism and Fuller's directorial talents. Dave Kehr, of the Chicago Tribune, praised Fuller for "pulling no punches" in the film and for his use of metaphors to present racism "as a mental disease, for which there may or may not be a cure." Kehr considered the film less melodramatic or bizarre than Fuller's earlier works, which was also positive since it left the film "clean and uncluttered with a single, concentrated line of development mounting toward a single, crushingly pessimistic moral insight." Entertainment Weekly's Kim Moran called it a "uncompromising, poignant examination of racism" and felt it was one of Fuller's most inspired films and a "gripping, meditative, and ultimately beautiful achievement." Video Business reviewer Cyril Pearl called it "bombastic, odd and quite chilling" and felt the film was an antiracist work that "deserve[d] an audience."

Charles Taylor, writing for The New York Times, lambasted the film's original suppression due to "the stupidity of pressure groups" that wrongly labeled the film as racist when it is, in his words, "a profoundly antiracist film, though a despairing one." He praised Winfield's tense performance and Fuller's use of melodrama to create one of his "most potent" films. Lisa Dombrowski, the author of The Films of Samuel Fuller: If You Die, I'll Kill You! and an associate professor of film studies at Wesleyan University, referred to the film as "an impassioned attack on racial hatred." Another New York Times reviewer, Janet Maslin, praised Fuller's "command of stark, spooky imagery," "B-style bluntness," and the way the cinematography, scene setting, and soundtrack combine to give the film "the blunt, unnerving power of a horror story." She also commended Paul Winfield's performance as Keys, feeling the actor turned what might have been a boring character into one audiences would find interesting. Slant Magazine's Fernando F. Croce felt the film was "part marauding-animal horror movie, part Afterschool Special, [and] part tragic-sardonic agitprop" B-movie that is "searing confrontation of the irrationality of prejudice."

In The Magic Hour: Film at Fin de Siècle, J. Hoberman referred to the film as an "unusually blunt and suggestive metaphoric account of American racism". Though he felt the film was a "sad waste" of Fuller's talent, he praised the director's treatment of the work, including the changes made to the source material, noting that "filmed in headlines, framed as allegory, White Dog'' combines hard-boiled sentimentality and hysterical violence." He praised the musical score used in the film for lending dignity to the "iconic visuals and cartoon dialogue."

## See also

- List of films about animals

1982 film by Samuel Fuller

African-American-related controversies in film

Films produced by Jon Davison (film producer)


The Onyx Hotel Tour

The Onyx Hotel Tour (billed as The Onyx Hotel Tour 2004) was the fifth concert tour by American entertainer Britney Spears. It showcased her fourth studio album, In the Zone (2003), and visited North America and Europe. A tour to promote the album was announced in December 2003. Its original name was the In the Zone Tour, but Spears was sued for trademark infringement and banned from using the name. Spears felt inspired to create a show with a hotel theme which she later mixed with the concept of an onyx stone. The stage, inspired by Broadway musicals, was less elaborate than her previous tours. The setlist was composed mostly by songs from In the Zone as well as some of her past songs reworked with different elements of jazz, blues, and Latin percussion. Tour promoter Clear Channel Entertainment marketed the tour to a more adult audience than her previous shows, while sponsor MTV promoted the tour heavily on TV shows and the network's website.

The tour was divided into seven segments: Check-In, Mystic Lounge, Mystic Garden, The Onyx Zone, Security Cameras, Club, and the encore. Check-In displayed performances with dance and advanced in the hotel theme. Mystic Lounge featured an homage to Cabaret and other musicals, while remixing some of Spears's early hits. Mystic Garden displayed a jungle-inspired stage. The Onyx Zone displayed a ballad performance with acrobats. Security Cameras was the raciest part of the show, with Spears and her dancers emulating different sexual practices. Club displayed a performance with urban influences. The encore consisted of a system malfunction interlude and Spears performed wearing a red ensemble. The tour received generally favourable reviews from contemporary critics, who praised it for being an entertaining show while criticizing it for looking "more [like] a spectacle than an actual concert".

The Onyx Hotel Tour was commercially successful. According to Billboard, the 25 shows in North America grossed nearly \$19 million with 300,460 tickets and \$34 million with 601,040 tickets sold in 52 of 53 shows worldwide. According to Pollstar, The Onyx Hotel Tour sold 641,428 tickets in 2004. On June 6, 2004, Spears performed for 25,367 fans at RDS Arena in Dublin with \$1,359,648 gross. The four nights at Wembley Arena in London grossed \$2,179,820 with 41,823 tickets sold. In March, Spears suffered a knee injury onstage which forced her to reschedule two shows. In June, Spears fell and hurt her knee again during a music video shoot. She underwent arthroscopic surgery and the remainder of the tour was canceled. In 2005, Spears sued her insurance companies for denying her a reimbursement for the cancellation. Showtime broadcast live the March 28, 2004 show at the American Airlines Arena, in a special titled Britney Spears Live from Miami. Backstage footage was included in the reality show Britney and Kevin: Chaotic.

## Background

On December 2, 2003, Spears announced through her official website US concerts to support her fourth studio album, In the Zone (2003). The tour would kick off on March 2 in San Diego, California, at iPayOne Center. However, Spears released a statement saying, "I'm especially looking forward to bringing my tour to new markets and performing in front of fans that may not have had the opportunity to see any of my previous tours." On January 12, 2004, four dates were announced in Glasgow, Manchester, London and Birmingham, her first UK dates in four years. After the beginning of the North American leg, Spears announced a summer leg in the United States in June as well as a European leg starting on April 27 in London and ending on June 5 at Rock in Rio Lisboa. It was also rumored to visit Latin America and Asia later in the year. The Onyx Hotel Tour was originally going to be called In the Zone Tour. On February 17, 2004, a San Diego clothing manufacturer of the same name sued Spears for \$10 million and banned her from using the trademark. On May 17, 2004, a hotel named Onyx Hotel opened in Boston, Massachusetts. Kimpton Hotels & Restaurant Group had come up with the name two years before the tour was developed. Spears and the Kimpton group decided to promote the hotel by featuring a room named The Britney Spears Foundation Room. It was designed by Spears's mother, Lynne, reflecting Spears's personality and taste. The room opened six weeks later and a portion of the fee was destined to the Britney Spears Foundation.

## Development

The show was majorly inspired by Broadway musicals, primarily focused on Grand Hotel, which was directed by Tommy Tune and portrayed a day in the life of the Berlin Grand Hotel in 1928. Spears said the hotel theme was inspired by having traveled so much, and was merged with the onyx stone concept. The tour was described as a "unique, mysterious hotel powered by an onyx stone, where guests who enter shine their own light into the gemstone and make their fantasies come to life. It's a vibrant, whimsical place where wondrous dreams are realized, and the darkest of secrets are revealed". Spears also stated about the tour,

> "I would love my audience to walk out of the auditorium feeling like they had the most magical experience of their life. The onyx stone is kind of symbolic of what guides me in my life, like there's a bigger picture in everything, and there's something that guides you where you need to go, from point A to point B".

Kevin Tancharoen was chosen as the tour director. He said about the development of the tour, "Coming from a movie lovers' background, I wanted to make it seem like a film. A little Joel Schumacher meets Tim Burton". He further explained that the onyx stone symbolized untapped desire. The stage was less elaborate than her previous tour, Dream Within a Dream Tour, with no runway extended towards the audience, in order to keep the show faithful to the New York theatre theme. There were three video screens above the stage. Also present were several LED columned-shaped video screens in the stage. The setlist was mostly composed from songs from In the Zone ("Early Mornin'" and "Brave New Girl" being the only songs of the album to not be on the tour). Other songs included were "Boys", "I'm a Slave 4 U" and "Overprotected" from Britney (2001). Also included were three of her early hits, "...Baby One More Time", "(You Drive Me) Crazy" and "Oops!... I Did It Again", reworked with elements of jazz and blues. The promotional photos for the tour were by Markus Klinko and Indrani. Tour promoter Clear Channel Entertainment marketed the tour to an entirely different demographic than her previous tours, changing from families and children to a more adult audience. The show was also targeted to the gay market. Promotional campaigns included were Flash animated e-mails targeted to two million people who fitted the audience description. The tour was also advertised in several radio stations and TV shows for those audiences, such as The O.C. MTV was chosen as the tour sponsor. The sponsorship was extended to advertisements in the tickets and interactive promotions in MTV.com, such as exclusive downloads, streaming video and ticket and merchandise auctions benefiting the Britney Spears Foundation. Three episodes of TRL were dedicated to a behind-the-scenes special. Vice president of music marketing and promotion Joe Armenia talked about the sponsorship,

> "There are not that many artists that appeal to every territory with an MTV channel, but Britney Spears is one of the select few. We have been waiting for the opportunity to make a global splash, and the Britney tour is it. For the better part of the rest of the year, we’ll be on the road with Britney. This is more support than we’ve ever given an artist in the U.S., let alone all over the world. We love the association with Britney; she has always been a core part of this channel and our fans love Britney".

## Concert synopsis

The show began with a skit where a flamboyant master of ceremonies welcomed spectators to the Onyx Hotel. After this, he took an onyx and threw into the video screens, causing a virtual chandelier to fall into the floor. Spears briefly appeared in the screens, as her dancers descended to the stage. She entered standing on top of a small bus dressed in a black catsuit, where she performed "Toxic". She descended to the stage for the breakdown and then performed "Overprotected". She took a break to talk to the audience, before going into "Boys", which featured the male dancers pushing her while she was standing in luggage carts. "Showdown" featured rainbow-colored lighting effects and was the last song of the first act. A video interlude followed featuring Spears and her friends outside a club. While she was leaving, she noticed a woman dressed in 1930s fashion. She followed her and the woman asked Spears to enter the "Mystic Lounge". Spears reappeared wearing a frilly pink corset to perform "...Baby One More Time". She performed "Oops!... I Did It Again" with a vintage microphone and joined by her background singers. Spears and her dancers performed "(You Drive Me) Crazy", which contained elements of Latin percussion. After this, she talked to the audience and usually referenced her wedding with childhood friend Jason Alexander. She also introduced her band before leaving the stage.

In the next section, there was a video interlude of Spears wearing a flowered-themed dress and entering the "Mystic Garden". As the video ended, she appeared on-stage sitting at a leaf-covered piano. She talked to the audience before performing "Everytime". Her dancers joined her to perform "The Hook Up" and a jungle inspired mix of "I'm a Slave 4 U". The show continued with another video interlude featuring a spoof of paranormal-themed shows, "The Onyx Zone", with the master of ceremonies doing a Rod Serling impression and introducing "The Shadow Room". Spears reappeared sitting on a swing to perform "Shadow". During the performance, Spears was lifted into the air above an M-shaped blue ribbon, with performers twirling in the fabric. The performance ended with Spears leaving the stage while the dancers performed to a ballet interlude in flesh colored costumes. The next section began with a video projection of two guards watching Spears in her room through security cameras. Spears appeared on a smaller stage wearing a white robe and performed "Touch of My Hand" in a transparent bathtub. During the performance, she took the robe off to reveal a nude body suit with crystals that resembled her "Toxic" music video outfit. She left the stage briefly to a wardrobe change and reappeared on the mini platform where she descended to the main stage on a pole, wearing pink lingerie and performed "Breathe on Me" on a bed with one of her male dancers. She then put on a white trench coat and performed "Outrageous", the last song of the act.

In the next act, Spears and her dancers wore street clothes and performed "(I Got That) Boom Boom". After this, she introduced her band and dancers and left the stage. The encore began with a system malfunction where a female voice counted down as the screens sketched Britney's outline, which then rose to reveal Spears at the top of a staircase. After this, "Me Against the Music" (Rishi Rich's Desi Kulcha Remix) began and Spears appeared on stage wearing a red ensemble. The show ended with Spears and her dancers on the staircase where the screen is lowered and Spears made her exit as a shower of confetti was shot towards the audience.

## Reception

### Critical response

The tour received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Gene Stout of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer called it a "throbbing, special-effects extravaganza". Aline Mendelsohn of The Orlando Sentinel noted influence from Janet Jackson in the show's choreography and suggestive themes, which had attracted many headlines due to the "heightened sensitivity of the post-Janet Jackson era." MTV UK highlighted the comparisons with early Madonna tours such as The Girlie Show World Tour and added that "[the show] is a theatrical extravaganza, complete with camp compere, sexy dancers, glitzy costumes and extravagant set pieces and its all fabulously raunchy". Bill Dean of The Ledger reported that the tour was "big sloppy and sex-filled". He also added, "Her presence remains captivating. [...] Perhaps even subsconsciously, the Onyx tour's most significant role may be foretelling a future in Broadway or film musicals". Neil Strauss of The New York Times claimed "her show was more a theater-and-dance spectacle than an actual concert, with the staging equal parts Cirque de Soleil [sic] and the redeveloped Times Square. [...] At times the show seemed more like a Las Vegas tribute to Ms. Spears than a concert by Ms. Spears herself".

Chris Willman of Entertainment Weekly believed that "In Britney, Paul Verhoeven's fantastic notion of the showgirl as superstar has become incarnate. But every showgirl needs a show. The Onyx Hotel tour hardly counts as one, with its arbitrary mishmash of Madonna-esque sex-bomb skits and Cirque du Soleil surrealism". The Seattle Times'''s Pamela Sitt said it "was high on spectacle and low on substance, veering crazily from burlesque to fairy tale to peep show". Doug Elfman of the Las Vegas Review-Journal stated that the tour "is an unfocused bore of false sexuality, horrible songs, trite choreography, unfocused themes and less ambition than a house cat that sits around licking itself all day". Darryl Morden of msnbc.com commented, "at times it was entertaining but overall came off as a variation on the same show she's been doing for several years".

### Commercial performance

Tickets sold slower than her previous tours. This was attributed to the change in audience, since her new demographic tended to be "typically a last second ticket purchaser". A month before the tour began, seven dates were already sold out, including the Fresno and Toronto shows. Tour merchandise grossed \$4 million on the North American leg alone, with an average of between \$150,000 and \$170,000 per night. This made Spears the highest-grossing merchandise female artist since she began touring in 1999, with a total gross of more than \$30 million. On July 16, 2004, the tour was listed as the eight highest-grossing tour of the first semester of 2004, grossing \$19 million. The tour ended up grossing \$34 million.

## Moline injury

On March 18, 2004, during the Moline, Illinois show at The MARK of the Quad Cities, Spears fell during the performance of "(I Got That) Boom Boom" and injured her knee. She left the stage and returned shortly after wearing a white robe, apologizing to the audience for not being able to deliver the encore performance. A physician examined Spears and indicated that it was not related to a previous knee injury in 1999 during a dance rehearsal. The Rosemont, Illinois show at Allstate Arena, scheduled for March 19, was cancelled. Spears's label Jive Records asked fans to hold on to their tickets until further notice. The Flint Journal reported that the Auburn Hills, Michigan show at The Palace of Auburn Hills was also cancelled. Both shows were rescheduled to the end of the leg in April.

## Cancellation and lawsuit

On June 8, 2004, Spears was shooting the music video for "Outrageous" in Manhattan, when she fell and injured her left knee. She was taken immediately to a local hospital, where doctors performed an MRI scan and found floating cartilage. The following day, Spears underwent arthroscopic surgery. She was forced to remain six weeks with a thigh brace, followed by eight to twelve weeks of rehabilitation, which caused any future concerts to be canceled. Jive Records issued a statement saying Spears planned to revisit the cities in the future. On February 4, 2005, Spears filed suit in New York State Supreme Court against eight insurance companies that denied her a reimbursement of \$9.8 million. The insurers refused because they claimed Spears did not fully inform them of the 1999 knee injury in the insurance form. Attorney Jonathan Stoler who defended Spears on the case said,

> "These are the same insurers who had provided her with policies on [several] tours and they had cleared her and were aware of the previous injury. The alleged omission related to a question whereby Ms. Spears was asked if in the past five years she had had any surgery. Ms. Spears, in all prior circumstances, had indicated she had, but at the time she was going through this application she did answer 'no.' It had not been a full five years, but four years and eleven months since the surgery [in 1999] and even if she had answered in the affirmative, our contention is that it makes no difference".

## Broadcast and recordings

On January 12, 2004, it was announced that Showtime would broadcast live the Miami show at the American Airlines Arena on March 28, in a special titled Britney Spears Live from Miami. It was directed by Hamish Hamilton. A concert promotional video and pictures were shot, in which Spears donned 1920s and 1930s hairstyles. She also wore a long black Roberto Cavalli dress, which was auctioned on eBay; proceeds went to the Britney Spears Foundation. On April 13, 2004, it was reported by MTV that Spears was planning a reality show titled "OnTourage" to document the backstage of the European leg, in a similar way to Madonna's Madonna: Truth or Dare. However, the show was reworked into the reality show Britney and Kevin: Chaotic''. The concert for Rock in Rio Lisboa festival in Lisbon, Portugal, was broadcast live on June 5, 2004.

## Opening acts

- Kelis (North America) (select venues)
- Skye Sweetnam (Europe & North America) (select venues)
- JC Chasez (Europe) (select venues)
- Wicked Wisdom (Europe) (select venues)

## Set list

The following set list is obtained from the March 3, 2004 concert in Glendale, Arizona. It is not intended to represent all shows throughout the tour.

1. "Check In" (video intro)
2. "Toxic"
3. "Overprotected" (Darkchild Remix)
4. "Boys" (The Co-Ed Remix)
5. "Showdown"
6. "Mystic Longue" (video interlude)
7. "...Baby One More Time"
8. "Oops!... I Did It Again"
9. "(You Drive Me) Crazy"
10. "Mystic Garden" (video interlude)
11. "Everytime"
12. "The Hook Up"
13. "I'm a Slave 4 U"
14. "The Onyx Zone" (video interlude)
15. "Shadow"
16. "Security Cameras" (video interlude)
17. "Touch of My Hand"
18. "Breathe on Me"
19. "Outrageous"
20. "Club" (video interlude)
21. "(I Got That) Boom Boom"

Encore

1. <li value=22>

    "Check Out" (video interlude)

2. "Me Against the Music" (Rishi Rich's Desi Kulcha Remix)

Notes

- "Oops... I Did It Again" and "Touch of My Hand" were not performed during the Lisbon concert.

## Tour dates

## Cancelled shows

2004 concert tour by Britney Spears


Joseph Lonardo

Joseph Lonardo (; October 20, 1884 – October 13, 1927), also known as "Big Joe", was a Sicilian emigrant to the United States who became the first crime boss of the Cleveland crime family, which he structured from a competing number of organized crime gangs. When national Prohibition began in 1920, Lonardo became a dealer in corn sugar, an essential ingredient in the manufacture of corn whiskey. Lonardo became a "sugar baron" by driving other legitimate corn sugar merchants out of business, encouraging home distillation, and using intimidation, murder, and theft to eliminate or drive his criminal competitors out of business.

Lonardo transformed his gang, the Mayfield Road Mob, into a powerful organized crime family. He had the support of the D'Aquila crime family of New York City, and engaged in widespread bribery of local judges, police, and politicians. His criminal organization's reliance on low-quality corn whiskey led to a drop in revenues when consumers began favoring better quality, illegally imported liquor. He began demanding unquestioning loyalty while taking little risk, alienating many bootleggers, home distillers, and organized crime figures.

Lonardo's control of the Cleveland mafia was usurped in 1927 by underboss Salvatore "Black Sam" Todaro and the Porrello brothers while Lonardo was out of the country. When Lonardo returned to Cleveland, he attempted to regain control of the Cleveland mafia. His bodyguards were arrested as suspects in the Yorkell and Brownstein murders, leaving Lonardo unprotected. On October 13, 1927, he was murdered in a Porrello barber shop, likely on the orders of "Black Sam" Todaro. His death sparked Cleveland's Corn Sugar War.

## Early life

Lonardo was born October 20, 1884, in Licata, Sicily, to Angelo and Antonia (née Verdi) Lonardo. He had three brothers, Dominic, Frank, and John, and a sister. Angelo Porrello operated a sulfur mine near Licata, and the four Lonardo sons worked alongside Porrello's seven sons in the mine.

Lonardo emigrated from Italy to the United States, entering the country on February 4, 1901. He settled in New York City's Little Italy neighborhood, and his three brothers and his sister emigrated to the United States soon thereafter.

Lonardo moved to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1905, living on La Grange Avenue in the Hough neighborhood, then at 923 Orange Avenue by 1916, and then a few years later to E. 38th Street in the Central neighborhood. He became a naturalized citizen on August 14, 1914. Lonardo worked in various commission houses at first, then sold fruit for a living, and later opened a confectionery. By the early 1920s, his brothers Frank and John and family friend Salvatore "Black Sam" Todaro were working in the business. Many members of the Porrello family had also emigrated to the U.S. and settled in Cleveland. Among these was Joseph Porrello, who found work in Lonardo's confectionery business. By at least 1924, Lonardo had also partnered with Todaro in opening a grocery store.

## Criminal career

Lonardo and his brothers were originally legitimate businessmen, but they soon branched out into extortion and robbery. Lonardo's criminal career began soon after he arrived in Cleveland. He was convicted of aggravated assault in 1906 for stabbing a man, and imprisoned for 22 months in the Ohio State Reformatory. Shortly after his release, he was arrested for (but not charged with) robbery. He was accused of robbery in 1909 but not indicted. He shot and killed a man during an argument in 1916, but a grand jury declined to indict him. Police suspected he was involved in a number of robberies and by 1924 believed he had also committed two murders, but he was never arrested for any of these alleged crimes.

About 1913, a loosely organized Italian American gang known as the Mayfield Road Mob formed in Cleveland's Little Italy neighborhood. The protection racket was the core business of the Mayfield Road Mob at first. Lonardo's criminal activities were limited to small-time crimes, but once Prohibition began, he and his brothers began taking over the Mayfield Road Mob and organizing it, turning it into the dominant criminal organization in Cleveland.

### Rise during early Prohibition

Prohibition began in Ohio on May 27, 1919, and nationally throughout the United States on January 16, 1920. Once stockpiles of alcohol were consumed, the brewing of beer and distillation of liquor at home increased exponentially in the first few years of Prohibition. By 1920, Lonardo was so well-regarded nationally by other organized crime families that Buffalo underboss Angelo Palmeri asked Lonardo to be godfather to his daughter.

The start of Prohibition also saw the formation of the Cleveland Syndicate. Formed by Moe Dalitz, Maurice Kleinman, Louis Rothkopf, and Sam Tucker, the Cleveland Syndicate was a group of Jewish mobsters based in Cleveland and Akron who engaged in bootlegging, gambling, and smuggling luxury goods, among other things. The Cleveland Syndicate preferred to give a cut of its profits to mobsters in other criminal organizations, who then did the actual work of bootlegging or running the gambling operations. The Cleveland Syndicate dominated bootlegging in Cleveland during the early days of Prohibition, but swiftly partnered with the Mayfield Road Mob—which did most (but not all) of the bootlegging for the Syndicate. The Mayfield Road Mob's bootlegging operation moved large amounts of high-quality liquor from Canada into northeast Ohio and northwest Pennsylvania, generating substantial profits for those involved.

Beginning in 1924, Lonardo began a campaign of intimidation and murder to win control of the majority of bootlegging in northeast Ohio. The barriers to entry into the illegal liquor industry were low, which meant that Lonardo could reduce, but not entirely eliminate, the competition. Lonardo relied on several associates in his effort, including Salvatore "Black Sam" Todaro, his top lieutenant; Frank Milano, one of the top leaders in the Mayfield Road Mob; and gangsters John Angersola, Charles Colletti, Lawrence Lupo, and Charles Russo. Salvatore "Sam" Tilocco and Porrello also became part of the Lonardo crime family, and Porrello rose to a position of some prominence in the organization.

### Sugar baron years: 1925–26

In 1925, with pre-Prohibition stockpiles of alcohol exhausted, corn whiskey—which had been manufactured on a small scale—became the illegal liquor of choice in northeast Ohio. Corn sugar was key to the manufacture of corn whiskey. Corn whiskey was usually made with cornmeal or unground corn mixed with rye as the mash. Corn sugar could not only be substituted for grain as the mash ingredient but also permitted faster production of the final liquor. Control of the corn sugar industry as well as the distribution of illegal liquor was critical to anyone seeking to dominate the illegal liquor industry.

Lonardo essentially established a cottage industry in the production of illegal corn whiskey. He and his brothers used their profits from previous criminal activities to invest heavily in corn sugar manufacturing, a completely legal enterprise. They purchased a warehouse located at Woodland Avenue and E. 9th Street. Todaro ran the warehouse, oversaw the bookkeeping, and assisted home brewers in obtaining and setting up stills. Frank Lonardo oversaw the collection of the corn whiskey and its distribution to buyers. Lonardo sold corn sugar sold to home distillers, who in turn sold their corn whiskey to the Mayfield Road Mob. The mob, in turn, sold the alcohol at high prices to local speakeasies. Lonardo offered his corn sugar customers easy credit, which encouraged expansion in home distilling and drove most legitimate corn sugar merchants out of business. The cottage industry system dispersed distillation operations so that no single raid by law enforcement could seriously interrupt production. The cottage industry system also created few opportunities for law enforcement aggrandizement. The vast majority of home distillers used by Lonardo were immigrants, and few law enforcement officers wanted the media to depict them breaking into the homes of poor immigrants. By 1925, law enforcement recognized that home distilling had become so widespread it was now an industrial concern.

The corn sugar industry generated immense wealth for the Lonardos. Lonardo's personal profits from the industry were estimated at \$5,000 (\$ in dollars) a week. He became Cleveland's first "corn sugar baron", and this in turn allowed him to become boss of the Mayfield Road Mob within just a few years. Lonardo then began to use intimidation and murder to force other corn sugar dealers and purchasers of home-distilled liquor out of business. Tactics included hijacking other people's liquor shipments, stealing liquor from warehouses rented by other gangs, or tipping off the police about where liquor was stored or how it was being moved. The Mayfield Road Mob killed so many small-time corn sugar merchants, distillers, and bootleggers that police claimed hit men were charging a flat fee of \$25 (\$ in dollars) per murder. Lonardo used the same tactics to discourage home distillers from selling liquor directly to speakeasies, and to encourage retailers to sell liquor at the highest possible price. When his better corn sugar customers ran into trouble with the law, Lonardo often donated money for attorneys and bail. As law enforcement improved, the Mayfield Road Mob strengthened its organization and promoted gangsters with stronger personalities and more talent to leadership positions within the mob. Lonardo and his organization also began the widespread bribery of judges, police, and politicians.

The Mayfield Road Mob's influence was not limited to Cleveland. In Akron, a large industrial city 40 miles (64 km) to the south, Frank Bellini and Michael Corcelli controlled the imported illegal liquor and home distilling operations (but not corn sugar sales). The Akron mob owed its allegiance to Lonardo.

### Boss of the Cleveland crime family

The political economist Dennis M.P. McCarthy suggests that the Cleveland mafia went through three stages: An initial stage, where rival gangs and families contended with one another for power; a second stage, when these gangs sometimes cooperated and sometimes competed; and a third stage, where a powerful boss dominated all the gangs and families and the mafia acted more like a unitary organization. The Mayfield Road Mob under Lonardo, he concludes, is typical of the initial stage. The distinctiveness of the Mayfield Road Mob as a crime family is supported by mafioso Nicola Gentile, who called the group predominio dei licatesi (dominance of those from Licata).

Lonardo and the Mayfield Road Mob had become so dominant in Cleveland that other mafia families began to take interest in what was happening in the city. Prohibition also encouraged the much more powerful New York City mafia organizations to seek alliances with crime families in other cities to ensure reliable and large supplies of illegal liquor. Among the many friends Lonardo made while living briefly in New York City were several who later became important mafioso, including Nicola "Uncle Cola" Gentile (a powerful mafia figure who played a major role in peacekeeping among crime families and helped create The Commission in 1931) and Salvatore "Toto" D'Aquila. D'Aquila, who was rapidly expanding his influence in New York City and was heavily involved in bootlegging, began supporting Lonardo in his efforts to establish himself as the sole boss in Cleveland. According to Gentile, Lonardo "worshipped" D'Aquila "like a god" and was one of D'Aquila's most avid supporters even though D'Aquila tended to murder any of his associates who grew too rich and powerful.

Through his domination of the corn sugar and corn whiskey industries and with the support of the D'Aquila crime family, Todaro, and the Porrello brothers, Lonardo became the first known boss of the Cleveland crime family. Lonardo was generally regarded as an effective boss. He overcame resistance to his criminal activities by maintaining good relationships with people in Little Italy (the area most affected by his bootlegging), helping to resolve their disputes and donating money to those in need. He was also aware of the precarious position he held. He had several bodyguards, including Charles Colletti and Lawrence Lupo, and he was rarely seen in public without at least one of them by his side.

Lonardo encountered new problems as boss of the Cleveland crime family. Over time, he came to expect that his word would be obeyed without question and without the need to use force. Many of his competitors, as well as some of his subordinates, felt he was becoming arrogant. Problems with bootlegging also cropped up. The corn whiskey cottage industry system did not emphasize quality, and by the mid-1920s many consumers preferred to purchase high-quality liquor illegally imported from Canada. This hurt the market for corn whiskey, reducing criminal profits. Improvements in law enforcement also made many restive with Lonardo's rule. Lonardo demanded a percentage of the profits from the sale of corn whiskey, but appeared to take little risk. As more and more home distillers were jailed, the number of people willing to brew corn whiskey fell (further reducing income). Some distillers attempted to deceive the mob, selling liquor on the side; many of these individuals were murdered. Some sellers of corn whiskey lied about the amount of whiskey they were selling or the amount of profits they were making, depriving Lonardo and the Mayfield Road Mob of revenue. Many of these people were also killed. More and more distillers and distributors of corn whiskey were joining a new Italian American gang run by the Porrellos that had formed near the intersection of Woodland Avenue and E. 55th Street.

## Death

### Changes in support

In New York City in the early 1920s, Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria was contending with D'Aquila for control of organized crime. Masseria began backing challenges to D'Aquila-supported crime families across the country, most notably in Cleveland. Much of Masseria's extended family lived in Cleveland and his brother was involved in the Mayfield Road Mob, so his interest in the city is not surprising.

In 1924, Porrello and his six brothers pooled their money and began selling corn sugar as well. By 1926, they had purchased several homes and warehouses at the intersection of Woodland Avenue and E. 110th Street, and become wealthy selling corn sugar to distillers. The Porrellos were the only significant corn sugar suppliers other than Lonardo, who had intimidated or eliminated nearly all other competitors. Lonardo tolerated their operation only because the Porrellos were lifelong friends. Todaro, too, was unhappy with Lonardo's rule. Despite largely managing the Lonardo corn sugar business, he had gained little wealth.

After secretly visiting Sicily in April 1926, Lonardo left openly for Sicily in April 1927 for five months to visit his mother. The relationship between Lonardo and the Porrellos worsened while he was away. Law enforcement officials had identified a Porrello-owned barber shop at 10902 Woodland Avenue as a front for the sale of large orders of corn whiskey and, following a sting in early 1927, Raymond Porrello was arrested. He was convicted of various violations of liquor laws and for threatening a law enforcement officer and sentenced to jail. Joseph Porrello allegedly tried to bribe officials to win Raymond's release, and failed. He then asked Lonardo for help. Lonardo agreed to use his political influence, although Porrello had to pay him \$5,000 (\$ in dollars). Lonardo either took no action or failed to win Raymond Porrello's release before he left.

John Lonardo served as caretaker of Joseph's businesses while Joseph was in Sicily. John had little temperament for business and lacked good judgment, and a leadership vacuum emerged in the Mayfield Road Mob. As soon as Joseph Lonardo left for Sicily, the Porrellos began offering home distillers corn sugar at \$2.19 per pound (\$4.8/kg) (\$ in dollars), much less than the \$3.50 per pound (\$7.7/kg) (\$ in dollars) Lonardo charged. Lonardo's influence with local politicians and police evaporated, and law enforcement raids on home brewers loyal to the Lonardos increased significantly. A Porrello subordinate, Mike Chiapetta, began swiftly building a home brewing network loyal to the Porrellos. Just a few weeks after Lonardo's departure, the Porrellos had taken control of more than half of Lonardo's corn sugar and corn whiskey business.

Lonardo returned to Cleveland in August 1927, and worked hard to put his business back in order. He correctly surmised that Todaro had conspired with the Porrellos to undermine his business, and ejected him from the Mayfield Road Mob. Lonardo then ordered Lawrence Lupo to kill Todaro, ostensibly for abusing a Jew who worked for the mafia. Nicola Gentile says that Joseph Biondo and Paolino Palmieri members of the Buffalo crime family, tried to convince Lonardo to rescind the death sentence, but he refused. Gentile finally told Lonardo that if Todaro was murdered without good reason, Gentile would leave Cleveland and never return. The seriousness of Gentile's announcement impressed Lonardo, who rescinded the assassination order the next day. Historian Rick Porrello says Todaro was lucky not to have been killed.

Todaro allied with the Porrellos, where he became suddenly wealthy. Lonardo was allegedly enraged that Todaro refused to acknowledge that he owed his station in life to Lonardo—not the Porrellos. Lonardo, however, was not eager to start a gang war. He met several times with the Porrellos to discuss what was happening, allegedly seeking a merger of the two gangs and their bootleg operations.

### Yorkell and Brownstein murders

In September 1927, Ernest J. Yorkell (about 30 years old) and Jack Brownstein (about 25 years old) came to Cleveland. Yorkell had once been a sideshow strongman, nicknamed "Young Hercules." Brownstein had been a small-time robber and thief specializing in jewelry. Almost nothing was known about how the two met and/or where they had operated, except that they had engaged in blackmail in Buffalo, New York, before moving to Cleveland.

After their arrival in Cleveland, Yorkell and Brownstein spent time in local gambling dens, speakeasies, and other places where criminal activity took place. They paid attention to local gossip, learned who the wealthy criminals were, and then attempted to blackmail these gangsters. They allegedly never asked for much money, and never blackmailed a victim twice. On October 7, 1927, Yorkell and Brownstein told witnesses that they intended to hit up a very wealthy local crime boss for \$5,000 (\$ in dollars). They did not mention the name of their intended victim, but local newspapers and historians widely believe that they wanted to blackmail Lonardo.

Yorkell and Brownstein's bullet-riddled bodies were found in the early hours of October 8, 1927, at the intersection of East Blvd. (now Martin Luther King Jr. Drive) and North Park Blvd. in Cleveland Heights, less than 0.5 miles (0.80 km) from Lonardo's home and within view of the homes of a number of millionaires. Lonardo was widely believed to have ordered their deaths. Lonardo bodyguards Lawrence Lupo and Charles Colletti were arrested for suspicion in involvement in the Yorkell-Brownstein murders (although both were released in late October).

### Death at the Porrello barber shop

Masseria encouraged Todaro to murder Lonardo and take over the Cleveland crime family in order to embarrass Salvatore D'Aquila. Todaro likely ordered the murder of Lonardo, and most likely arranged the meeting at which Lonardo was killed.

Lonardo suspected that his life was in danger. After his return from Sicily, he never entertained at home and rarely ventured out at night. His bodyguards Lupo and Colletti were constantly with him during the day as he conducted his business, but Lonardo was deprived of their services after their arrest in the Yorkell-Brownstein murders.

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. The caller was never identified, although it appears to have been someone Lonardo trusted. 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. The two men then 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. 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. Police found Joseph Lonardo's will on his body, which led them to suspect that Lonardo knew he was being targeted for death.

Joseph and John Lonardo were buried on October 18, 1927. A wake was held at John Lonardo's home at 3269 Warrington Road in Shaker Heights. Several hundred mourners, many from out of town, attended the wake. A procession of about 500 cars followed the hearse to St. Anthony's Catholic Church on E. 13th Street and Carnegie Avenue. John and Joseph Lonardo were both buried in silver caskets at Calvary Cemetery in Cleveland.

### Aftermath

Lonardo's death ignited what the press called the "Corn Sugar War", a series of power-grabs and retaliatory blood feuds that left another Lonardo and seven Porrellos dead before it ended. Police in 1927 believed Lonardo's death was only one in a series of five murders recently committed in the city. The name of the conflict is a misnomer, since the struggle for control over Cleveland's corn sugar industry had ended (not begun) with Lonardo's death.

Lawrence Lupo attempted to gain control over Mayfield Road Mob and the Lonardo corn sugar and corn whiskey empire after Lonardo's death but was murdered on May 31, 1928. Salvatore "Black Sam" Todaro is widely believed to have taken over Lonardo's criminal enterprises, becoming the second boss of the Cleveland crime family.

Todaro was murdered in front of Ottavio Porrello's barber shop on June 11, 1929, by Angelo Lonardo (Joseph Lonardo's son) and Dominic Sospirato (Joseph Lonardo's nephew). Joseph Porrello then took over as boss of the Cleveland crime family.

## Personal life

Lonardo was nicknamed "Big Joe" because at 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) in height and 300 pounds (140 kg) in weight he was taller and heavier than almost all his peers. For much of his adult life, Lonardo suffered from an unidentified disease in his right eye. At one point in the mid-1920s, he traveled to Boston, Massachusetts, to have surgery on the eye, recuperating afterward at a Massachusetts beach resort. The surgery proved ineffective in the long run, and by the end of his life Lonardo was blind in his right eye.

Once he achieved wealth, Lonardo became well known for being a flashy dresser. He wore expensive tailored suits, closed the cuffs with diamond-studded cufflinks, used a diamond-encrusted tie pin, and wore several diamond rings.

About 1925, Lonardo commissioned local architect J. L. Cameron to design a home for him in Cleveland's Buckeye–Shaker neighborhood. The home, located at 13700 Larchmere Blvd., cost \$70,000 to \$75,000 (\$ to \$ in dollars).

### Wives, children, and mistresses

Lonardo's common-law wife was Concetta Paragone. She was born in Licata about 1888. Sources differ as to how they became a couple. Some sources say Concetta accompanied Joseph to the United States in 1901. Concetta herself later claimed that she and Lonardo had lived together as man and wife since 1902 (although they never had a civil or religious ceremony). Other sources say that Concetta married a fellow Licatan (either in Sicily or in the United States), and she had three children by him. They were living in Cleveland when Concetta left him in 1906 for Lonardo. All sources agree that the Lonardos had five children: Angelo (b. 1911), Antoinette (b. circa 1914), Frank (b. circa 1917), Dominic (b. circa 1921), and Helen (also known as Ella; b. circa 1922). Angelo "Big Ange" Lonardo was later underboss of the Cleveland crime family from 1976 to 1983. Joseph and Concetta Lonardo separated about 1925, and Concetta died on January 24, 1943, in East Cleveland.

On September 8, 1925, Lonardo married 29-year-old Fannie (or Fanny) Lanzone in Sandusky, Ohio. They immediately began living together. Fannie had been widowed only 19 days earlier: Her husband, Angelo Lanzone, attacked her and her 15-year-old daughter, Angelina, with a hatchet. They survived the attack only when Fannie's mother, Frances Damanta, shot and killed Angelo. Fannie claimed that she married Lonardo only after he threatened to kill her if she did not. Their relationship apparently did not last; by the fall of 1927, Fannie was living in St. Louis, Missouri.

Constantina Bullone (also known as Concettina Bulone) was Lonardo's mistress. Lonardo met her while in Sicily in 1926 and began an affair with the married woman. He convinced her to come to the United States with him, and she agreed. She lived in Cleveland in a lavishly furnished apartment Lonardo rented on her behalf. She was 24 years old in November 1927 when U.S. officials deported her back to Italy.

### Wealth

Lonardo deeded most of his property to his heirs several months before his death. The worth of the remainder of Lonardo's estate was assessed at about \$2 million (\$ in dollars) by the probate court. Concetta Lonardo was named administrator of the estate, and Lonardo's will distributed most of his remaining wealth and property to her and his five children.

Fannie Lanzone Lonardo sued to overturn the will, claiming that her 1925 civil marriage to Lonardo legally superseded Lonardo's common-law marriage to Concetta. The lawsuit tied up much of the estate, leaving Concetta Lonardo somewhat impoverished. By June 1929, her car had been legally repossessed, and her personal finances were so tight that she had to appeal to Salvatore Todaro for monetary assistance. By March 1930, the probate court had resolved the lawsuit in Concetta Lonardo's favor, although Fannie Lonardo appealed the court's decision. Joseph Metzel was appointed a guardian of the estate while the appeal was heard, and former Cleveland police detective Phil Mooney was appointed a guardian for Lonardo's minor-aged children. The value of the estate dwindled to just \$149,000 (\$ in dollars) by spring 1930, largely due to legal fees incurred by Concetta Lonardo as she defended herself against murder charges in the death of Salvatore Todaro and by Angelo Lonardo as he fought a concealed weapons charge. Fannie Lonardo's suit was finally dismissed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in 1932.

Boss of the Cleveland Mafia (1884–1927)

Murdered American gangsters of Sicilian descent