Across multiple generations, the Celebrezze family built an enduring political dynasty that has wielded power and influence from Cleveland to Washington, D.C.
Since the 1920s, Celebrezze family members have occupied an extraordinary sweep of public offices, from Cleveland mayor and state attorney general to the state Supreme Court, appellate courts and county benches.
In 2009, Leslie Ann Celebrezze became the family’s first woman to run and the first to win an election when voters tapped her to replace her father as a Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court judge.
The family dynasty took another turn after she pleaded guilty on Wednesday to tampering with public records for creating a false court entry to steer work to Mark Dottore, a longtime family friend whom she’d repeatedly appointed to oversee lucrative divorce cases.
Celebrezze said little during the hearing and declined comment to reporters as she left the courtroom with her attorney.
Visiting Judge Mark Wiest from Wayne County did not immediately set a date for Celebrezze’s sentencing on the third-degree felony charge, which carries a potential prison sentence of up to three years.
Prosecutors said they will not request prison time, leaving that decision to Wiest.
The judge said a lesser jail sentence is a possibility and that he will rely on a pre-sentence investigation to help guide his decision.
“I’m not saying [a jail sentence] is going to happen, but I want that option,” Wiest told Celebrezze.
The conviction comes more than two years after The Marshall Project – Cleveland first detailed Celebrezze’s relationship with Dottore.
Coming to America
Rocco Cilibrizzi was a shepherd in Potenza, Italy, when he moved his family to Cleveland around 1912, joining the surge of immigrants who would make the city the nation’s fifth largest at that time. To fit in, the family surname was Americanized to Celebrezze.
Their political influence first took hold after brothers Anthony J. Celebrezze Sr. and Frank D. Celebrezze held prestigious posts in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, and became power brokers inside the local Democratic Party.
Frank became an assistant county prosecutor in 1929 and later worked as Cleveland’s safety director, replacing the famed “Untouchable” Prohibition agent Eliot Ness in 1942. He later won a seat on the Cleveland Municipal Court.
Anthony was elected Cleveland mayor in 1953, serving until 1962, when he was picked by President John F. Kennedy to become a cabinet secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
His name is emblazoned on the federal government’s skyscraper blocks from the courthouse where his great-niece, Leslie Ann Celebrezze, sat as a judge.
The family’s second generation expanded its influence further on the Ohio judiciary and state politics. At one point, two Celebrezze family members sat on the seven-member state Supreme Court.
Anthony J. Celebrezze Jr. served as a state senator, secretary of state and attorney general.
Frank D. Celebrezze Jr. was a state Supreme Court justice from 1972 to 1986, serving as chief justice for eight of those years. He lost a 1986 election to keep his seat.
His brother, James, joined him on the bench in 1983, making them the state’s first siblings on the high court.
In 1991, James Celebrezze won a seat on the Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court. He retired in January 2009. His daughter, Leslie Ann Celebrezze, who had been a magistrate for the Cleveland Municipal Court, followed in his footsteps onto the court. Controversy over the family’s relationship with Dottore also followed.
Brent Larkin, who has written about Cleveland and Ohio politics since 1970, said the Celebrezze dynasty has had two branches, both enjoying success at the ballot box.
One was led by Anthony J. Celebrezze Sr. and his son. The other includes brothers James and Frank Celebrezze, who were both embroiled in controversies when they served on the Ohio Supreme Court.
The family also clashed in one election. In 1976, cousins Anthony Celebrezze Jr. and James Celebrezze faced each other in a crowded congressional primary, with both losing.
“There was no love lost among the two family factions,” Larkin said.
He said he does not believe that Leslie Ann Celebrezze’s conviction will hurt the family’s future in politics. The Western Reserve Historical Society lists her as one of seven notable Italian American Women in Northeast Ohio.
“Historians won’t allow Leslie Celebrezze’s sleaze to tarnish the entire family’s legacy,” Larkin said.
Dottore and family ties
Dottore, a longtime friend of the Celebrezze family, also served as the campaign treasurer for Leslie Ann Celebrezze and for Nicholas Celebrezze, a judge on the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court.
Just after Leslie Ann Celebrezze took her father’s judgeship in 2009, the Ohio Supreme Court removed her from a divorce case involving a wealthy real estate developer in which Dottore was already appointed as receiver.
Celebrezze’s father originally appointed Dottore to that case and 10 others during the last six months of 2008, netting Dottore $340,000 in fees.
Yet, “The judge gave no work to any other receivers during the same period, records show, despite an Ohio Supreme Court rule that such appointments be rotated equitably,” The Plain Dealer reported.
Then-Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Moyer wrote in his rulingthat he also had concerns that Leslie Ann Celebrezze would “continue to engage in the questionable use of Dottore’s services initiated” by her father.
Celebrezze later removed herself from 88 cases that started with her father.
Old troubles resurface
In 2023, The Marshall Project – Cleveland first raised questions that Celebrezze, the administrative judge at the time, directed case assignments to herself. She stated in court entries that the cases had been randomly assigned to her.
In some complex divorce cases, judges appoint receivers to act as neutral parties to control a couple’s marital assets, including real estate, cash, equipment, deposit accounts and businesses. The receivers are paid by the divorcing couples.
Celebrezze approved nearly $500,000 in fees to be paid to a company, Dottore Cos. LLC, between January 2017 and June 2023, The Marshall Project – Cleveland reported. The judge appointed either Dottore or his daughter to be the receiver in six cases she handled during that time, according to Cuyahoga County court records.
In December 2025, a visiting judge ordered Dottore to repay nearly $1.3 million in unauthorized fees that Dottore paid to his own attorney to review his invoices in a divorce involving Strongsville businessman Jason Jardine. Dottore billed Jardine and his former wife Crystal for the legal fees. Dottore filed a notice to appeal the ruling.
Celebrezze and Dottore told The Marshall Project – Cleveland that they were only lifelong friends, even after a private investigator recorded videos of them kissing outside a steakhouse and Celebrezze visiting Dottore’s home and office numerous times. Both denied it was a romantic relationship.
However, Celebrezze conceded in court records in 2025 that she loved Dottore when she bypassed the court’s random assignment process to shift cases to her docket and subsequently appointed him as receiver.
This article was first published by The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system. Sign up for their newsletters, and follow them on Instagram, TikTok, Reddit and Facebook.