Harry was born November 1, 1910 in Wisconsin to Polish immigrants Frank and Katherine Kuszewski (though Katherine was actually born in Chicago to Polish parents). Seven children were in the family, with Harry the youngest. At least three would die in childhood, and one made it to 32.
Frank was a clerk at an engineering firm. As a young adult, Harry was a laborer at a shoe factory. Frank passed away on January 7, 1938 at age 67 – Harry was 27 at the time. An adult, but still young to lose a parent.
Harry was married some time around 1937, to Angeline Smukowski – another Milwaukee resident of Polish descent. By 1940, Harry had joined the police department.
City officials had a public meeting on Thursday, June 8, 1961 and spoke of the alleged non-existence of organized crime in Milwaukee. “There is no visible or invisible syndicate as far as we know,” said Police Chief Howard O. Johnson. He further said that Captain Harry Kuszewski was “doing an outstanding job in controlling vice in the community.” Mayor Maier said, “Milwaukee will not tolerate hoodlums or the Chicago-type of syndicate operation.” Little did they know that organized crime was about to become front and center in Milwaukee.
1962: Harry Kuszewski and wife Angeline lived at 4812 West Kinnickinnic River Parkway.
September 11, 1962: the Milwaukee SAC wrote to FBI HQ concerning the gambling John Doe and efforts to undermine it. The SAC believed that the probe was going to find corruption with Chief Howard Johnson and Captain Harry Kuszewski, among others. The SAC said Kuszewski had not cooperated with the FBI in shutting down gambling and prostitution, despite being the head of the vice squad. Furthermore, although the FBI found convincing evidence of organized crime, the police consistently brushed it off. The SAC alleged that Kuszewski took payoffs from gamblers and prostitutes, and in his 15 years on the vice squad had always maintained that the gambling was not organized. The FBI had “no confidence” in him.
February 11, 1963: As part of his long interview with the local newspaper, Frank Balistrieri said that John Lavin and the police Special Assignment Squad was living in „a state of fantasy“ with „underworld characters cropping up all around town.“ On the contrarry, Balistrieri praised Harry Kuszewski and said he was doing „a wonderful job keeping the town free of prostitutes, pimps and gamblers.“ He said he had been friends with Kuszewski for a long time and admired his work. „There are some things that I really detest – prostitutes, sex perverts and narcotics peddlars and users. I’ve never tolerated prostitutes to operate in my tavern or entertainers to hustle drinks.“
Captain Harry Kuszewski, head of the Vice Squad, was suspended on March 1, 1963 after being charged with a variety of offenses: tax evasion, misconduct, false swearing and failing to report gambling devices. Kuszewski had been paid off by gamblers and also had improper relationships with various prostitutes. Chief Howard Johnson, said only positive things about him to the press: “He has had a highly successful career in the suppression of vice, gambling and prostitution. I attribute the fact that there are no policy wheels (numbers rackets) in Milwaukee largely because of Kuszewski’s work.” Detective Sergeant Louis E. Strzyzewski took over running the vice squad.
On March 1, 1963, Harry Kuszewski, then captain of police of the Milwaukee police department, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was served with a criminal warrant issued from a John Doe investigation conducted in branch 12 of the Second judicial circuit of Wisconsin. The warrant charged him with six counts of filing false and fraudulent income-tax returns, sec. 71.11(42), Stats.; six counts of misconduct in public office of a ministerial duty, sec. 946.12(1); 11 counts of misconduct in public office of unlawful acts, sec. 946.12(2); and false swearing, sec. 946.32(1).
Howard O. Johnson, chief of the Milwaukee police department, was present when the warrants were served and witnessed the arrest of Kuszewski on the criminal complaint. On the same day Chief Johnson suspended Kuszewski pending the outcome of the charges.Kuszewski appealed his suspension to the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners of the city of Milwaukee (board), respondent, on March 4, 1963. Then on March 6, 1963, Chief Johnson filed a complaint against Kuszewski before the board which complaint was based solely upon the criminal complaint and warrant previously served on Kuszewski. The departmental complaint charged Kuszewski with violating Rule 29, section 3, and Rule 44, section 8, of the Milwaukee Police Department Rules and Regulations:Rule 29, Section 3. “Members of the police force shall, at all times within the boundaries of the City, preserve the public peace, prevent crime, detect and arrest violators of the law, protect life and property and enforce all the criminal laws of the State of Wisconsin and the ordinances of the City of Milwaukee of which the Department must take cognizance.”Rule 44, Section 8. “Any member of the Department may be dismissed from the service or suffer such other punishment as the Chief of Police may direct when charged with and when any of the following offenses are substantiated: Conduct unbecoming a member and detrimental to the service.”
The hearing was held by the board on March 25, 1963. There Chief Johnson abandoned the charges set out in the departmental complaint and testified that the sole basis for the suspension of Kuszewski was that a criminal complaint and warrant had been filed against him charging him with the commission of certain offenses. The presiding magistrate of the John Doe investigation, JOHN L. COFFEY, circuit judge for Milwaukee county, filed an affidavit in which he stated that he issued the criminal warrants against Kuszewski for the several charges but that the testimony relative to them shall remain secret pending the prosecution of the charges. No evidence was offered or received at the trial before the board on the charges preferred against Kuszewski in the criminal complaint. On March 27, 1963, the board filed a decision sustaining the action of Chief Johnson in suspending Kuszewski without salary pending the trial of the criminal offenses against him.
Mrs. Johnnie Mae Jackson, 48, took (and passed) a lie detector test on May 27, 1963. She alleged that she had paid Vice Squad Captain Harry Kuszewski $100 a month for seven years to leave her brothel (at 1717 North 4th Street) alone. She also paid off fifteen other vice squad officers; detective Alfred Kaczkowski admitted to receiving a bottle of Napoleon brandy from Jackson.
Kuszewski appealed his suspension citing state law that suspensions could only be 15 days without cause. The court believed there was cause and a need to keep the public trust, but felt it was unfair to extend the withholding of pay beyond those 15 days. In summary, Chief Johnson had the power to suspend Kuszewski indefinitely pending the criminal trial in order to preserve the public trust in the honesty of the department. However, Kuszewski cannot be deprived of his compensation during this period because the act fixes this compensation to him as a right.
Disgraced Milwaukee police officer Harry R. Kuszewski, 57, died on August 16, 1968. He was driving his Volkswagen in Franklin and went off the road, over a ditch and finally striking a high-tension wire. When pronounced dead at the hospital, he had only a cut on his forehead, leading the doctors to suspect a heart attack. He was survived by wife Angeline and son Robert Allen Kuszewski, as well as sisters Emily Drewek and Marcella Repinski.
Angeline passed in 2002, outliving her husband by more than 30 years. Their only son Robert changed his name to Robert Allen and had a family of his own, whose identities I will not go into here for privacy reasons.