Frey had three questions. We’ve addressed them in passing before, but I’ll go into more detail here.

One. Were Mafia activities in other Wisconsin cities, such as Madison and Kenosha, part of the Milwaukee Family or were they independent?

The answer depends on what time period we’re talking. I’ll try to break this down.

As near as I can tell, Madison was independent from the early 1900s up to the 1960s. It had strong bloodline ties to both Milwaukee and Rockford but maintained its own boss and underboss (Carlo Caputo and Joseph “Joe Pizza Pie” Aiello). The peak years there were clearly the 1920s (Prohibition), and Mafia activity decreased after. Some guys moved to Rockford, but most went legit. Caputo invested heavily in State Street real estate. It’s said that by the 1960s, Madison was absorbed into Milwaukee. Caputo was still alive, but inactive. I’m not sure what, if anything, Milwaukee gained. Nothing comes to mind of any serious efforts to expand gambling or other criminal activities to Madison. The big curveball to all this is Sam Cerro. He was the nephew of a Madison mob guy, and ran a variety of criminal enterprises (burglary, drugs, prostitution) on Madison’s east side in the 1960s through 1980s. There’s no evidence that Cerro was a “made member,” but he’s exactly the sort of person who should have had strong Mafia ties… but other than a few minor links to Rockford, not really. How/why Milwaukee didn’t oversee him, I have no idea.

Kenosha is also a complicated story. Pre-1960s, I would say Kenosha was independent. The reason is that the Kenosha Italians were Calabrian/Calabrese, while the Milwaukee/Madison Italians were Sicilian. So, the Kenosha guys were affiliated with local boss William “Red” Covelli. While Milwaukee and Racine seem to be the same, there’s really no Milwaukee and Kenosha overlap until Frank Balistrieri comes along in 1961. I don’t know why this changed, but around this time Balistrieri added to his roster Kenosha guys William “Weezer” Covelli (Red’s son), Dominic Principe, Albert Albana, etc.

That’s the easy part. The complicated part comes by the end of the 1960s. It appears that Balistrieri had some guys under his wing, primarily just working as bookies. BUT, there was another group allied with Chicago. The second group was headed up by Joseph “Pepe” Madrigrano and later by a man named Volpentesta. If Milwaukee and Chicago are “on the same team,” why is Kenosha divided up? I have no idea, but it definitely appears that Madrigrano never worked for Balistrieri or had any interactions with him.

Hopefully this makes sense. Always keep in mind that none of this is public record and has to be sort of deduced from police and FBI records. The Mafia doesn’t keep a map or roster handy. I believe it to be correct, but new information could alter that.

Two. How recent is any confirmed Mafia activity in Milwaukee?

This is the million-dollar question. I’m asked all the time if there’s still a Mafia in Milwaukee, and I have sort of a wishy-washy answer. I tend to believe the answer is “no,” but I’ll have people tell me there’s still a minor presence… and, sure, there are still a couple Mafia guys from the 1980s still alive. But if they’re doing things, they’re really quiet. And who would be the boss? Frank Balistrieri is dead, his sons are dead, his brother is dead, Steve DiSalvo is dead, Tony Pipito is dead… the last rumored leader, Peter Picciurro, is dead. So I feel like people WANT there to be a Mafia because it’s cool, but the evidence is lacking.

Now, that’s not exactly what you asked. You asked about the most recent confirmed activity. That’s actually a better question, because it has a real answer.

Based on what is actually CONFIRMED, meaning arrests or something similar on the record, I find nothing more recent than 1997. At that time, the federal government was removing “mob influence” from Local 122, the hotel and restaurant union. And even this feels like a bit of a stretch. The Gallo brothers (Vincent and Mike) ran the union, and YES they did some illegal things with their books… and YES, they were friends with the Balistrieri brothers (Joe and John). But unless there was a lot more going on than what was printed in the newspaper, the “mob influence” wasn’t very strong.

Again, people tell me there’s still a small presence, or that the Chicago Outfit has stepped in to fill the void. But the evidence is lacking. Based on arrests and murders, it seems street gangs (Gangster Disciples, Latin Kings, etc.) and motorcycle clubs (Outlaws, DC Eagles, etc.) are the only ones with any real power in drugs, gunrunning, etc. There might still be a little gambling at Italian restaurants, but in an era where video poker is in every bar and betting apps are on every phone, who cares if there’s a little sports betting at a pizza place?

Three. Were Joseph and John Balistrieri made members of the Mafia?

The short answer is… probably not. There’s nothing in the record from informants or surveillance to prove they ever went through a ceremony to get “made.” And having known John, I was never under the impression that he had anything to do with that world beyond what he did for his father.

Of the two, Joe would have been more likely than John to be inducted. Not only was he the elder son and more closely connected to his father’s business (Frank often put things in Joe’s name), but his law practice was largely criminal defense, which brought him in more contact with that element. John’s work as an attorney was largely financial – he was an attorney for the Stardust (and other Allen Glick properties) and may have known something was wrong there, but the paperwork he handled was never anything improper.

I do wonder what would have happened if Felix “Milwaukee Phil” Alderisio had not passed in the early 1970s. Phil was Frank Balistrieri’s strongest link to Chicago, and Phil was Joseph Balistrieri’s (literal) godfather… I could see Alderisio bringing Joe into that world more.

But another question to ask is, did it even matter if they were “made?” Joe and John never ran any scams of their own, and appeared to profit from their father’s activities regardless. Merely being attorneys and sons of the boss was about as good as it gets. (John would probably say their success was not because of their father, but in spite of him, though I think that’s not true. They definitely had advantages and privileges.)

More generally, the idea of being “made” doesn’t seem to hold much weight in the Milwaukee Mafia. During the 30 years Frank Balistrieri was in charge, we only know of 4 men who were made, far fewer than what was needed to keep the numbers up as old-timers passed away. And yet, new guys were working as bookies or other traditional mob jobs all the time without any official membership.

This primarily (in my opinion) comes from Frank putting more emphasis on consolidating power to his family rather than the organization. But it may also be a reflection of how things were done in Chicago, the “big brother” to Milwaukee. Whether people were made or not in Chicago seems to depend on who was in charge. In general, Chicago definitely stressed the Sicilian traditions far less. While the top boss was always an Italian guy, many non-Italians were highly ranked and wielded as much power or influence. (Jake Guzik, Murray Humphreys, Gus Alex, Ralph Pierce, etc etc all ranked highly and attended secret meetings but had no Italian heritage at all.)

So, were Joe and John made? Probably not. But I feel like whether they were or not, they would have been treated exactly the same, had the same roles, and so on… it wouldn’t have made any difference.