Dr. Anthony James Verdone was born in New York City to Salvatore and Sadie Verdone. He was the fourth of eight children. What do we know about his father?
Salvatore was born in Sicily, came to the United States with his siblings around 1900, and married Sadie Zangla in Manhattan (New York) in November 1907. The records are hard to read, but it looks like Salvatore was a signal engineer for the railroad in his younger days, but later was a self-employed tailor. The family notably was not in a heavily Italian neighborhood. By 1940, Salvatore was at 86-32 109th Street in Queens.
Anthony came along September 22, 1913.
1930: For reasons unknown, Anthony and three siblings went to live with their uncle, Joseph Marmello, in Queens. Marmello operated a coal and ice store, and Anthony, only 16, worked as a driver for the business.
1932: Joyce Antonette Verdone was born. Joyce appears to be Dr. Verdone’s only child. I’m unsure who her mother is, considering he was not married for another seven years. Did he have an earlier wife, or was Joyce an oops?
Blanche ?? married Anthony Verdone in 1939 while he was in medical school.
1940: lived at 4809 West Fond du Lac in Milwaukee. He was a doctor in private practice. This was, again, not an Italian neighborhood.
1950: 4803 West Washington Boulevard. Self-employed doctor. Living with them was 60-year old Mary Clarke, whose job was a maif in a private home (presumably the Verdone home). This is a very nice house, on Milwaukee’s west side near Wauwatosa.
Around September 1952, Dr. Verdone took Dr. Donald M. Rowe, a recent Marquette graduate, into his practice. Rowe left in June 1953 when offered a position in the Kohler Company medical department.
Around 1957, Verdone he ran off with his secretary, Helen Nicoud. He came back in 1960 for a year, but again ran off with Nicoud.
Chicago taxicab union leader Dominic Abata was in Milwaukee on August 8, 1962 and met with Dr. Anthony Verdone. The exact conversation is unknown, but seems to have involved Verdone telling Abata that he was “on juice” (in debt to the mob).
On August 20, 1962, Dominic Abata received a letter from Dr. Verdone. The doctor was looking to purchase a hospital in Milwaukee that was owned by someone who had gone to jail. Verdone believed that Abata could be of assistance because he had political influence with Paul Douglas, a Democratic senator in Illinois.
Dominic Frinzi called Dr. Verdone on May 23, 1963. His answering service referred the call to the home of Verdone’s mistress, Helen Nicoud. Frinzi wanted Verdone to meet him at Fazio’s on Fifth.
On June 1, 1963, Dr. Anthony Verdone rented apartment #4 at 4933 North Teutonia. He paid the first month in cash, and intended to use it as his bachelor pad to meet his mistress.
Agents Holtzman and LeGrand visited Helen Nicoud, the mistress of Dr. Verdone, on June 25, 1963. She freely admitted to being his mistress, and said he took very good care of her ever since her husband died. She said she had never been to any gambling establishment with Verdone other than horse-racing tracks in Illinois. They did stop at the Vernon Hills Country Club one time to eat but they didn’t gamble there. Nicoud said she did not know Verdone’s financial situation, but suspects it might be bad because his car was repossessed a couple months prior while she was driving it. She acknowledged that Verdone made long-distance phone calls from her residence, but
didn’t know who they were to because he charged them on his credit card. As far as his friends went, she knew he was friendly with August Maniaci and had once owned part of Club Midnight.
On June 26, 1963, Dr. Verdone was seen at St. Michael’s Hospital driving a car registered to Selig Leasing. Further questioning of a person named DiFito showed the car to be rented by Tony LaRosa and paid for by Prize Steak Products.
Agents Holtzman and LeGrand spoke with Blanche Verdone on June 27, 1963 about her estranged husband. Blanche said the courts have ordered her to receive maintenance payments, but due to the doctor’s gambling, he often did not have the money. Blanche claimed that at one time Dr. Verdone was very well-off, with many properties and hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings. After expenses, she estimated he had been making $50,000 per year. Now he is broke because of his gambling, which Blanche blamed on Nicoud. He not only had to sell his properties, but was still in debt $15,000 to Blanche’s parents. Blanche said she had never personally been to a gambling house, but knew her husband went to the Bonfire and the Homestead, because he had matchbooks from there, as well as some place in Antioch. Blanche said she knew Augie Maniaci and the whole Maniaci family quite well. As far back as the 1930s, the Verdone couple would eat at Nunzio Maniaci’s restaurant, which was near the medical school. After graduation, Verdone became the Maniaci family doctor, and the Maniaci family had referred many other Italian families to Verdone over the years, as he was not from Milwaukee originally and did not have the connections that Nunzio Maniaci did. Blanche said the Maniaci family had been at the Verdone home for Christmas parties, and on one occasion around 1948 she loaned Mary Guttilla Maniaci (Augie’s wife) $2,000 for Club Midnight, which was later paid back. Blanche guessed that Verdone’s gambling had decreased because his money now went through a receiver, handled by attorneys Howard and Sonjou, so he wouldn’t have such easy access to cash.
Agents Holtzman and Reed also spoke with an employee of Dr. Verdone’s on July 1, 1963. She said she knew nothing about his gambling, but knew he was friends with Augie Maniaci and John Aiello, as the two of them used to come in frequently about a year prior. She also knew he was receiving calls from Chicago on occasion that would “enrage” him. She did not know who they were from, but believed they might be a man named “Frank Aiello”.
Agent Holtzman spoke with an employee of Dr. Verdone on July 17, 1963. She said the only visitors Verdone received at work were Augie Maniaci and John Aiello, friends of his. She had never noticed him afraid of anybody, but joked that he would hide from process servers.
Special Agent John Holtzman interviewed Dr. Clarence M. Steiner on August 5, 1963 concerning his gambling activities. Steiner said he was born in Richfield and had attended both Marquette University and Marquette Medical School. When asked about Dr. Verdone, Steiner said they had gone to the race track together once, but never the gambling houses. In fact, while at the track they had a disagreement and since that time have been strictly professional, rather than social, acquaintances.
(How does this fit?) On March 7, 1969, bank president Howard Meister of Continental Bank and Trust testified about loans he made to Joseph Balistrieri totaling over $150,000. Balistrieri used the funds to purchase the Wayside Inn (722 North Water) and the Brass Rail (744 North 3rd). Of Frank Balistrieri, Meister said, “I know him. I don’t go out with him. If I know him and I like him I assume he’s my friend. There’s nothing wrong with the loans. They’re good mortgages. If you can come up with half as good collateral, I’ll give you one.” Meister also testified that he was approached about setting up a wiretap in Dr. Anthony Verdone’s office. (This was during a case involving Meister being sued for libel, unrelated to Balistrieri. Meister had repeatedly tried to get Attorney General Dalton fired, and Dalton sued him.)