The front page of the Wednesday Chicago Tribune had a picture of an old man riding a bike under the headline "Have you seen this 'Clown?'" The caption said it was Joseph "The Clown" Lombardo, a reputed mob boss who had been indicted earlier in the week. Lombardo hadn't been arrested yet because he hadn't been found.
The next day, the Trib was apologizing all over itself for misidentifying the bike rider. He was Stanley Swieton, age 69, who has no known mob connections. You can probably imagine his reaction when he saw the paper that day. That's a heck of a way to get your 15 minutes of fame.
Nobody's job is in jeopardy at the Trib over this, or at least they haven't said as much, but this seems like a much worse mistake than Mitch Albom's. One thing in the Trib's favor is that they say that Lombardo's lawyer identified the bike rider as Lombardo. The lawyer denies that he ID'd Lombardo.
Here's a link to the Tribune story.
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