Maximillion Adonnis
Maximillion “Max” James Adonnis was born on May 11, 1935 in Milwaukee, WI as Maximillian Ludwig Gajewski, Jr. to Maximillian and Sylvia.
On March 18, 1989, Max was killed. He was forced to kneel and was shot once in the head at Giovanni’s, a restaurant he co-owned and managed.
The notes on this page come from his FBI file.
1971
On July 4, 1971, the home of Sally Papia was burglarized and jewelry valued at $49,000 was stolen. Her former fiancee, Chicago hoodlum Frank Buccieri, went around Milwaukee trying to track the jewelry down. He succeeded, finding some rings in the possession of Edwin S. Siegel, the operator of a barber shop at 5922 W. North Avenue. Siegel told Buccieri, Sally’s maitre’d Max Adonnis and steak house manager Frank Trovato that a man named “Pete” came in to his shop and had four rings for sale. One was purchased for $700 by a dentist, Dr. Alvin Gloyeck, who happened to be in the shop at the time.
Around the same time, Max Adonnis and an unidentified man held Allen Quindt hostage in a West Side garage and threatened to kill him for the theft, which he was apparently not part of. Quint had his jaw broken but escaped with his life.
Max Adonnis transported a stolen 1970 Buick from Milwaukee to McHenry, Illinois on November 19, 1971.
1974
On April 29, 1974, the Riverside restaurant (where Frank Buccieri had a half-interest), 8406 West 26th Street in North Riverside, Illinois was destroyed by arson and nine containers of gasoline were found in the basement. The building was insured for $568,000. An informant suspected one-armed Max Adonnis of being the perpetrator.
1975
On January 6, 1975, Schlecter’s wife Phyllis called the police and told Detective Edward McHugh what her husband had done. On January 7, Russell Enea approached Schlechter in Papia’s restaurant and asked him if he knew anything about the fire. Schlechter, complying with Basile’s order to keep mum, said that he did not. Three days later, apparently satisfied that Schlechter could be trusted, Enea again approached Schlechter and directed him to break Amidzich’s wrists “so he never cooks again.” Enea said that “Max” would get in touch with Schlechter to talk about the job. Shortly thereafter, Max Adonnis contacted Schlechter and told him to kidnap Amidzich and take him to a garage so that Adonnis and Enea could break his wrists personally. Schlechter and Adonnis then discussed the plan with Herbert Holland, who was to assist in the endeavor. Adonnis explained to Schlechter and Holland that Amidzich owed Sally Papia $5,000, that he had “screwed over Sally,” and that he wasn’t going to get away with it. Adonnis gave Schlechter a slip of paper listing Amidzich’s address, the make of his car and its license plate number. A week later, Adonnis passed along a photo of Amidzich taken in Papia’s restaurant on which Papia’s handwriting appeared.
On January 11, 1975, Schlechter met with Adonnis and Holland at Holland’s massage parlor (1915 West Hampton), and Adonnis there hired the two men to beat up Amidzich.
During the next couple of weeks, Holland, Schlechter and Adonnis attempted to locate Amidzich without success. On January 18, Enea, disturbed by the lack of progress, approached Schlechter and, gesturing with his wrists, inquired what Schlechter was doing about Amidzich. Schlechter and Holland renewed their efforts to locate Amidzich but failed to do so, much to the expressed chagrin of Enea and Adonnis. Finally, Adonnis saw Amidzich at a local restaurant and obtained his new address, place of employment and license plate number, which information he passed on to Schlechter with instructions to do the job right away.
After purchasing a baseball bat and two ski masks for use in the battery, Schlechter and Holland went to Amidzich’s place of employment (Milwaukee Inn Town Room East) in the early morning hours of February 9, 1975. While waiting for Amidzich to leave work, the two were confronted by police at 1:20am because the auto in which they were riding (a 1970 Chevrolet convertible) matched a description of a stolen car. Apparently shaken by the incident, Schlechter and Holland decided to go home and contact Adonnis, who advised them to halt their efforts while he checked out possible problems with the police.
While awaiting trial on the state charges, Schlechter agreed to cooperate with authorities investigating the Northbrook Inn fire and to meet with his co-conspirators while equipped with a hidden tape recorder. On March 6, Schlechter taped a conversation with Adonnis, who told Schlechter of the efforts he and Enea had made to raise bail money for him. Schlechter asked Adonnis if “that thing” with Amidzich was still on. Adonnis replied, “Right now it’s gonna be very, very cool” because he had been told by a police informant that they were all under investigation. When Schlechter asked whether Enea was going to come up with some money for him, Adonnis replied that Enea was trying to work something out and hoping that “when things calm down a bit, maybe you will make another move.” Schlechter then asked if “Sally got wind of all this.” Adonnis responded that “all she knows is that the two of us got somebody.” Adonnis reassured Schlechter, however, that Papia would learn of his efforts: “You’re doing it for her. When it gets done, she’ll know cause she’s gonna pay you.”
On March 14 1975, Milwaukee police officer Paul Viljevac turned over a photo of a man named Thomas Sack to Max Adonnis, who was working at AFL Motors. Adonnis gave him some chrome-plated motorcycle parts — the two men knew each other conversationally through the business. This exchange was witnessed by a man named Mark Gary, also known as Ray Stoekle. The photo was requested by Herbert Holland, who intended to “blow the guy away”, and Adonnis was able to secure it under false pretenses that he wanted to turn Sack in for drug trafficking. Viljevac was fired in June 1975 by Chief Breier when his actions came to light.An informant told the FBI on March 17, 1975 that Steve Halmo had some sort of business interest in Sturgeon Bay.
A special agent and a detective from the Milwaukee Police Department spoke with Max Adonnis at AFL Motors on April 21, 1975. Adonnis talked openly with them about his history with Sally Papia and the other suspects in the Northbrook case. Adonnis freely admitted knowing them all, saying he had worked with some of them at Sally’s and others had visited him at AFL to borrow tools or have a motorcycle looked at. He volunteered that he thought the Northbrook fire was suspicious, but claimed that he heard that “silent partners” had done it because they were losing money and unhappy with the management.
The Federal Grand Jury indicted Sally Papia on April 22, 1975. Papia and her co-conspirators were arrested on April 24 and brought before U.S. Magistrate John C. McBride. Two special agents and a Milwaukee detective entered AFL Motors (1905 West North Avenue) at 9:24am and arrested Max Adonnis. As he was being taken away, Adonnis advised the other two men working there to call his attorney. One man was arrested at 9:32am while leaving his apartment building in the 1500 block of Prospect. Papia had actually gone with her attorney to turn herself in, and was found by agents in the Federal Building’s elevator at 10:40am. They were each charged and released on bond.
On April 25, 1975, Max Adonnis and Sally Papia met with Mark Gary, who testified at trial that Papia had offered him $5,000 to murder Amidzich and Schmitz, saying: “I want to get rid of them. I want them dead… I’ll give you $5,000 if you’d kill them.”
On Friday, June 20, 1975, the Milwaukee Police Department submitted a report opposing the license of Sally’s Steak House, pointing out the arrests of James Jennaro, Sally Papia and Max Adonnis. The records of these people, as well as assistant manager Russell Enea, were attached to the report. Alderman Kevin D. O’Connor also said he would oppose the renewal of the license unless Jennaro was fired as manager.
Max Adonnis was sentenced on November 3, 1975 to eight years in Waupun State Prison for two counts of auto theft from three years prior.
1976
Dismissed Detective Paul S. Viljevac went before the Milwaukee County Fire and Police Commission on February 17, 1976 to appeal his dismissal (he had provided confidential information to Max Adonnis, including a photo of drug dealer Thomas Sack). Viljevac told the commission, “Max had approached me and told me he had an informer that wanted to put down a big drug dealer.” Herbert H. Holland responded, “I told [Adonnis] we wanted it because we wanted to blow this guy away.” Inspector Kenneth Hagopian admitted that he had called Viljevac a “traitor”, a “snake” and “a cancer in our midst”. He clarified, “I had positive information that he had supplied confidential information to people who weren’t supposed to get it. I told him that if I were in his place, I would get off the department.” At the request of the assistant city attorney, a special agent testified at the hearing and Schroeder’s dismissal was upheld.
Max Adonnis was sentenced by Judge John Reynolds on April 12, 1976 to fifteen years in the custody of the Attorney General to be served concurrently with his eight-year state sentence. Reynolds sentenced Sally Papia to one year probation on April 26.
1977
1977: “Codefendants Russell Enea, Joseph Basile and Maximillion Adonnis appeal their convictions for conspiring to use extortionate means to collect a debt in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 894. Sally Papia, who was acquitted on a like conspiracy charge, appeals her conviction for having attempted to collect a debt through extortionate means.”
1983
A bomb exploded at Giovanni’s restaurant (managed by Max Adonnis) in January 1983, but no one was injured.
1985
Max Adonnis was stabbed outside of Giovanni’s on April 10, 1985 by Paul P. Waterman, 30. Adonnis was stabbed in the heart and abdomen. Waterman, who experienced blackout seizures and suffered from “organic personality syndrome”, claimed not to remember the incident. Police said it may have been the result of a dispute Adonnis had with Waterman’s family in 1966, when Waterman was 11. (The “dispute” was allegedly a home invasion, and possibly the cause of Waterman’s mental problems.) At the suggestion of Adonnis, Waterman was put on probation.
1986
An undercover agent purchased $275 worth of cocaine from Max Adonnis, or one of his associates, on May 10, 1986. After testing it, they found it was 53% pure, with the drug being “cut” with lidocaine and ephedrine. On May 22, $300 of cocaine was purchased, and tested at 62% pure. On July 15, the purchase was increased to $550 worth of cocaine, coming back 76% pure and mixed with lidocaine. On August 7, an agent again bought $550 worth of cocaine, testing at only 44% pure. This operation was continued through the following year (see May 1987).
On approximately September 16, 1986, the Milwaukee FBI Office requested an “emergency” electronic recording (body wire) to monitor Max Adonnis. They believed he was involved in “a large-scale burglary ring”, “chop shopoperations” and “distribution of cocaine on a large scale”. Adonnis was allegedly laundering this dirty money through another individual and then using the proceeds to invest in real estate. The request was granted immediately by Section Chief Nicholas V. O’Hara and was in effect for one month, to expire at midnight on October 16.
1987
The use of “emergency” ELSUR (electronic surveillance) of Max Adonnis was again requested on January 9, 1987 and was granted on January 12 by Deputy Assistant Director Robert A. Ricks. (Ricks would go on to be known as the agent in charge at Waco and the Oklahoma City bombing, before leaving the Bureau to become the police chief of Edmond, Oklahoma.) This request stated that Adonnis was “heavily involved in all types of illegal activities”, and now specified that the money he laundered was being invested in Arizona. On January 21, the Milwaukee Office reported that they had failed to use the recording device.
The FBI was approved to conduct electronic surveillance (via body recorder) on Max Adonnis on April 4, 1987 that was good for two months. The approval was granted by Drug Section Chief Frank Storey. Adonnis was suspected of being involved in stolen food stamps and narcotics (cocaine) sales. Apparently, this authority was not used, though an undercover agent did purchase cocaine off of Adonnis on April 16, April 24 and May 8.
On April 16, 1987, an undercover agent purchased $1500 worth of cocaine from Max Adonnis, testing 98% pure. On April 24, 1987, an undercover agent purchased $300 worth of cocaine from Max Adonnis, testing only 18% pure, coming back as phenylpropanolamine (an amphetamine). On May 8, 1987, an undercover agent purchased $1,500 worth of cocaine from Max Adonnis, testing 99% pure.
On June 3, 1987 the FBI was again approved to use electronic surveillance on Max Adonnis for two months.
Someone associated with Max Adonnis was scheduled to go on trial October 12, 1987 [though I can find nothing in the newspaper]
1989
On February 28, 1989, Max Adonnis’ car was riddled with shotgun blasts. He was not inside at the time and dismissed the shots as “just vandalism”.
Maximillion J. Adonnis was forced to kneel and was shot once in the head at Giovanni’s (1683 North Van Buren), a restaurant he co-owned and managed, on Saturday morning, 8:20am, March 18, 1989. The police found him dead, lying in a pool of blood. A cleaning lady, 56, was shot twice in the throat, stabbed in the back and survived. He had just changed the locks the night before, and came in early to let the cleaning lady in or he would not have been there. She said that the two men who came in and shot Adonnis referred to him as “Uncle Max” or “brother Max”. They were identified as two black men, or a black man and a dark-complexioned Latin.