Note: The site also has “Mortgage Forgery Scam FBI Notes.” I have not compared them, but this page should be more thorough and coherent. Someday I’ll probably streamline the two.
October 17, 1958: A Milwaukee Journal article reported on the tax problems of John Aiello and Walter Brocca, both involved with WB Construction. Aiello had not filed his taxes from 1950-1954, and the company had not been paying withholding or unemployment taxes. Tax liens totaling $53,600 were filed against both men.
November 4, 1959: Nick Gentile paid for service at the Mabel Higgins Massage Parlor on North Central Avenue in Marshfield with a check. He canceled payment before it was cashed. A week later, John Aiello wrote a bad check using the name John Elliott at the same massage parlor. The two were in the area selling home improvements.
February 1, 1960: Nick Gentile was back at the Higgins Massage Parlor and was picked up for suspicion. He told police he worked for Union Improvement of Milwaukee. He said he knew “John Elliott” who ran a drywall firm. By the end of February, both checks were paid the police didn’t pursue the matter any further.
September 14, 1960: An informant said that Balistrieri was now connected with Valley Builders Supply (1119 South 16th), a business primarily involved in aluminum siding. A second informant said much the same thing on September 20, that Balistrieri was entering the business of aluminum roofing and siding.
March 5, 1961: The owner of Valley Builders and Supply told the FBI that no one had a piece of his business but himself. He said four or six months earlier he had John Aiello and Nick Gentile working for him as contractors. At that time, he was asked by a third party (who he wouldn’t identify) if they had a piece of his company. He told that third party no, and that they never would.
June 17, 1961: Nick Gentile was arrested by the Sauk County sheriff for passing a bad check. Gentile and John Aiello were staying at the Delview Hotel in or near Wisconsin Dells and were selling roofing and siding for Wisconsin Suppliers and Builders.
Wisconsin Suppliers and Builders sold $2,700 worth of siding to a farmer in Hamburg (northwest of Wausau) on August 25, 1961. They told him the work would be used as a model for future jobs. Kenneth Weiss also had the farmer sign a blank mortgage.
Milwaukee police raided Wisconsin Suppliers and Builders (1440 West Vliet Street) and Union Improvements (3074 North Teutonia Avenue) on December 5, 1961 after the state alleged the businesses had been selling hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of fake mortgages. The company would forge the signatures of their customers on to mortgage papers and then sell the papers to banks at a discount. The banks believed they were getting a good deal, while the business made a profit off of their unsuspecting customers. Eight men were arrested, though no formal charges had yet been made. The fraud was first discovered by Lowell H. Kracht of Redgranite, who discovered he had a mortgage he did not ask for after purchasing $2,650 in repair work. Kracht alerted his attorney (Russell H. Younglove of Berlin) and an investigation began.
The raid uncovered records showing the mortgages were sold to several banks in Milwaukee, as well as in Green Bay, Marinette and Sheboygan.
(Previous notes, work in: Milwaukee police, on December 5, 1961, arrested several employees of Wisconsin Suppliers and Builders (1440 West Vliet) and seized their records after it was discovered several of their home improvement contracts were supported by forged mortgage notes. The forged mortgages totaled at least $250,000. Vice president August Maniaci, with the help of Vincent Mercurio, bribed District Attorney William J. McCauley $5500 to have the case thrown out. Also found in Maniaci’s company records were the address and phone number of a Milwaukee police captain who had received thousands of dollars in siding work done for free. The case was dismissed for lack of evidence. Also arrested were Joseph Angeli, salesman; Raymond Hayes, salesman; Alex Sussman, salesman; John Aiello, salesman; Kenneth J. Weiss, salesman. Arrested from Union Improvements Inc were Henry Nechy, vice president, and Robert Riedinger, president.)
December 5, 1961: A Milwaukee sergeant told the FBI that records were seized from Wisconsin Suppliers and Builders (1440 West Vliet Street) because they were suspected of uttering forged documents – including contracts and mortgages. I still do not fully understand this, but apparently they forged contracts to get money from banks, but the banks required mortgage paperwork, so they had to forge those, too? They sold siding, roofing and storm windows throughout Wisconsin. Several officers and employees were arrested. The latest company records (October 1960) listed August Maniaci as president and Fred Bishop as vice president. Maniaci had formerly operated Club Midnight before going bankrupt. Bishop was from Winnetka, Illinois and had been in the oil heating business. Maniaci and John Aiello were the top suspects in the 1955 murder of Jack Enea because the night of the murder they drove to Rockford and had their vehicle burned and dismantled – possibly to destroy evidence. They stayed at the El Rancho Hotel in Fairfield, where a maid saw them with a gun. When questioned by police, they said they were in town for an oil deal.
December 8, 1961: John Aiello was arrested for forging mortgages and contracts (do I have this in a different spot?). He was either currently or recently working as a salesman for Union Improvement (3074 North Teutonia). Unlike certain other home improvement companies, this one seemed on the surface like it was clean. The company president was Robert E. Riedinger, with a branch office in Arlington Heights. Rideinger was a CPA and associated with other companies, most notably Inland Marine, which shared office space with Union Improvement. However, police suspected Riedinger was actively involved in a mortgage scam ring.
December 12, 1961: A Milwaukee sergeant told the FBI that his department has seized the records for Union Improvement. He noted that Nick Gentile and John Aiello were employed there for some time.
An FBI agent spoke with a representative of a Milwaukee bank (names redacted) on January 11, 1962. He said that his bank had been doing business with Wisconsin Suppliers and Builders for 18 months and had purchased 25 loans from them. After the signatures were checked by the Milwaukee Police Department, 12 were deemed to be legitimate, 13 suspicious and 9 of those 13 most likely forged. Since the raid in December, the bank took the extra step of calling the homeowners, and each assured the bank that the work on their homes was satisfactory and they would be paying the loans as indicated in their contracts. The representative said that one of the loans went through the FHA for $3500, and this was largely the bank’s decision. He said that in order to maintain a good rating with the FHA, the bank had to submit a certain number of loans to them each year. As far as the bank was concerned, the FHA paperwork was handled correctly.
January 14, 1962: At 7:30pm, John Aiello and Kenneth Weiss were in a car accident on Highway 18 in Iowa County between Ridgeway and Barneveld. They was brought to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Dodgeville and later transferred to St. Michael’s in Milwaukee. When a nurse asked Weiss’ employment, he became agitated and said he wouldn’t say without his attorney. A Milwaukee attorney (name redacted) did call soon after to ask about any liability issues that may be involved. The accident was a head-on collision with a car from Iowa, and Aiello was injured for months. The police issued no tickets, saying “highway conditions” (snow) were at fault. Aiello had been following a black Cadillac, which hung around for 24 hours after the accident, but no names were taken. The Aiello vehicle, totaled, was sold for parts to a Buick dealership in Baraboo for $200 (Aiello still owed $1,982 on the car). The FBI stopped in to the dealership to search it, but the only thing in it were samples of aluminum siding. They did find a road map marked from St. Louis, Missouri to Las Cruces, New Mexico, to Phoenix, Arizona.
January 21, 1962: Balistrieri asked John Aiello to get information from a police officer who was working on the case to revoke Balistrieri’s license for the Downtowner. Allegedly Aiello had sold the officer siding for cheap and could therefore get a favor out of him.
On January 25, notaries public Bernard Klein, 40, and Marvin Klein, 47, who happened to be brothers, were fined $500 each and put on two years’ probation for notarizing forged mortgages without the homeowners present. A $2,700 mortgage for John Tesser of Wisconsin Rapids and John J. McDermott of Milwaukee were involved, but neither man was aware that any mortgage had been applied for. Judge Christ Seraphim said the brothers used “very bad judgment”. Attorney Samuel Weitzen said his clients had no prior record, had turned in their notary license, and pointed out it was not uncommon to notarize papers without all signers present. “I admit some do this with minor papers,” said Seraphim, “but I have never heard of a lawyer or notary notarizing papers in a real estate transaction without the signers present.”
March 20, 1962: The preliminary hearing for John Aiello and the other building supply men was scheduled for this day, but was postponed to April 27, and then again to April 30.
A hearing was held on May 1, 1962 before Judge Duffy. The alleged forgers had their cases set for June 25, with even the defense attorneys conceding that 14 state witnesses would testify that signatures of their names were not their handwriting. Charges against one defendant, Alex Sussman, were dropped because his signature appeared on only one document.
A homeowner in Franklin, Wisconsin was interviewed on May 17, 1962. He said he spoke with John Aiello in February 1961 about having a bedroom added to his home and was given an estimate of $3625. Aiello was chosen because a friend at Ladish and Company recommended him. Aiello dictated a contract while another man wrote it out, and it was signed by the man and his wife. When work began in March, he signed three more papers, which he believed were credit background forms, but he did not actually read them. In May he began receiving notices of non-payment from the Marine National Exchange Bank, despite the work not yet being completed. He told Aiello, who said it was a mistake and he would contact the bank. The work was not completed until December because the workers made a series of mistakes, including an uneven floor, curved wall and a split in a flooring support. The owner said he spoke to Kenneth Weiss a few times by phone, but never met him in person. Agents spoke to the owner’s wife and she gave a similar story, though she did point out that one paper with her signature was dated April 4, which would be impossible because she was out of town for Easter.
June 25, 1962: The preliminary hearing for John Aiello and the remodelers was supposed to be this day, but was pushed off yet again because attorneys had failed to file the briefs requested by the court.
June 28, 1962: Judge Ryan Duffy bound John Aiello, Joseph Angeli, Kenneth Weiss, August Maniaci and Raymond Hayes over for trial. Later that same day, he vacated the order and pushed things back yet again to July 9.
Aiello and Weiss were in court on July 9, 1962. Probable cause was found and they were bound over for trial in Milwaukee County Circuit Court.
On August 2, the US Attorney informed the FBI that federal charges would not be forthcoming, as they only found evidence of one FHA loan and that case had already been taken up by Milwaukee Circuit Court.
Union Improvements went into involuntary receivership in August 1962. They left behind assets of $96,000 and debts of $158,000. But this was not the end for Henry Nechy.
Circa September 10, 1962: An affidavit of prejudice was filed against Judge John Coffey in the John Aiello case, meaning an outside judge may be appointed.
After FBI agents told John Aiello’s wife they were looking for him, he called them from Houston on February 15, 1963. He said he would be back in Milwaukee in about ten days, and the FBI asked him to reach out at that time. His case in Milwaukee was still pending… forever.
April 1, 1963: An informant said John Aiello was in the hospital with a stomach ailment. The FBI checked with Wood Veterans Hospital, and it was confirmed that he had been admitted a few days earlier. The records showed he might need surgery, and if so would be hospitalized for about a month. The hospital spokesman said the IRS had also asked about Aiello, and they were told that the doctor advised against any interviews at this time because of his high blood pressure. He was discharged from the hospital April 10.
On May 10, 1963, an informant told the FBI that roofing salesman Richard Haas was being shaken down by August Maniaci and John Aiello for $100 or $150 at a time. These were alleged to be payments on earlier advances that Haas had taken out, except that no such advance ever existed.
June 17, 1963: SA Albert Knickrehm interviewed John Aiello. He said he was currently unemployed, and would be for a while because he expected to go back to the hospital for ulcers and kidney problems. He said his wife worked at Gimbel’s department store and his daughter was a messenger for Northwestern Mutual, and the two of them were supporting him. When asked about the Biernat murder and Covelli kidnapping, he said he only knew what he read in the newspapers, but did not believe the FBI had kidnapped Covelli. His free time was spent at the Belmont Hotel coffee shop visiting with friends, especially Walter Brocca and August Maniaci. He also hung out at Para Corporation, where Brocca worked for Frank Balistrieri. When asked if there was a criminal organization of Italians in Milwaukee, Aiello said Milwaukee was a “clean city” and there was “no such organization” and he had “never heard of an Italian syndicate in Milwaukee.”
On June 28, 1963, attorneys for the nine defendants moved for dismissal, citing lack of evidence in the preliminary hearing. Judge Herbert J. Steffes denied the motion.
On August 19, prosecutor Hugh R. O’Connell asked Judge Herbert Steffes to dismiss charges of passing forged mortgages for nine defendants. Steffes agreed and the case against Maniaci, Weiss, Hayes, Angeli and Aiello was dropped. The judge said, “One of the chief difficulties is that there is no identity of the forger possible scientifically… these are tracings.” O’Connell further said that there was not enough evidence to prove they had “guilty knowledge” and also told the FBI that some of the paperwork had been stolen. Rumors persisted that O’Connell had been paid $5,500 to drop the case.
On August 20, the banks involved declared that homeowners would still be held responsible for the mortgages in their names unless the documents were declared forgeries by the courts. Roughly 60 home owners were in such a predicament. Ray G. Tiegs, president of Wisconsin Marine Bank, said his bank had 25 or 30 of the loans. “All are being paid except one, and that is in the process of foreclosure,” he said. Three or four had already been paid in full. Norman C. Hansen, assistant cashier for Marine National Exchange Bank, said his bank only had one loan and it was already paid.
Attorney Max Goldsmith declared publicly on August 21 that he would demand the police return any seized records and would also demand the IRS and Attorney General return any documents the police had given them.
Assistant Attorney General LeRoy L. Dalton was upset and blasted O’Connell in a letter on August 30. “It is my personal feeling that these cases should be prosecuted and that you have evidence which is sufficient for a jury to find guilt,” he wrote. “But even if I was not absolutely convinced the the jury would find the defendants guilty on the evidence available, I think that the evidence is so adequate as to present the district attorney with a duty to prosecute even though there is some chance that the jury might not convict.”
FBI agents visited a man formerly associated with Wisconsin Suppliers and Builders at the United States Penitentiary, Marion on September 6, 1963. He recalled that on one occasion, after returning to Milwaukee from Wisconsin Dells, he signed some papers as a witness because he was asked to, despite the signers not being present. He did not recall who asked him, but believed it was a woman. His memory was vague, but he recalled Kenneth Weiss running the show and having one man on staff simply because his credit was good and knew the tellers at the Bank of Commerce well. That man would cash checks written to WSaB at the Bank of Commerce and then deposit the cash in the company’s savings account at the West Side Bank. The checks would not get deposited directly, because WSaB had a poor reputation and the checks would not clear right away.
October 7, 1963: An informant said John Aiello was back in Wood Hospital for a kidney operation.
On December 16, FBI agents spoke with John Aiello. They showed him a variety of sales contracts, most of which he had no clear recollection of. One he recalled because the home owner “squawked” about the quality of the home’s foundation, windows and plastering, so more work was done out of pocket to keep that customer happy. Although he had no memory of specific contracts, he assured the agents that he never forged anyone’s name or assisted anyone else in forging any name.
Agents tried to contact Raymond Chester Hayes on December 23, 1963 and January 10, 1964 at his apartment building at 1024 East Ogden Avenue. The landlord informed the agents that Hayes and his mother (Edna) were gone to Las Vegas and California but would be back in mid-January.
A detective from the Milwaukee Police Department spoke with the FBI on January 14, and said during the department’s investigation, they uncovered as many as 60 or 70 different situations where mortgages were obtained by fraud or forgery. He said it was primarily a local and not federal matter, though, as he only recalled one of them involving an FHA loan. The detective said those involved seem to have scattered, with Kenneth Weiss going to Texas and Raymond Hayes heading out west.
FBI agents spoke with Raymond Hayes on January 22, 1964. Hayes said he had worked for Wisconsin Suppliers and Builders loading and unloading trucks, as well as miscellaneous duties. His employment was roughly from January through December 1961, when the business was forcibly closed by a police raid. He had been hired by Kenneth Weiss, and said that John Aiello was a salesman but also worked as a general manager. On occasion, he would get papers from Weiss and drive Weiss’ car to get the papers notarized. He claimed to know absolutely nothing about forging or tracing any names.
The next day, agents spoke with Kenneth Weiss. He said he had recently been in Houston from May through December, working as a salesman for Community Builders and Suppliers. Although his birth name was Wasniewski, he changed it about fifteen years ago for business reasons. He said he started Wisconsin Suppliers and Builders around September 1960, but went under in December 1961 following a police raid on December 7. He was shown a contract for $3625 that had been changed to $3500, and Weiss explained this was probably because $3500 was the cap for FHA improvement loans. He said as secretary-treasurer he signed the vast majority of the paperwork and did not recall each one in detail. He flatly denied any tracing or forging of names occurred.
January 27, 1964: SA Albert Knickrehm again interviewed John Aiello. Aiello said he might be “naive or stupid” but he did not think there was organized crime in Milwaukee. He said it was “just a lot of talk” to sell newspapers. Knickrehm told Aiello he had been a suspect in the murder of Jack Enea, and Aiello said that was “just so much poppycock” – they had been close, personal friends. He described Frank Balistrieri as “just a punk kid.” Aiello said he frequently visited Walter Brocca at the Belmont coffee shop and August Maniaci at his father’s bar on North Avenue, and all three of them were broke. Aiello said he was in poor health and stopped by the hospital almost every day for outpatient treatment. He was still being supported by his wife and daughter, as well as his two brothers – Vito tended bar at the Eagles Ballroom and Angelo ran the Mint Bar. Aiello admitted he was “worried sick” about his troubles with the IRS. He told Knickrehm he had never filed state taxes in his life.
On January 29, the FBI was advised that Wisconsin Suppliers and Builders had attempted to run a “fake contest” to promote their siding business. Brochures were sent to people through the mail, but none of the prizes mentioned were ever going to be given out. The source believed several of these brochures were still on site at 1440 West Vliet Street.
The FBI met with the current owners of 1440 West Vliet on February 18, and after searching the storeroom basement and other areas, were unable to find the brochures in question.
On March 20, the FBI was advised that warrants had been prepared for the principal officers of Wisconsin Suppliers and Builders, with violations occurring in as many as 40 counties in the state.
On March 24, the warrants were handed down on 15 men with mortgage fraud totaling $300,000. August Maniaci and Joseph Angeli had seven counts against them totaling $20,573. Richard J. Haas had one count stemming from a mortgage for $5962 from July 30, 1961. John Aiello had four counts against him totaling $14,679. Raymond Hayes had two counts at $9208. All of these cases stemmed from Monroe County. Isadore Bogrob (cousin of the murdered Isadore Pogrob) was charged with false representation during a sale in Wyocena (Columbia County) on September 19, 1961. Still being sought by police were: Kenneth Weiss, John Lane, Ted Stone, John Forman, Pat Mills, Julius Novitske and Leonard Saltzberg.
The next day, a source told the FBI that the warrants issued so far covered about four or five counties, and there could be as many as fifteen other counties with warrants. This was an intentional strategy to “bleed” the defendants, making it hard for them to keep posting bond while at the same time ruining their credit to keep them from further business ventures.
On April 6, preliminary hearings for Weiss, Maniaci, Aiello, Hayes, Lane, Angeli and Haas were set in Monroe County for July 1.
April 13, 1964: August Maniaci was overheard telling Balistrieri that he found an attorney that could fix his fraudulent mortgage case. Maniaci said he had already talked it over with Vito Aiello, and they both agreed that John Aiello was the one who was at fault, but Maniaci said he would be willing to take the fall if everyone else pitched in to support his family. Balistrieri said that was foolish, and they should both try to get out of it. Maniaci said he had also spoken with attorney Jack L. Goodsitt who was “connected real good”. After August Maniaci left, the conversation turned to his uncle, Vincent Mercurio, who had allegedly already fixed the case for Maniaci, and that is why the first warrants were thrown out. Balistrieri then said John Aiello was an envious guy, and it would hurt him real good to see Maniaci go free while he takes the fall.
On June 11, 1964, August Maniaci called John Aiello and told him that he found an attorney that would represent them for $1,000 (or $200 a piece) for the mortgage case.
On June 16, 1964, John Aiello was in the hospital.
On August 13, 1964, John Lane, 41, was fined $100 and Richard J. Haas, 44, was fined $200 for their involvement in what newspapers called a “mortgage fraud ring”. Five other Milwaukee men were bound over for trial in Monroe County by Judge James W. Rice: August J. Maniaci, Joseph A. Angeli, Raymond Hayes, John Joseph Aiello and Kenneth Joseph Weiss. The men were accused of copying the signatures from six farmers from siding contracts to unauthorized mortgages. During the preliminary hearing, handwriting expert Orville Livingston identified the signatures as forgeries.
On December 30, 1964, Weiss paid $200, Maniaci and Aiello $100 each and Angeli $25 after pleading guilty in Marathon County to charges of using unfair methods of competition and business practices. District Attorney Patrick Crooks presented the Hamburg “model home” situation as evidence. Similar charges had Weiss paying $100 in Sauk County later the same day.