Rick Halprin, Lawyer For Mob Boss Joey Lombardo, Dies

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The defense attorney for notorious convicted mobster Joey "The Clown" Lombardo was found dead inside his Hyde Park condominium on Tuesday.

Rick Haprin's body was found in the building with a single gunshot wound to the upper body, possibly the neck or head.

The body was discovered after authorities went to the condo, in the 1000 block of East 53rd Street, to serve an eviction notice.

Halprin spoke to his cleaning lady at 8:25 a.m. on Tuesday and told her he'd need an hour or so alone to shower and get dressed for the day, a source tells Newsradio.

At 9:40, Cook County Sheriff's Police arrived at Halprin's apartment to evict him. An officer forced the front door open.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's office said Halprin, 73, suffered from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Lombardo was sentenced in 2009 to life in federal prison for serving as a leader of Chicago's organized crime family and the murder of a government witness in a union pension fraud case.

Lombardo was among the mobsters convicted in September 2007 at the landmark Operation Family Secrets trial which lifted the curtain of secrecy from the operations of Chicago's underworld.