Antonio Lombardo
Lombardo, however, refused to resign and continued to organize civic projects under the Unione Siciliana until shortly before his death on September 7, 1928. Lombardo was gunned down, along with his bodyguard Joseph Ferrara (although bodyguard Joe Lolordo survived), allegedly by an alliance of the Joe Aiello Gang and the North Side Gang, at the intersections of Madison Street and Dearborn Street. It was said that Moran ordered this death and had his two experienced gunman do the job with the help of Aiello. Thought to be retaliation for the murder of Frankie Yale the previous July, Lombardo's death was in turn soon avenged with the murder of members of the Joe Aiello Gang and the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, in 1929. He is buried in Mount Carmel Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois.
Slayer
In February 2013, Lombardo was fired right before Slayer was to play at Australia's Soundwave festival due to an argument with band members over a pay dispute. Slayer and American Recordings released a statement, saying "Mr. Lombardo came to the band less than a week before their scheduled departure for Australia to present an entirely new set of terms for his engagement that were contrary to those that had been previously agreed upon", although Lombardo claimed there was a gag order in place. Jon Dette returned to fill in for Lombardo for the Soundwave dates. It was confirmed that Lombardo was officially out of Slayer for the third time, and, when in May, Paul Bostaph rejoined the band.
On May 2, 2013, Jeff Hanneman died due to liver failure in a local hospital near his home in Southern California's Inland Empire; the cause of death was later determined to be alcohol-related cirrhosis. King confirmed that the band would continue, saying "Jeff is going to be in everybody's thoughts for a long time. It's unfortunate you can't keep unfortunate things from happening. But we're going to carry on – and he'll be there in spirit." However, Araya felt more uncertain about the band's future, expressing his belief that "After 30 years [with Hanneman active in the band], it would literally be like starting over", and doubting that Slayer's fanbase would approve such a change. Despite the uncertainty regarding the band's future, Slayer still worked on a followup to "World Painted Blood". Additionally, it was reported that the new album would still feature material written by Hanneman.