Frank Balistrieri

Frank Peter Balistrieri (May 27, 1918 – February 7, 1993), also known as "Mr. Big", "Frankie Bal", "Mr. Slick", “Mr. Fancy Pants”, and "Mad Bomber", was a Milwaukee Mafia boss who was a central figure in skimming during the 1980s.[1]

Frank Balistreri
Frank Balistrieri
Born(1918-05-27)May 27, 1918
DiedFebruary 7, 1993(1993-02-07) (aged 74)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Other namesMr. Big, Frankie Bal, Mr. Slick, and Mad Bomber

Early years

Balistrieri was college educated and attended law school for six months. As a young man, he started working for the Milwaukee crime family, which owed allegiance to the powerful Chicago Outfit criminal organization in Chicago. Balistrieri soon built a reputation for arrogance, cruelty and ruthlessness. Balistrieri allegedly received the "Mad Bomber" nickname because he frequently used Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) attached to cars as weapons against his enemies.

Balistrieri married Antonina (Nina) Alioto and soon his father-in-law and Milwaukee boss, John Alioto, was grooming Balistrieri as his successor. Balistrieri had two sons, Joseph and John Balistrieri, who became lawyers and became involved in their father's business. Balistrieri had three daughters, Benedetta, Catherine and Tami MacLeod[2]

On December 27, 1961, at a crime family social event in Milwaukee, Balistrieri was installed as the new boss of the Milwaukee family, replacing the retired Alioto.[3]

Balistrieri eventually referred to himself as "the most powerful man in Milwaukee" after the "hit" on an acquaintance, August "Augie" Palmisano; Balistrieri was quoted as saying, "He called me a name – to my face – and now they can't find his skin!" Balistrieri conducted his business at a table at Snug's restaurant in Milwaukee's Shorecrest Hotel, giving orders over a red telephone.

In March 1967, Balistrieri was convicted of income tax evasion and was sent to federal prison in Sandstone, Minnesota for two years. He was released in June 1971.[3]

Casino skimming

On March 20, 1974, Balistrieri met with Kansas City mobsters Nicholas Civella and Carl DeLuna, in Las Vegas, Nevada. During the meeting, the mobsters arranged a meeting between Balistrieri and Allen Glick, the Cosa Nostra front man in that city. Balistrieri wanted to buy an option to purchase part of Glick's Argent Corporation, a holding company for four casino resorts. Glick later agreed to sell half of the corporation to Balistrieri's sons, John Balistrieri and Joseph P. Balistrieri, for $25,000. Balistrieri later claimed that, "he had an obligation arising from the assistance to Glick in obtaining a pension fund commitment in the amount of $62.75 million." Balistrieri was referring to the Teamsters Union pension fund, which was controlled by the Cosa Nostra. [4]

In 1977, the FBI created a sting operation in Milwaukee aimed at Balistrieri. They sent Special Agent Joseph Pistone, working undercover in New York City as "Donnie Brasco", to Milwaukee to help set up a vending machine company. The object was to provoke Balistrieri into either retaliating against or working with the new business. When Pistone and another FBI agent finally met with Balistrieri to create a partnership, Balistrieri laughingly admitted that he had been getting ready to murder them.[5]

In 1978, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) named Balistrieri in a news release as a "crime leader" in Milwaukee.[6]

Soon Balistrieri and Civella were feuding over each other's share from the skimming operations. Finally, the two mobsters requested arbitration from The Outfit. The results of the arrangement, as ruled by Outfit leader Joseph "Joey Doves" Aiuppa and underboss John "Jackie The Lackey" Cerone, demanded that The Outfit receive a 25% tax as its cut in skimming operations.[7] Balistrieri blamed Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, the Outfit representative at the Stardust Hotel, for Balistrieri's problems in Las Vegas. In 1982, Rosenthal narrowly averted death in a Las Vegas car bombing that was attributed to Balistrieri.[8]

Conviction

In September 1983, Balistrieri and his two sons were indicted on charges of skimming over $2 million in unreported income from the Fremont Hotel and Casino and the Stardust.[1] This was the first case in which federal authorities had successfully connected mobsters from four different states. On October 9, 1983, Balistrieri was convicted on five illegal gambling and tax evasion charges.[9] While awaiting sentencing on extortion and bookmaking charges, Balistrieri declared his innocence; he told the press, "The first time I heard the word, 'Mafia,' was when I read it in the newspapers." On May 30, 1984, Balistrieri was sentenced in Milwaukee to 13 years in prison and fined $30,000. His sons were convicted of extorting a vending machine businessman and each received two years in prison.[3][10]

In September 1985, Balistrieri was tried in Kansas City, Missouri with eight other associates for skimming an estimated $2 million of the gross income of the Argent Corporation from Syndicate casino operations. Federal prosecutors further accused Balistrieri of skimming the unreported income and distributing it to organized crime figures in Kansas City, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Cleveland. In failing health, Balistrieri pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy in exchange for dropping federal charges, which included attempting to conceal ownership of a casino to skim profits and interstate travel to aid racketeering.[11] He also attempted to shield his sons, John and Joe, from any charges.

On December 31, 1985, Balistrieri pleaded guilty in Kansas City to conspiracy and racketeering and was sentenced to 10 years in prison (to run concurrently with his 13-year sentence from 1984).[12] Close to achieving a seat on the ruling Mafia Commission in New York, Balistrieri was thwarted by this prison sentence.

On November 5, 1991, Balistrieri was released early from federal prison due to his poor health.[13][14] In December 1992, Balistrieri was admitted to St. Mary's Hospital (now Columbia St. Mary's) in Milwaukee, reportedly for colon surgery.[15]

On February 7, 1993, Frank Balistrieri died.

Notes
  1. Loan Recipient Testifies In Skimming Trial, Daytona Beach Morning Journal - Nov 7, 1985, Retrieved November 19, 2013
  2. https://www.milwaukeemag.com/DaughteroftheDon/
  3. Ambler, Jay C. "Milwaukee". American Mafia.com. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-04-11. Retrieved 2006-11-15.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. Pistone, Joseph D. (1987). Donnie brasco (1 st. ed.). New York, NY: A Signet Book. ISBN 0451192575.
  6. "Crime Leaders as Cited by F.B.I" (PDF). New York Times. August 6, 1978. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  7. Turner, Wallace (April 3, 1986). "UNION LOANS: MOB'S HOLD ON CASINOS". New York Times. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  8. Smith, John L. (2003). Of rats and men : Oscar Goodman's life from mob mouthpiece to mayor of Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nev.: Huntington Press. p. 147. ISBN 0929712986.
  9. "AROUND THE NATION; Milwaukee Crime Figure Guilty in Gambling Case". New York Times. October 10, 1983. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  10. http://archive.jsonline.com/business/crime-boss-son-john-j-balistrieri-may-get-law-license-back-b99179532z1-239358031.html/
  11. Frank Balistrieri Pleads Not Guilty, The Milwaukee Journal - Dec 8, 1971, Retrieved November 19, 2013
  12. "REPUTED MILWAUKEE CRIME FIGURE PLEADS GUILTY IN KANSAS CITY TRIAL". New York Times. January 1, 1986. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  13. Capeci, Jerry (2004). The complete idiot's guide to the Mafia (2nd ed.). Indianapolis, IN: Alpha Books. p. 91. ISBN 1592573053.
  14. "Frank Peter Balistrieri". Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  15. "Private services Thursday for Frank Balistrieti". Milwaukee Journal. February 9, 1993. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
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References
  • Kelly, Robert J. Encyclopedia of Organized Crime in the United States. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0-313-30653-2
  • Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 978-0-8160-5694-1

Further reading
  • Capeci, Jerry. The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia. Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002. ISBN 978-0-02-864225-3
  • Neff, James. Mobbed Up: Jackie Presser's High-Wire Life in the Teamsters, the Mafia, and the FBI. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1989.
  • Schmitt, Gavin. Milwaukee Mafia. Arcadia, 2012.
  • Turner, William W. Hoover's FBI. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 1993.
  • United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Organized Crime: 25 Years After Valachi - Hearings Before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. 1988.
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