Anthony Pipito, 22, was cited for disorderly conduct on Monday, July 1, 1957. He had been exercising a horse on a crowded Lake Michigan beach and the police claimed he had scared some bathers.
Pipito rolled his car two miles east of Richmond on County A on Sunday, October 20, 1957. The car landed right side up on the Henry Schneider farm and neither Pipito or his four passengers were hurt.
Pipito was convicted of robbery and statutory rape on September 17, 1958. He was sentenced to five years in the state reformatory. Pipito was paroled from the state reformatory on June 17, 1960.
Anthony Pipito was arrested by the Milwaukee Sheriff’s Office for “illegitimacy” on June 21, 1961.
April 3, 1963, Pipito was arrested for burglary but he was released. Pipito was arrested for burglary on June 14, 1963 but the charge was dismissed.
Anthony Pipito was arrested on February 4, 1966 on two counts of burglary and one count of forgery. The charges were dismissed. Pipito was arrested for threat to injure on April 10, 1966. The charge was dismissed.
Andrew Maniscalco, the chef at Chico’s, was arrested for being in a gambling house at 3044 North Stowell Avenue on March 26, 1967. Anthony Pipito was also arrested. They were fined $25 each. (Maniscalco was a known gambler and usually placed his bets through Tony Machi.)
On the morning of October 24, 1968, at about 8:00am, 78-year old Julius Theilacker, president of the Theilacker bridge-building company, and his 75-year old wife Martha were in the kitchen of their home (5924 West Washington Boulevard) having breakfast. William Swan, the Theilacker’s next door neighbor at 1722 North 60th Street, was standing in the sunroom of his home making a telephone call and staring out of the window, facing south to the Theilacker’s residence. Bernice Chopp was standing in front of the Theilacker residence, waiting for a bus. Milwaukee policemen James Hutchinson and Richard Retzer had just finished working the night shift and were heading home in Retzer’s private car when it ran out of gas at 60th Street and Washington Boulevard. Retzer had gone on foot for gas and when he returned, he and Hutchinson raised the hood of his car to put some gas in the carburetor. William Swan noted these uniformed policemen as he looked out the window of his home.
Upon finishing his breakfast, Julius walked out to his garage and started to raise the overhead door. He never finished that task because in the next instant he was struck from behind. He was hauled into his garage as two masked men, Anthony Pipito and Sam DiMaggio, forced a sack over his head and tied it tightly about his neck. He was then shoved to the floor of the garage and, as his hands were tied behind him, he was told, “All we want is your money.” Martha was locked in a closet.
Julius untied himself, and Martha called out from the closet, “Julius, are they gone?” As Julius rounded the corner leading to the front hall, he saw Pipito ten to fifteen feet away with a nickel-plated revolver leveled at him. Pipito said, “You take another step and I’ll shoot you.” Julius replied, “Shoot, you son of a bitch” and he rushed at Pipito with a claw hammer raised. Pipito ran out the front door.
Officer Retzer was alerted by Swan and told that masked men were assaulting his neighbor and had forced him into his garage. This was confirmed by Retzer’s own observation when he saw a masked man appear in a doorway of the Theilacker home. Upon seeing uniformed officers outside, the man leaped back into the home and slammed the door.
Officer Hutchinson approached the garage and could hear a radio listing police calls. He then circled the garage and saw a man, only a few feet from the garage window, starting to flee the scene. He pursued DiMaggio, and DiMaggio was eventually detained “breathing heavily,” after having run in first an easterly direction and then a westerly direction. Upon being detained, DiMaggio told Officer Hutchinson that he “lived on the East side” and was “working for some people.” A search of DiMaggio revealed nothing.
Officer Retzer caught Pipito shortly after, and a blackjack was visible on Pipito’s person. A quick search also revealed a .38 pistol. Pipito was brought, handcuffed, to the door of the patrol wagon and was identified by Swan as the man fleeing the Theilacker residence in a red ski mask.
By October 25, 1968, Harry DeAngelo was raising money for the defense of someone close to him, who had been involved in an armed robbery with an LCN member and a well-known Milwaukee hoodlum. This may have been the Theilacker incident, but it is unclear. The home invasion upset old time Mafia member Santo Marino, as the Milwaukee family was supposed to be keeping things quiet.
On November 5, 1968, Anthony Pipito was caught by Glendale patrolman Thomas Reynolds while trying to steal a car from the Phil Tolkan Pontiac dealership at 2301 West Silver Spring Drive. Pipito escaped by vaulting a seven foot fence.
DiMaggio and Pipito appeared in court on November 19, 1968. The district attorney requested that their bond be raised, in light of the news that the Theilacker family had been receiving threatening letters. John Triliegi tried to get bail bonding company Meiroff and Kahn to bail the two men out, but they would not. August Maniaci next tried, and Harry Meiroff (1906-1992) said he would not because Jerry DiMaggio (Sam’s brother) still owed him $1,000. Frank Balistrieri allegedly paid the bail of $10,000 using money he acquired from Irv Weiner in Chicago. The Chicago money, in turn, apparently came from Matthew Silverman at the Atlas Bonding Company in Newark, New Jersey. It was then handed off to Meiroff, who handled the bond locally. Meiroff was still hesitant, but Silverman called United Bonding in Indianapolis (Meiroff’s parent company) and they advised him to do so. Meiroff received no pay for handling this transaction, but was given $1,000 by Anthony “Sheriff” Cefalu to cover the Jerry DiMaggio debt.
Anthony F. Pipito was convicted of armed robbery and burglary on June 5, 1969. Judge R. C. Cannon sentenced him to twenty-seven years in Waupun State Prison. Salvatore DiMaggio was convicted of attempted armed robbery and armed burglary the same day. Cannon sentenced him to thirty-five years.
Julius Theilacker would coincidentally end up dying of a heart attack during a burglary of his home in October 1971. He left an estate valued at $569,605.