Jennie Alioto testified in January 1962 that on occasion she kept some records of the Hotel Roosevelt and The Pub at her home and worked thereon.
January 22, 1962: Frank Balistrieri had a hearing to try and prevent IRS agents from probing his pre-1958 finances. Specifically, the Badger State Boxing Club, Hotel Roosevelt and The Pub.
January 23, 1962: IRS Agent Jackson reported to the FBI his findings from examining records of Marvin Topper, Frank Balistrieri’s accountant. The name Mary Oyda was signed on documents for The Pub going back to 1956, but when Oyda was questioned said she didn’t sign anything, had no interest in The Pub and had not even been in there. Oyda was employed at First Wisconsin National Bank and was a cousin of Frank’s wife. She did not know who signed her name and said she never had business dealings with Frank of any kind. Other names on business records included Ben Barwick (secretary of Badger State Boxing), Robert Bundy (secretary of Hotel Roosevelt), Joe Maniaci, Joe Dentice, Ed Meissner (father of a Milwaukee police detective), John Alexander, Stephen DiMaggio and Rudolph Porchetta.
Oyda denied knowing Peter Balistrieri or Buster Balestrere. She said Joe Dentice was married to another cousin who was a sister of Frank’s wife. She denied knowing Ed Meissner, John Alexander or Stephen DiMaggio. She knew nothing of the Pub, the Tradewinds or Gallagher’s, and offered multiple signature samples to show the names on the documents were not put there by her. Her name was also on a 1956 check for $150 from The Pub for bamboo from Johnson Products.
February 8, 1962: (See January 22) After Frank Balistrieri filed a motion to have the IRS not investigate beyond the three year statute of limitations, this motion was rejected because “elements of fraud” were apparent in the tax returns. Judge Robert Tehan said there was probable cause that Balistrieri was filing “false and fraudulent” returns at least as far back as 1955. Balistrieri claimed an income from $5,100 to $9,950 each year, while at the same time had swore in banking paperwork that he was making $15,000 to $16,500 in order to get loans. He was either lying to the bank or the IRS. An “intention to appeal” was immediately filed by Balistrieri.
March 10, 1962: Alex Gwizdala appeared before the IRS in response to a subpoena and discussed his dealings with Frank Balistrieri. Gwizdala had formerly been an official of the Hotel Roosevelt and was now the manager of a bar and grill (allegedly for Phil Valley) at the Royal Hotel (at Fifth and Michigan). Gwizdala and Oscar Brachman had the lease on the Royal Hotel restaurant in their names (and this may even have preceded Roosevelt – the file is not organized terribly well). The Hotel Roosevelt had been owned by Phil Valley and Robert Bundy (or Bunde), a frontman for Felix Alderisio. Frank Balistrieri was president of the Hotel Roosevelt, and Bundy was secretary-treasurer. Gwizdala joined as vice president around 1947 (according to him, he knew them only casually as frequent visitors of the Belmont Coffee Shop since 1940). Gwizdala was under the impression he would manage a restaurant in the hotel, but when that did not materialize a year later he withdrew from the corporation. Regarding the current investigation, the IRS got the impression he wanted to help but was afraid of possible consequences. They asked him to return March 26. How they knew what he said is unknown, but Balistrieri and Ben Barwick were unhappy with what Gwizdala said and made a point to see him before he returned.
March 15, 1962: A source said that Frank Balistrieri had been speaking with Ben Barwick about Gwizdala and they were concerned that Gwizdala was going to say something to the IRS that would implicate Phil Valley. Balistrieri told Gwizdala to plead the fifth, but he did not. Apparently Gwizdala even said he put no money in the Hotel Roosevelt when he had actually invested $5,000.
March 19, 1962: The IRS interviewed Gwizdala again, and Gwizdala said Balistrieri had not threatened him as far as how to testify. He again denied any financial interest in the Hotel Roosevelt, and also denied that Phil Valley had a financial interest in the Royal Hotel, where Gwizdala was lessee.
March 20, 1962: An informant said Alex Gwizdala told Ben Barwick the names of the IRS agnts who had interrogated him. Barwick and Frank Balistrieri met up after and were concerned that things Gwizdala said could implicate Phil Valley in some way.
March 26, 1962: An informant was present during a lengthy conversation between Frank Balistrieri and his attorney, Eugene Koenen. (Based on the information, I suspect this informant is a hidden microphone.) Balistrieri told Koenen he had not seen Alex Gwizdala in 8 or 9 years, and then Gwizdala called when the subpoena came down. Balistrieri said he told Gwizdala to “take the Fifth,” or otherwise tell the truth. Instead, Gwizdala allegedly “made up a story” that he had no financial interest in the Hotel Roosevelt and had no stock, when he did. Balistrieri and Koenen spoke about the Melody Lane records that the IRS was trying to locate. Frank said his brother Pete had picked up the records from an accountant named Jankins and Jankins was told he “didn’t have to remember” if the IRS asked him anything. Koenen asked how Balistrieri would record any payments from Melody Lane, which Balistrieri owned but always claimed he didn’t to get around jukebox licensing laws. He said he would report it “the same as next year,” whatever that means. Balistrieri said if he was called before Brennan’s federal grand jury looking into gambling, he would have Dominic Frinzi say he wasn’t available “due to illness.” (The FBI noted that Balistrieri was not expected to be called to the federal grand jury, and that they would pass on the Melody Lane information to the IRS “suitably disguised” to protect their source.)
March 27, 962: An informant (possibly a microphone) said Leo Tanel was friendly with Frank Balistrieri and Jenny Alioto. Tanel was an IRS agent in the collections division.
June 8, 1962: The FBI removed its equipment from Apartment 406 at 1609 North Prospect. This apartment was across the hall from Jennie Alioto’s apartment. (I believe they had a microphone here.)
July 2, 1962: Frank Balistrieri was supposed to appear in court and show why he could not produce his accounting books. He did not, but an attorney presented some Downtowner records and was able to secure a delay to July 16. (I have no record of what happened July 16.)
A search warrant was issued and executed on September 26, 1962, by Ernest G. Johannes, Special Agent, Intelligence Division, Internal Revenue Service, and other Special Agents of said division. The warrant authorized the search of Apartment 406, 1609 North Prospect Avenue, occupied by Jennie Alioto under the alias of Lorretta Fischer. Clarence Casper, apartment superintendent, was the source behind the warrant. He had told authorities that Frank Balistrieri was coming in and out often, sometimes twice a day, and he had seen that records were being kept on site. Suspiciously, filing cabinets blocked the kitchen door, implying that no one was actually living there. The warrant gave permission to search for: books and records of the Hotel Roosevelt; The Pub; Ben Kay; Tower
Tavern; Melody Lane; Bonfire; Badger State Boxing Club; and Frank Peter Balistrieri. According to the Milwaukee Journal, the IRS seized a “truck load” of records from the Alioto apartment, including several records that the Balistrieri brothers had previously testified were destroyed by a fire at 1634 North Jackson on June 4, 1960. The “truck load” was apparently four filing cabinets and two boxes of various records for six taverns, an amusement device company, a construction company and a meat market. US Attorney James Brennan said, “We intend to check the seized records against this testimony to determine whether perjury was involved. We also want to
determine whether the Balistrieris violated federal law by failing to comply with a summons to turn in some of the records seized.”
On April 13, 1963, federal judge Kenneth Grubb made the following decision: the warrant issued regarding the property in Jennie Alioto’s apartment was not valid because it lacked sufficiency of designation of the objects of the search and seizure. The search and seizure conducted pursuant to the invalid warrant was illegal, and the objects obtained thereby must be returned to the movants.
This effectively stalled the IRS assault on Balistrieri for the remainder of 1963.