We went through Hugh O’Connell’s background when we were in 1968 on our timeline. Now we’re at 1971, and it’s been a while, so we’ll do it again! I don’t really like redundancy, but here we are.

Hugh O’Connell was born in Butler, Wisconsin in 1919. His father Michael was born in Kaukauna and lived on Main Avenue where he worked as a paperhanger.
graduated from West Division High School in 1937. During World War II , O’Connell served 4 1/2 years in the US Army. He was transferred to the Air Force for pilot training, but was washed out.

He graduated from Arizona State College in 1949 before receiving a law degree from Marquette University Law School in 1952. Following his graduation, O’Connell worked as an attorney for Northwestern Mutual, a Milwaukee insurance company.

From 1954 to 1964, O’Connell worked as a Milwaukee County prosecutor, eventually serving as a first assistant district attorney under longtime district attorney William McCauley. When McCauley died in October 1964, O’Connell was named to replace him on the Democratic ticket, edging out the party’s preferred candidate, Donald W. Steinmetz. Though an underdog in political circles, O’Connell had the backing of McCauley’s widow, which made him the heir apparent. O’Connell was appointed interim district attorney by Governor John W. Reynolds shortly thereafter and was elected to the office in the November general election.

September 13, 1965: District Attorney Hugh O’Connell said he knew of no loan sharking in Milwaukee, and deputy inspector of detectives Orville Youssi said no complaints had been received.

A national crime commission in 1967 named Wisconsin one of 16 states with a mob presence, while the government of Milwaukee had a hard time accepting it. Police Chief Harold Breier wanted to see “the facts” that the commission used. District Attorney Hugh O’Connell saw “no indication” that organized crime was in Milwaukee, and Sheriff Edwin Purtell did not know of “any evidence.”

January 24, 1968: Word was going around O’Connell was running for county judge. That spring, O’Connell faced off against Dominic Frinzi. Articles came out linking O’Connell to loan shark Harry Kaminsky and showed O’Connell had run up some bad debts. Frinzi spent a great deal of money to blast O’Connell, while O’Connell spent almost nothing and declined to throw mud at Frinzi. The details of this race were covered in another episode. On April 2, O’Connell crushed Dominic Frinzi. The early unofficial tally was 173,379 to 60,273. Throughout the night as results came in, O’Connell was consistently holding strong at 70%.

March 30, 1971, Circuit Judge Hugh R. O’Connell appointed 30-year old Joseph P. Balistrieri as a court commissioner, replacing Maurice Gorsky who resigned. Answering critics of the decision, O’Connell said Balistrieri “demonstrated excellent qualities as an attorney; I think that is all that is required of a court commissioner. I did what I think is proper and right. Anyone else is entitled to the same prerogative. I have judged people by their own qualities and abilities and that’s what I did in this case. I have never believed in guilt by association.” Further, “I have seen his written briefs which demonstrate a fine ability to do research. I think he will make a good commissioner.” A judge was free to appoint two commissioners, and they were signed off on by nineteen other judges before getting the job. Balistrieri was approved. The bailiff who took the petition around for signatures said none of those asked declined to sign. An interesting sidenote is that Balistrieri was close to Dominic Frinzi, who had been O’Connell’s rival for the judge’s seat. (The list of 19 judges isn’t all that interesting, mostly names that mean nothing to me.)

O’Connell retired from the bench in 1983, citing his growing frustration with his criminal calendar and his desire to write spy fiction. He died four years later, in 1987, of spinal cancer.

In 1988, after his death, the Milwaukee Sentinel asserted that O’Connell’s career had been “filled with links to crime figures”, citing, among other incidents, a mob figure’s recorded remarks that O’Connell was “one of the judges we’ve been talking to for 10 years”.