Milwaukee Mafia

To jumpstart 2022, we are giving you another sample of our exclusive Patreon audio. It's a more casual podcast where Gavin answers listener questions.

Patreon is $2/month, and includes 2 exclusive podcast episode of behind the scenes content each month: https://www.patreon.com/Milwaukeemafia

This Patreon clip is from our 11/30/2021 release where Gavin talks about requesting records, and the various agencies he's worked with. He discusses who has been the best to work with, and which have been the worst to work with.

To listen to the whole episode, and the other episodes, sign up at https://www.patreon.com/Milwaukeemafia Thank you for your support!

• Visit MilwaukeeMafia.com for more information
• Gavin's Books: https://amzn.to/3ssKOQH

The 1950s were a time of great heists in the Milwaukee Mafia. Most notably there was the burglary at the Reno home of Lavere Redfield. Lesser known was the fraudulent bankruptcy surrounding Scanlon's Music in downtown Milwaukee. And then, one of the least successful... the hijacking of meat.

This episode includes names such as Anthony LaRosa, Joseph "The Viper" Guarniere, Harold Klein, Thomas "Tommy Fish" Piscitello, and Sam "Banjo Eyes" Vermiglio.

Additional information can be found at: https://milwaukeemafia.com/meat-hijacking

Links:

• Visit MilwaukeeMafia.com for more information
• Gavin's Books: https://amzn.to/3ssKOQH
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Milwaukeemafia

We wanted to give you a sample of our exclusive Patreon audio. It's a more casual podcast where Gavin answers listener questions.

Patreon is $2/month, and includes 2 exclusive podcasts each month: https://www.patreon.com/Milwaukeemafia

This Patreon clip is from our 12/14/2021 release where Gavin discusses a listener-submitted question: Was Frank Balistrieri ever more powerful than Sam Giancana? (For reference, Sam Giancana was the boss of the Chicago Outfit from 1957 to 1966.)

To listen to the whole episode, and the other episodes, sign up at https://www.patreon.com/Milwaukeemafia Thank you for your support!

• Visit MilwaukeeMafia.com for more information
• Gavin's Books: https://amzn.to/3ssKOQH

This episode focuses on Steve DiSalvo's criminal endeavors, including a business deal with an undercover FBI agent that would ultimately land many, including Frank Balistrieri, in prison.

DiSalvo is considered to be the right-hand man to Frank Balistrieri. Although it is not clear how DiSalvo was initially affiliated with the Milwaukee Mafia given that he had no immediate family in the mafia, he became very active in the criminal organization. By 1959, when the FBI took an active interest in Milwaukee’s criminal underworld, Steve DiSalvo was highly sought after.

DiSalvo's closest associates were Frank Stelloh, Buster Balestrere and Joseph Gurera, all considered to be enforcers or "the muscle" for the mob. Balestrere and Gurera had been “imported” from Kansas City, where they had been known hitmen.

Most of the topics covered in this episode will be covered in more depth in future episodes.

• Visit MilwaukeeMafia.com for more information
• Gavin's Books: https://amzn.to/3ssKOQH
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Milwaukeemafia

In this episode, Gavin and Eric discuss a Fond du Lac, Wisconsin cheese company's ties to the Mafia.

According to federal investigators, the Grande Cheese Company of Fond du Lac “was born out of a Chicago gang war in 1939”. Chicago mobster Ross Prio is credited with starting the business in 1941.

In January 1963, Wisconsin Governor John W. Reynolds claimed that a “network of organized crime” existed in Fond du Lac, Milwaukee and Kenosha counties, the center of Wisconsin’s Italian cheese industry. Governor Reynolds also claimed there was “an invasion of the cheese industry by gangsters who maintain connections with crime syndicates across the nation.”

Murders:

• Thomas Oneglia
• James DeAngelo
• Onofrio Vitale
• Vincent Benevento
• LeRoy Sommers

Links:

• Visit MilwaukeeMafia.com for more information
• Gavin's Books: https://amzn.to/3ssKOQH
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Milwaukeemafia
• Informer Magazine link with sources: http://informer-journal.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-mob-and-wisconsin-cheese.html

Join Gavin and Eric as they discuss John Alioto, former boss of the Milwaukee Mafia from 1952-1961.

The Aliotos were deeply connected to crime through blood and marriage, setting up the Milwaukee Family to be among the most intra-related in the country.

He was largely in the background during his reign. Early in life, he was a murder suspect in the death of Albert Scorsone, and was loosely tied in to an insurance scam in New York City. Alioto tended to focus more on his legitimate business prospects, and did as little as possible to bring on the heat from police and federal authorities.

Alioto’s most notable relative was Frank Balistrieri, his son-in-law.

In this episode, Eric will ask a question that will share some foreshadowing information on the relationship between John Alito and Frank Balistrieri - which is coming up in future episodes.

• Visit MilwaukeeMafia.com for more information
• Gavin's Books: https://amzn.to/3ssKOQH
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Milwaukeemafia

Topics:

• Pinball
• Horse racing
• Policy (number) wheels
• John Doe investigations

Links:

• Visit MilwaukeeMafia.com for more information
• Gavin's Books: https://amzn.to/3ssKOQH
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Milwaukeemafia

Bonus fact: In 1963, the Wisconsin supreme court ruled free plays on pinball machines were illegal - even though there was little enforcement behind the law. In 1980, Wisconsin legalized free plays.

People included in this episode:

• Joe Vallone
• Pasquale Migliaccio
• Joe Bedami
• Hasso Pestalazzi
• Pat Ferrara

Links:

• Visit MilwaukeeMafia.com for more information
• Gavin's Books: https://amzn.to/3ssKOQH
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Milwaukeemafia

In this episode, Gavin talks through the murders of three Scaffidi family members: Vincenzo "James" Scaffidi, Anthony, and Joseph.

On Saturday, March 14th, 1891, Antonio Scaffidi was murdered in prison along with Joseph P. Macheca and Antonio Marchesi.

Vincenzo Scaffidi was shot six times from behind on the evening of December 12, 1919. He was found lying in a ditch on Whitnall Avenue in the town of Lake (now the location of Mitchell Airport), his .38 revolver still in his shirt.

In the early morning of January 6, 1944, five bandits held up bartenders Eugene R. Reichman and William Hetrick as they were leaving Bensinger Bowling and Billiards at the corner of 27th and Kilbourn. The police arrived, causing the robbers to flee. Patrolman Charles Jackelen, shot and killed Anthony Scaffidi; he was hit in the rear shoulder as he ran away, and the bullet came out his neck, two inches below his chin. Scaffidi actually made it another 75 yards before collapsing in the snow.

• Visit MilwaukeeMafia.com for more information
• Gavin's Books: https://amzn.to/3ssKOQH
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Milwaukeemafia

Gavin continues on with Tony Gennaro snitching from prison. In the last episode, Tony, while an inmate at Waupun, sent a letter to Milwaukee’s captain of detectives, Adolph Kraemer.

Tony writes: “If you want to talk with me about them, I would like to talk to you alone. Please don’t tell anyone about my name, because I am a prisoner and there are many Italian fellows from the Third Ward here; keep quiet and afterward you will find out many important things concerning them.”

• Visit MilwaukeeMafia.com for more information
• Gavin's Books: https://amzn.to/3ssKOQH
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Milwaukeemafia