During last year’s filming of Public Enemies, a film depicting the true story of FBI agent Melvin Purvis’ attempt to apprehend criminals John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd, many Wisconsinites learned for the first time that our state has a history of playing host to infamous outlaws. Wooded and rural, Wisconsin was a popular getaway for Chicago-based gangsters because of its isolation. Milwaukee, on the other hand, was already home to some of the American Mafia’s elite, powerful men, including Frank Balistrieri.
As a young man, “Frankie Bal” started working for the Milwaukee La Cosa Nostra (LCN) family, which owed allegiance to the Chicago Outfit, a powerful criminal syndicate in the city of Chicago that has a near-monopoly on traditional organized crime in the Midwest.
By the time Balistrieri succeeded his father-in-law, John Alioto, as the new boss of the Milwaukee LCN family in 1961, he had a sizable loan shark book, vast control over illegal sports betting and a tight hold on the vending machine market. Conducting his business from a table at Snug’s restaurant in the Shorecrest Hotel, Frankie Bal was the man who put the Milwaukee Mafia on the map.
In 1967, Frank Balistrieri was convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to two years at a federal penitentiary in Minnesota. In 1978, the FBI infiltrated the Milwaukee Mafia by planting an undercover agent as the owner of a vending machine company. After a long investigation, Balistrieri and his two sons, Joe and John, went to federal prison in 1984, convicted for their involvement in an illegal vending machine racket.
The following year, Frank was convicted again, this time in Kansas City with eight other associates for skimming hundreds of thousands of dollars from the counting rooms of three Las Vegas casinos they secretly owned.
It is believed that Balistrieri’s 10-year prison sentence, which ran concurrently with his 13-year sentence from 1984, thwarted his appointment to the ruling Mafia Commission in New York. After serving 7 years, he was released from prison in 1991. On Feb. 7, 1993, Frank Balistrieri died of a heart attack at the age of 74.
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I had an uncle close to these guys and i always hear storys and no pics... most importantly no proof...i wont stop will i find my mafia roots... is there any one with enough knowledge to say if my uncle was connected like everyone said?
It depends, who was your uncle?
what is your uncle's name?! i would know better than ANYONE ELSE! this is my family...
Fuck your uncle, and this story. Ms. Biondich this is why you write for Express magazine, just a bunch of copy and pasted jib-jab from around the internet. Balistrieri did alot for the city of Milwaukee, and your trying to bring him up because a mob film was made in Wisconsin? what does that have to do with Mr. Balistrieri? let the man rest in peace.
and i completely agree with you! let frank peter balistrieri rest in peace. if this woman brings it up again then we will have problems.. let my family r.i.p
ROTFLMAO!! Another internet tough guy! Oooo, what are you going to do from behind your keyboard, kid? I say kid, because it's obvious that you haven't hit puberty yet. Anyone can claim anything on the internet. I myself am Al Capone's grandnephew, & he says your uncle Frank was a loser...
is this dude like related to a glenn balistrerie just wondering cuz there is a mafia called the balistrerie mafia so im a little confuzed and im trying to find them
no there is not a glenn balistrieri in the family. i would know...
and honestly it was never really referred to as the **BALiSTRiERi** mafia. it was the la costa nostra family and it was given to the balistrieri family... it was never referred to as that. so get your facts straight. and before you start asking questions at least spell the name right!
Frank Balistreri was my uncle and I wish I would of knowen better.
Forgot to say goodbye to john and his roomie Ray Tolles my homeboy from miami. They took me out in the middle of the night because I was nailing warden Hagans old lady. I think it was like 86 0r 87.
Frank Balistreri wasn't only my uncle his brother John Balistreri is my dad and love them all.