Milwaukee crime family

The Milwaukee crime family, also known as the Balistrieri crime family or the Milwaukee Mafia, was an Italian-American Mafia crime family based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.^[1] The crime family was considered a branch of the Chicago Outfit. The family's most influential boss was Frank "Mr. Big" Balistrieri, who was greatly involved in the Las Vegas skimming casinos.^[2] After the death of boss Frank Balistrieri, in 1993, members of the Chicago Outfit moved into the area gaining control over many illegal rackets in the Milwaukee area.^[3] In 2024, boss Peter Picciurro and consigliere John Balistrieri, both died and it is unknown the current status of the family.

Italian-American organized crime in Milwaukee originated in the city's Third Ward, which was home to the majority of Milwaukee's Sicilian population in the early 20th century.^[4] The first known Mafia boss of Milwaukee was Vito Guardalabene, who immigrated to the United States from Santa Flavia, Sicily in 1903 and became naturalized U.S. citizen in 1911.^[5] Guardalabene was mentioned in the memoirs of Nicola Gentile as being "the king" of the Little Italy community in Milwaukee's Third Ward circa 1915.^[6] The syndicate headed by Guardalabene possibly originated as a branch of the Chicago Outfit.^[3] Upon Guardalabene's death from natural causes on February 6, 1921, his son Giovanni Battista "Peter" Guardalabene became boss of the Milwaukee crime family until 1924, when he turned over control of the family to a distant relative, Giuseppe "Big Joe" D'Amato.^[5] D'Amato died from pneumonia at the age of 41, on March 28, 1927.^[5]

Following the death of D'Amato, the Milwaukee Mafia was led by Joseph Vallone, who immigrated to the U.S. from Prizzi, Sicily in 1907. Vallone was the co-owner, along with Pasquale Migliaccio, of a wholesale grocery company which supplied sugar and other moonshining ingredients during the Prohibition era. During the late 1920s and early 1930s, a number of Sicilian mafiosi from Chicago were inducted into the Milwaukee family after relocating to the area.^[5] When the Commission was formed in 1931, it was decided that the Milwaukee family would remain under the control of and answer directly to the Chicago Outfit.^[3] In the early 1930s, Vallone was among 45 defendants indicted by a federal grand jury for operating a regional bootlegging syndicate. Following the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, Vallone and Migliaccio opened the Broadway Liquor Company.^[5] Vallone retired from racketeering in 1949, and died from natural causes on March 18, 1952.^[3]

Prior to his retirement, Vallone had groomed Salvatore "Sam" Ferrara, a relative and fellow native of Prizzi, to succeed him as boss of the Milwaukee family. In 1952, Ferrara became involved in a dispute with an underling, Frank Balistrieri, when he attempted to acquire an ownership share of the Ogden Social Club, a gambling venue owned by Balistrieri, to which Balistrieri resisted. Ferrara then expelled Balistrieri from the family, causing dissention in the Milwaukee Mafia.^[5] The membership of the family subsequently deposed of Ferrara by vote and requested the intervention of the Chicago Outfit to oust Ferrara.^[3] In November or December 1952, a panel of senior mobsters from Chicago responsible for overseeing the Milwaukee family, including Tony Accardo, Rocco Fischetti and Sam Giancana, ruled that Ferrara had abused his position and demoted him, installing Balistrieri's father-in-law, John Alioto, as the new boss. Balistrieri was subsequently reinstated as a member of the Mafia.^[5]

The Milwaukee family's influence grew significantly under Alioto's leadership, particularly within the labor movement.^[3] Alioto also introduced a leadership panel known as sagia to resolve disputes within the family. In 1954, John DiTrapani, a relative and godson of Sam Ferrara, along with Frank LoGalbo and Jack Enea, plotted to seize control of the family from Alioto. The rebellion was quelled with the murders of DiTrapani and Enea.^[5] DiTrapani was shot and killed in his car on March 18, 1954,^[7] and Enea was found shot to death in a ditch in Waukesha County on November 29, 1955.^[8][9] LoGalbo survived by transferring from the Milwaukee family to a Chicago family crew in Chicago Heights, Illinois, although he continued to reside in Milwaukee under the protection of the Outfit.^[5]

During his reign, Alioto reportedly groomed his son-in-law Frank Balistrieri to take control of the family when he retired.^[3] According to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reports, however, Alioto may have been opposed to Balistrieri becoming boss at the time of his retirement. The catalyst for this change in policy may have been an extramarital relationship that Balistrieri reportedly had outside of his marriage with Alioto's daughter.^[5] Nonetheless, Alioto attended a social function on December 27, 1961 which served as the official induction of Balistrieri as the new head of the Milwaukee family.^[5]

At the time he became boss, Balistrieri was overseeing a lucrative loansharking racket, held a monopoly over illegal sports betting in Milwaukee, and also had significant influence in the vending machine business.^[3] Seeking to increase the family's wealth and influence, Balistrieri imposed a "street tax" upon gambling racketeers as well as several legitimate businesses in Milwaukee, recruiting Joseph Gurera and Sebastian "Buster" Balestrere from Kansas City to enforce the protection racket. Balistrieri caused discontent in the family by promoting the newly-arrived Gurera to the rank of capodecina as well as abolishing the sagia process and ruling in an autocratic fashion. He was protected from any insurrection, however, by his close relationship with leaders in the Chicago Outfit, especially Felix "Milwaukee Phil" Alderisio.^[5]

By the 1960s, the FBI had several informants in the Milwaukee Mafia, including Joseph Gurera and August "Augie" Maniaci.^[4][10] The FBI also had an illegal wiretap planted in Balistrieri's office. In March 1967, Balistrieri was convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to two years in federal prison.^[11] He appointed his underboss and younger brother Peter Balistrieri to serve as acting boss during his absence. Balistrieri was released from the Federal Correctional Institution, Sandstone, Minnesota in June 1971.^[3]

On September 11, 1975, Milwaukee mobster and FBI informant August Maniaci was shot and killed outside his home on the city's East Side after feuding with Balistrieri.^[12] His brother, Vincent Maniaci, survived an attempted car bombing in August 1977 when twenty sticks of dynamite attached to his Buick Electra failed to explode.^[13][14] Vincent Maniaci subsequently fled to Honolulu.^[15]

In 1978, the FBI launched an undercover investigation into the Milwaukee family, with the FBI agent Gail T. "Ty" Cobb posing as a vending machine businessman using the undercover alias "Tony Conte".^[16] Another undercover FBI agent, Joseph D. Pistone, who was investigating the Bonanno crime family of New York under the alias "Donnie Brasco", introduced Cobb to Bonanno family soldier Benjamin "Lefty" Ruggiero who, in exchange for a fee, assisted Cobb in establishing himself in the vending business.^[17] Pistone visited Milwaukee several times in 1978 in an attempt to "form a marriage" between the Milwaukee and New York families.^[18] Initially unaware that "Conte" was under the protection of the Bonanno family, Balistrieri allegedly assigned three men to kill Cobb because he had entered the vending business without his permission.^[16] Ruggiero later arranged a meeting between Cobb and Balistrieri, at which Cobb obtained permission from Balistrieri to operate in Milwaukee.^[17] Frank Balistrieri and his sons, John and Joseph, entered into an agreement with "Conte" in August 1978 in which they became silent partners in the Best Vending Company, an FBI front company.^[19] The Balestrieris terminated the partnership in December 1978 due to their suspicions that "Conte" was a government agent.^[20] The Milwaukee family did not report these suspicions to the New York or Chicago families, however.^[18]

Fifteen members and associates of the Milwaukee and Bonanno families, including Balistrieri and his sons, were indicted by a federal grand jury on October 1, 1980 at the culmination of the FBI's three-year investigation.^[21] On April 9, 1984, Frank, John and Joseph Balistrieri were convicted in federal court in Green Bay of attempted extortion and conspiracy to commit extortion.^[22]

Simultaneous to the investigation into the vending business in Milwaukee, the FBI was also conducting Operation Strawman, a multi-state racketeering probe which focused on organized crime's infiltration of the casino industry in Las Vegas. Operation Strawman began in May 1978 and was carried out with the cooperation of the Justice Department's Organized Crime Strike Force as well as state and local law enforcement agencies.^[23][24] Frank, John and Joseph Balistrieri were among 15 mobsters indicted in September 1983 in relation to the skimming of over $2 million from casinos in Las Vegas.^[22] The Balistrieris and six other defendants went on trial in federal court in Kansas City beginning in September 1985.^[25] On December 31, 1985, Frank Balistrieri pleaded guilty to racketeering charges related to the skimming of profits from the Stardust and Fremont casinos.^[26] John and Joseph Balistrieri were each acquitted in the case.^[27] Frank Balistrieri was sentenced to ten years in prison to run concurrently with his previous 13-year sentence.^[25] The Strawman investigation resulted in the convictions of nineteen senior mobsters and virtually eliminated the leadership of the crime families in Milwaukee, Chicago and Kansas City.^[24] Balistrieri's imprisonment reportedly thwarted his appointment to the Mafia Commission.^[28]

Balistrieri was released from the Federal Correctional Complex, Butner, North Carolina in November 1991.^[29] He died from a heart attack on February 7, 1993, at the age of 74.^[29][28]

After the death of Frank Balistrieri, the Chicago Outfit began taking control of the Milwaukee illegal rackets.^[30] The Chicago Outfit had represented the Milwaukee family on the American Mafia Commission

• 1918–1921 — Vito Guardalabene — died on February 6, 1921, from natural causes.^[3][31]
• 1921–1927 — Peter Guardalabene — the son of Vito Guardalabene^[3][32]
• 1927 — Joseph Amato — died of natural causes on March 28, 1927.^[3][33]
• 1927–1949 — Joseph Vallone — retired from the rackets in 1949 and died of natural causes on March 18, 1952.^[34]
• 1949–1952 — Sam Ferrara — in 1952 voted out by his family, so members of the Chicago Outfit forced him to step down.^[3] Died in 1977.^[5]
• 1952–1961 — John Alioto — trained his son-in-law Frank Balistrieri.^[3][35]
• 1961–1993 — Frank Balistrieri — imprisoned March 1967-June 1971. In the late 1970s, with his two sons Joseph and John worked with Bonanno crime family capo Michael Sabella. He was imprisoned from 1983 to 1991 for his involvement in Las Vegas skim racket. He died of natural causes on February 7, 1993.^[3]
  • Acting 1967–1971 — Joseph Balistrieri Sr. — Frank's son and capo, became underboss in 1993.
  • Acting 1983–1993 — Peter Balistrieri — Frank Balistrieri's brother and underboss.^[3]
• 1993–1997 — Peter Balistrieri — died of natural causes on August 17, 1997^[3]
• 1997–2014 — Joseph Caminiti — served as Frank Balistrieri's consigliere; died in January 2014.^[3]
• 2014–2024 — Peter "Pitch" Picciurro^[30] — died of natural causes on January 6, 2024.^[36]

• 1927–1949 — Steven "Steve" DiSalvo — demoted in 1949, retired in the 1980s, deceased in the 1990s.
• 1952–1961 — Joseph Gumina — moved to Kansas City, deceased in the 1970s.
• 1961–1993 — Peter Balistrieri — became boss.
• 1993–2010 — Joseph "Joey Bal" Balistrieri Sr. — Frank's older son, deceased in 2010.^[37]

• 1927–1952 — Vito Seidita — stepped down, retired in 1971, deceased in 1978.
• 1952–1961 — Carmelo "Charles" Zarcone — demoted in 1961, deceased in 1969.
• 1961–1997 — Joseph "Joe Camel" Caminiti — became boss.
• 1997–2014 — Peter "Pitch" Picciurro — became boss.
• 2014–2024 — John "Johnny Bal" Balistrieri — Frank's younger son, deceased on June 7, 2024.^[37][38]

• John "Johnny Bal" Balistrieri^[30] — the younger son of Frank Balistrieri, the former boss of the Milwaukee family. John served as lawyer until 1984, when his license was suspended and he was later disbarred. In August 2014, John Balistrieri's application to reinstate his law license was rejected by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.^[39] He died on June 7, 2024.

• Peter "Pitch" Picciurro^[30] — former family boss, the owner of Pitch's Lounge and Restaurant and blood relative to Frank Balistrieri.^[40] The son of Milwaukee mobster John J. Picciurro and cousin to Frank and Peter Balistrieri. He died on January 6, 2024^[41]

• August Palmisano

• Schmitt, Gavin. Milwaukee Mafia. Arcadia, 2012. ISBN 0738594431
• Schmitt, Gavin. The Milwaukee Mafia: Mobsters in the Heartland. Barricade Books, 2015. ISBN 978-0962303265

• American Gangland: Balistrieri Crime Family
• Dieland: The Milwaukee Family
• Milwaukee Mafia^{[unreliable source]}