In an interview published in the Sunday, February 10, 1963 Milwaukee Journal, Frank Balistrieri told the newspaper that he would like his police record opened to the newspaper to clear up the ongoing allegations against him. “I would like to get them off my back,” he said.
Balistrieri further told them, “There is no justification for the bad publicity I have been getting. Sometimes I’m embarrassed for my friends and the entertainers working for me. I’m strictly a family man. I work seven days a week. I work hard. I don’t gamble. I don’t take vacations… If the police can prove any of their allegations, I’ll be willing to get out of business immediately. I would be even willing to go away, as far away as China. However, if the allegations cannot be proved, I want the police to let me alone and operate my business like any other businessman does, without police interference.” Asked about his alleged ownership of Gallagher’s, he explained, “I spent a lot of time at Gallagher’s because I have to have a place to go. I know a lot of entertainers and help book the shows for my younger brother, Peter, who runs Gallagher’s. Over at the Downtowner, which is the only tavern I run, there are only 20 stools. No food is served at the Downtowner, so I spend a lot of time at Gallagher’s and eat there, too.” The city directory said that Buster Balestrere was a manager at Gallagher’s, but Balistrieri said this was incorrect; Buster had worked as a maintenance man and mechanic. Balistrieri told the reporters that allegations of organized crime were strictly political and that Milwaukee was “one of the cleanest cities in the United States as far as I know.” He claimed to have “absolutely no interest in the jukebox industry. At one time I owned 200 machines when I operated City-Wide Amusement Company, but I sold out in 1943 and entered the cinder and hauling business with my father.” He said he knew many people because he had been in business so long; not only so-called hoodlums, but also such prominent folks as Supreme Court justices. He denied that Frank Stelloh was on his payroll, but did say Stelloh had worked for him in 1960 when he briefly owned the Gallagher Meat Company in the 2400 block of North 3rd Street before selling it. Stelloh was a “hard worker, who never touches liquor and sticks only to 7-Up.” Regarding Para Corp, “I am secretary of the company, a packaging firm. I own about 25% of the stock.” Balistrieri claimed not to have seen Felix Alderisio in “six or seven years.” Balistrieri said he attended church at St. Rita’s and was “a member of the St. Joseph’s Home for Children Athletic Association.”
On Wednesday, February 13, Chief Johnson replied to Balistrieri’s statements concerning the police. Johnson said the police would continue to watch Balistrieri closely as long as he “associates with undesirable characters and allows strip teasers to mingle with male patrons and hustle drinks” at the Downtowner. But, he wanted to make clear that, “We have no racket problem in Milwaukee. Therefore, calling Balistrieri or anyone else in Milwaukee ‘the king of rackets’ as Sandy Smith did (in a January 24 Chicago Tribune article), was unjustified. I don’t know of any complaint of anyone being muscled or paying extortion in Milwaukee. Relative to gambling, I haven’t known
Balistrieri as having ever been in a gambling house or being a gambler. Our policemen never observed Balistrieri’s car at any place alleged to be a gambling house.” Johnson answered a number of other questions for the Journal, acknowledging that intelligence files exist on Balistrieri and that they cannot be released. He denied any underworld or organized crime presence in Milwaukee, and maintained that Balistrieri has always been “courteous” and a “gentleman” when the two had met.
Johnson continued, “We have no information of any Chicago crime syndicate operating here or having any influence on Milwaukee activities. Neither do we have any knowledge of a Milwaukee underworld or about any bonds between Balistrieri and the crime chiefs of Kansas City and Chicago. We conducted an intensive investigation in 1957 and again in 1961 and found nothing to indicate a financial tie-up, on record, between Balistrieri and out of state interests. There likewise is no police evidence that Chicago gangsters linked to Balistrieri have established themselves here as loan sharks and jukebox racketeers, as reported by Sandy Smith.” Johnson pointed to a city ordinance passed in 1958 that required all jukebox operators to be licensed and fingerprinted, and must be residents of the county.