(As always, these should be considered notes and not a thorough, well-edited article.)
Up to this point, Frank Ranney has come up a few times, but never as the focus of a story. He has primarily been mentioned for his involvement in questionable financial dealings – a Teamster loan to build a tuna boat for Andrew Lococo, or his role in Joseph Balistrieri getting a loan he was not otherwise approved for by injecting Teamsters money into a bank. This episode will give some broad background but is really focused on the years 1970-1976. Writing about EVERYthing Ranney was involved in would make an excellent story of Milwaukee labor history but wouldn’t really add much to the Mafia story.
1934: joined the Teamsters and in 1940, at age 29, became the youngest man ever elected general secretary of the Milwaukee Federated Trades Council. Ranney became the secretary-treasurer of Local 200 in 1953. He would later say he knew the Balistrieri family all his life because Frank’s father and uncle were teamsters.
1954, was the chairman of the Greater Milwaukee Committee’s museum-library subcommittee
Suffered a heart attack in 1964 around age 54.
Frank Balistrieri filed a mortgage on October 25, 1965 conveying the property at 3043 North Shepard Avenue to Frank Ranney for the consideration of $10,000. The mortgage was prepared by attorney Henry G. Piano.
1967, testified at Balistrieri’s tax trial and said he had loaned Balistrieri $18,000. There was no hint of wrongdoing on Ranney’s part.
Around March 14, 1967: Rose Ranney sued her husband Frank for divorce after 33 years, citing cruel and inhuman treatment that caused her great mental anguish.
On June 5, 1968, Frank Balistrieri and the head of the Teamsters Union in Milwaukee (probably Ranney) visited the Gaylur Mercantile Company offices in Chicago. They had intended to meet with Allen Dorfman, but were stood up. Instead, they went and spoke with Felix Alderisio.
September 1968, was made a trustee of the pension fund
Teamsters Local 200 held their Christmas party at the Kings IV on December 7, 1969. Present were Judge Christ Seraphim, Frank Ranney, Alderman Allen Calhoun, Judge Michael Sullivan and Judge Robert Hansen. Ranney and Calhoun sat at a table with Frank Balistrieri all evening.
Early April 1970, with contract terms unfavorable, Local 200 were ready to go on strike. 900 “wildcat” drivers were the first to strike, joined by loading dock employees, who refused to work weekends. On April 12, 4,500 Milwaukee truck drivers voted down a proposed contract (following guidance of Lane and Ranney), but Local 200 president Roy Lane urged them to hold back on striking – the “strike fund” had only $30,000 in it, meaning a strike would result in no pay. In early May, Lane encouraged members to accept a deal where they would receive $1.10 per hour raise. Some members saw this as a “sellout” or “about face” as it was not different from the earlier proposal – the goal was $1.65 raise.
In May, as many as 1,200 Milwaukee teamsters were sitting idle. The reason was that a Chicago Teamsters union that rejected the $1.10 deal was holding out for $1.65. Chicago terminals affected by the strike were routing their trucking through Milwaukee. The Milwaukee teamsters were given the choice to work for these companies or not, and many chose not to – accepting work turned down by strikers was seen by many as a betrayal. Further, it was decided that if Chicago succeeded in getting the $1.65, other unions would have power to return to the bargaining table. So there was incentive to support the attempt.
August 1970: 60 members of Local 200 formed a group called Teamsters Advisory Council – The Individual Counts (TACTIC) to challenge the old leadership. They wanted “rank and file” members to have a stronger voice and embraced the “idea of democratic unionism.”
November 1970: TACTIC put up a slate of candidates to replace the leaders in Local 200 who had been there forever. Those candidates were Charles J. Black, William Wallace and Raymond Bielinski. They faced Roy Lane, Frank Ranney and Ervin Schultz, who had been in power since the early 1950s. 4,240 members of the 8,000-member union voted, and chose to keep the old leaders by a 2-to-1 margin.
July 1971, national convention voted to raise Teamster leader Frank Fitzsimmons’ salary from $100,000 to $125,000 and secretary-treasurer Thomas Flynn from $75,000 to $100,000. To pay for this, membership dues went up $2 per month. Ranney, for his role as organizer, was boosted from $25,000 to $30,000. Some delegates found this excessive, but the bulk of the 2,400 delegates approved. Some other changes voted in were increased benefits for striking workers and granting Jimmy Hoffa the title of “president emeritus.”
On July 22, 1971, Ranney testified before a federal grand jury in Milwaukee. His appearance lasted only around 15 minutes. Two others Teamsters testified that day for longer (as much as an hour), suggesting Ranney had declined to answer questions. Such proceedings are secret, but it is believed taverns linked to Frank Balistrieri were being investigated.
Local 200 president Roy Lane testified on July 23 for over an hour. Reacting to the news reports from the previous day, he said, “I want it clear that no questions were asked me which involved anything related to Frank Balistrieri… At no time while I was on the stand did they even imply that I was dishonest in the handling of union funds. I was treated very courteously by the jury and federal investigators.” While he did not get into specifics, he said the questions were related to union spending on political campaigns.
August 1971, Ranney resigned as secretary-treasurer of Local 200, a position he held since 1953, because of health concerns. He stayed on as “general organizer” for the international union, head of Joint Council 39, and trustee of the pension fund. The executive board appointed 32-year-old James Jesinski (administrative assistant to Ranney) as the new secretary-treasurer. Reporters found the timing suspicious – it was two weeks before Ranney was subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury – but he assured them there was no ulterior motive. (Indeed, his health WAS at a low point.)
December 1971, Ranney had open heart surgery at St. Luke’s. He went through it as well as expected.
September 7, 1972, received the Green-Murray Award from the Fraternal Order of Eagles “for outstanding leadership and statesmanship in the field of labor affairs.” Teamsters national president Frank Fitzsimmons spoke in honor of Ranney, and also used the opportunity to throw his support behind President Nixon and to cast doubt on Sen. George McGovern’s commitment to labor unions. The Eagles donated $10,000 to the Milwaukee Children’s Hospital on behalf of Ranney.
February 1976, the Milwaukee newspapers ran articles outlining the links between the Balistrieri family and Frank Ranney. The latest link was St. Louis attorney Morris Shenker, who was representing Balistrieri in a tax case. Shenker had formerly been Jimmy Hoffa’s attorney and also had taken out loans from the Teamsters to buy the Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas. The lengthy articles outlined past controversies, including how Ranney had a $10,000 mortgage on Balistrieri’s house. Reports were now coming out that Allen Glick, age 33, was the single largest borrower from the Teamsters pension fund and may have loans as high as $160 million out, allegedly obtained with help from Balistrieri. (The article is vague on this Glick-Balistrieri link, but would turn out to be correct.)
August 1976, was rumored to resign as a trustee of the pension fund. Calls for his resignation (and that of William Presser of Cleveland) had been growing since pleading the Fifth during questioning by the Labor Department. The Departments of Labor and Justice, as well as the IRS, were looking closely at Teamsters funds, particularly following the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa. Mafia links to the fund (both in Milwaukee and elsewhere) were growing. Presser resigned September 17, but Ranney was still holding out despite pressure from Teamsters president Frank Fitzsimmons.
On September 23, to fight the push to resign, Ranney said he would cooperate with federal authorities. Fitzsimmons told the press, “Ranney came in. He said he would go back to the Labor Department to see if he could testify. He said he would talk to his lawyer and said that he would offer to testify.” Fitz still expected Ranney to resign, even if he did testify. The newspaper reported that Fitz was upset with Ranney not just for pleading the Fifth, but because Ranney was involved in some of the fund’s more questionable loans, including $100 million to the Penasquitos Corporation for 3,300 acres in San Diego and $33 million to Rancho La Costa, also in San Diego. An unidentified source said Ranney had become ineffective since March, when he met in Kansas City with trustee Donald Peters and attorney Alvin Baron, the assets manager of the pension fund. Baron was close to Allen Dorfman, and would end up getting indicted in December for accepting a $200,000 kickback from Foy Bryant, who operated a cemetery in Fair Oaks, California.
By September 30, 1976, Frank Ranney had still not submitted his letter of resignation, and the Department of Labor gave him until October 1 to do so. Ranney’s attorney, Raymond J. Smith of Chicago, would not speak to the press. Smith had previously represented Allen Dorfman. A government spokesman said, “If there is no response from Mr. Ranney… we don’t know what we’ll do. We will have to make that decision afterward.” The spokesman said they have the authority to oust Ranney under the Pension Reform Act.
An anonymous Teamsters source in Chicago told the Milwaukee Journal on October 1, “We’re walking around here scratching our heads. We can’t figure Ranney out. Fitzsimmons wants him off the fund. The government wants him off the fund. He says he’ll leave the fund. But nothing happens. Presser was a powerful guy, and he saw the light. He got out. Who can tell what in the hell is going to happen?”
October 6, Ranney’s attorney, Raymond J. Smith of Chicago, said his client will “blow the lid off everything,” and a pension fund spokesman responded, saying, “whatever that means.” The newspaper noted that Smith formerly represented mobster Allen Dorfman, a consultant for the fund, and other people with Mafia ties.
On October 12, 1976, a Teamsters meeting was held at Rancho La Costa near San Diego to discuss the problem. Union officials believed that if the trustees did not quit soon, the government would take over the fund directly. Ironically, the newspapers pointed out that Rancho was built with $62 million in Teamsters money and was alleged to have Mafia ties – a strange place to talk of kicking out corrupt members. Ranney and the other trustees allegedly pushed back, arguing that several resignations would make them look like criminals and blamed fund director Daniel J. Shannon for talking to the press and keeping the story going.
Around October 25, 1976, the Teamsters were fed up with Ranney and got him removed by doing something rather extreme: fund executive director Daniel J. Shannon dissolved the 16-member pension fund board and created a new 10-member one, meaning Ranney wasn’t technically “fired” but merely not “re-appointed.” For continuity reasons, it was said that 4 of the 10 members would be from the old board and the other 6 would be fresh faces. Another Wisconsin men kicked out was Thomas J. Duffey. Ranney would retire from the union altogether in December, although he maintained a strong connection to the union and continued to drive a car registered to the union.
The new names were announced October 29. Only one Wisconsin man was on the new 10-member board: Robert E. Schlieve, president of Local 563 out of Appleton. Schlieve was also on the Joint Council. Two of the four members who were allowed to remain are notable: Teamsters president Frank Fitzsimmons and Roy L. Williams of Chicago.
On November 30, 1976, attorney Alvin Baron was indicted. He had been the fund’s assets manager and was accused of taking a $200,000 kickback from Foy Bryant, who was seeking a $1.3 million loan for a cemetery in Fair Oaks, California. This was similar to Baron’s mentor Allen Dorfman, who was convicted in 1972 of a $55,000 kickback.
Following the restructuring, the government agreed to reinstate tax exempt status to the fund that had been temporarily halted. The Teamsters also agreed to have their loans from 1965-1975 audited by an independent body. The government was vocal that it had three loans in mind: $40 million to Morris Shenker, $146 million to Allen Glick and $15 million to Alvin Malnik (or Malnick), a Miami Beach businessman and hotel owner.
January 1978 – the Labor Department sued the Teamsters over millions in improper loans (we can cover this another time)