Frank Balistrieri

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Frank "Frankie Bal" P. Balistrieri (May 27, 1918-February 7, 1993) was a Milwaukee mobster and, although feared in the city's underworld, he was considered by federal authorities as a minor organized crime figure on a national scale. He was a central figure of skimming operations of syndicate controlled casinos during the 1970s.

During the 1970s, Balistrieri became involved in skimming operations of syndicate casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada at a meeting with Kansas City mobsters Nicholas Civella and Carl DeLuna on March 20, 1974. During the meeting, it was agreed that Balistrieri would meet front man Allen Glick to secure an option from the Argent Corporation. Glick would agree to sell half of the corporation's ownership to Balistrieri's sons John and Joseph Balistrieri for $25,000 which, as the mobster later claimed, "...he had an obligation arising from the assistance to Glick in obtaining a pension fund commitment in the amount of $62.75 million." [1]

However, both he and Civella were soon in disagreement over each others share from the skimming operations and requested members of the Chicago Outfit to mediate the dispute. The results of the arraignment, as ruled by Chicago syndicate leader Joey Aiuppa and Underboss Jackie "The Lackey" Cerone, demanded the Chicago Outfit would receive %25 as its cut in skimming operations.

In September 1983, Balistrieri and his two sons were indicted with numerous high ranking organized crime figures from Chicago, Cleveland and Kansas City in which he was charged with skimming over $2 million in unreported income from the Stardust and Fremont Hotel and Casinos. This was the first case in which federal authorities had successfully connected mobsters from four different states.

While awaiting sentencing on extortion and bookmaking charges the following year, Balistrieri denied all charges against him to the press stating "The first time I heard the word Mafia was when I read it in the newspapers." However, on May 30, Balistrieri was sentenced by Judge Terence T. Evans to thirteen years imprisonment and fined $30,000 (his sons were both convicted of extortion from a vending machine businessman the previous month).

In September 1985, Balistrieri was tried in Kansas City, Missouri with eight other associates for skimming an estimated $2 million of the gross income of the Argent Corporation from syndicate casino operations. Federal prosecutors further accused Balistrieri of skimming the unreported income and distributed the cash to organized crime figures in Kansas City, Chicago, Milwaukee and Cleveland. Balistrieri, then in failing health, agreed to a plea bargain and pled guilty to two of eight counts of conspiracy in exchange for dropping federal charges including attempting to conceal ownership of a casino to skim profits and interstate travel to aid racketeering. Sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Stevens, Jr. on December 31 to ten years imprisonment, which was to run concurrently with his earlier thirteen year sentence from his 1984 conviction, Balistrieri remained in prison until being granted parole in 1992 (although other sources claim he died while in prison in 1986). After his death in early 1993, the leadership of the Milwaukee crime family was reportedly taken over by his son Peter Frank Balistrieri.

[edit] Further reading

Capeci, Jerry. The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia. Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002. ISBN 978-0-02-864225-3
Neff, James. Mobbed Up: Jackie Presser's High-Wire Life in the Teamsters, the Mafia, and the FBI. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1989.
Turner, William W. Hoover's FBI. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 1993.
United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Organized Crime: 25 Years After Valachi - Hearings Before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. 1988. [2]

[edit] References

Kelly, Robert J. Encyclopedia of Organized Crime in the United States. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0-313-30653-2
Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 978-0-8160-5694-1