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Did Chicago and NY Gangsters make move into Wiscon #915677
06/20/17 02:24 AM
06/20/17 02:24 AM
Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 392
Nyc
MrJustsayNo Offline OP
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MrJustsayNo  Offline OP
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The Chicago Syndicate
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Did Chicago and New York Mobsters Make a Move into Wisconsin?
Friends of ours: Meyer Lansky
Friends of mine: Morgan Murphy

Wisconsin State gaming officials raised serious questions over whether to grant Kenosha businessman Dennis Troha a gaming license so he could develop a proposed Indian casino at the old Dairyland dog-racing track in that city, according to documents released Friday.

The more than 1,000 pages of documents, which were part of a background investigation of Troha's now-defunct Kenesah Gaming Development LLC, show that state officials were aware of Troha's alleged links to organized crime and his past efforts to sway top state politicians into approving an earlier casino plan at the same dog track site. But a 46-page summary report on the documents stopped short of determining the accuracy of those allegations or recommending whether Troha should be granted the license.

Instead, as Gaming Administrator Robert Sloey noted in a cover letter releasing the report, Troha withdrew his request for the gaming license before the state could prepare a final report.

"Consequently, the report does not represent (any) conclusions drawn by the (Gaming) Division," Sloey wrote.

In a statement, Troha spokesman Jeff Fleming called the report "a compilation of every unsubstantiated innuendo and rumor. The contents of the report have not been verified or subjected to the routine review that the state would ordinarily conduct before making formal findings.

"Because of the circumstances, it is neither fair nor practical for Mr. Troha to respond to specific statements in the report," Fleming said.

Troha was indicted in March on federal fraud charges for allegedly funneling more than $200,000 in illegal campaign contributions to Gov. Jim Doyle through several family members. Federal prosecutors allege that he gave the money in an attempt to win Doyle's approval of the $800 million casino project. Troha has denied any wrongdoing.

The records show that Troha invested at least $13 million of his own money into the project, which was also being funded by the Menominee tribe of Wisconsin and the Mohegan tribe of Connecticut. The two tribes bought out Troha's share of the project shortly before he was indicted.

Evan Zeppos, a spokesman for the Menominee, said he believes the report will not affect federal or state action on the project, but it could be used by casino opponents to try to build political opposition.

While the report did not recommend whether to grant Troha and his Kenesah firm a gaming license, Division of Gaming investigator Patrick O'Hern questioned Troha's role in the project based on the following "issues":

* Troha's role in an earlier effort by Nii-Jii Entertainment Inc. in the 1990s to develop an Indian casino at the site.

Troha was a partner in the project, which was headed by former U.S. Rep. Morgan Murphy of Illinois and businessman Joseph Madrigano. Murphy later came under federal investigation and had to abandon the project because of his partners' alleged ties to the Chicago mob.

In an interview with state investigators, Troha described himself as an "insignificant participant" who "gave Morgan Murphy the benefit of the doubt" because Murphy "seemed to be a nice guy ... (who) didn't seem to be anybody that would be involved in anything improper."

O'Hern said that other records, including testimony in a civil trial by other casino investors against Murphy, indicated Troha's role was much more significant, but did not reach any conclusions as to how significant that role was.

* Troha's "history of having business partners with ties to organized crime."

In the late 1980s, Troha was a partner in another firm seeking to manage the Dairyland dog track. Other investors in that firm were alleged to have been close associates of New York mobster Meyer Lansky. The report also recounted Murphy's alleged ties to the Chicago mob.

* Troha's reputed involvement "in using improper methods to influence public officials in order to obtain approvals needed to operate a gaming enterprise."

In the first such case, Troha and other business partners allegedly retained veteran lobbyist M. William Gerrard in the 1980s in order to get then-Gov. Tommy Thompson's to approve their management of the Dairyland dog track.

Troha, according to the report, allegedly asked Gerrard to see whether Troha could hire a Racing Board member to act as an attorney for Troha's trucking company. Troha also met with Thompson's top aides, including then Administration Secretary Jim Klauser and Thompson aide Nick Hurtgen, before the Racing Board acted on Troha's request. The Racing Board ultimately rejected that proposal.

In the second case, the Nii-Jii project was shut down after it was reported that several of Thompson's closest confidants would have received shares of stock in the project worth more than $46 million. "Given Mr. Troha's significant level of activity in Nii-Jii matters, he could have known of this deal long before it hit the papers," the report stated.

The company also allegedly gave "gifts" of shares in Nii-Jii to Hurtgen's wife and other top officials in a manner "singularly characteristic of influence peddling."

* Troha's record of "bad business practices on several occasions." These endeavors included the failed Nii-Jii project in which other Kenosha investors lost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The investors ultimately filed a class-action lawsuit against Murphy and other project leaders.

The report found that Troha also had disputes with the Teamsters union over his Kenosha-based trucking company over union representation of his drivers. The Teamsters claimed that Troha sought to circumvent union contracts "by transferring work to non-Teamster companies in a kind of shell game.'" And the report also stated that Troha's "right-hand man in the company's Kentucky location" was alleged to have told a subordinate to commit perjury in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by one of the company's employees.

* A "lack of due diligence" by Troha in some of his business dealings. Those failings include claims that Troha failed to learn about efforts by other partners in the 1980s dog track racing venture to bribe a member of the Wisconsin Racing Board.

* A failure to disclose previous law-enforcement contacts relating to the Dairyland dog racing application and the Nii-Jii venture on his application for the Kenesah license

Re: Did Chicago and NY Gangsters make move into Wiscon [Re: MrJustsayNo] #915693
06/20/17 12:20 PM
06/20/17 12:20 PM
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alicecooper Offline
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Wouldn't this all be Milwaukee Phil and family, not directly Chicago and sure as hell not New York?

Wasn't the southern part of phils area south of the border into Rockford area?

Outfit guys had safe houses and shit in Wisconsin going back to the Capone days, but not much info of them doing business up there. There is a bar in Madison Capone used to iwnnthat still has the gunports upstairs.

Word up there was that the milk hauling companies were money launderers for the mob. Not sure how it supposedly worked.

Re: Did Chicago and NY Gangsters make move into Wiscon [Re: MrJustsayNo] #915715
06/20/17 04:17 PM
06/20/17 04:17 PM
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 7,212
naples,italy
furio_from_naples Offline
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naples,italy
http://gangsterreport.com/gr-sources-inv...iowa-wisconsin/

 According to sources inside the investigation, Grand Avenue crew members and seasoned burglars Charles (Chuckie the Electrician) Russell and Bruce (Uncle Brucie) Principato are both having their ties to possible criminal activity out-of-state looked into by the FBI. Investigators have received tips that Russell spent portions of 2015 in Iowa and Principato was spotted multiple times in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 2016 coinciding with a rise in residential break-ins and burglaries occurring in both areas at those respective times.
 
                    [...]

The mafia in the state of Wisconsin has always had ties to Chicago due to proximity. Current Outfit activity in the Cheese State is the syndicate’s Cicero crew’s responsibility, per the CCC records.

Last edited by furio_from_naples; 06/20/17 04:18 PM.
Re: Did Chicago and NY Gangsters make move into Wiscon [Re: furio_from_naples] #915720
06/20/17 05:05 PM
06/20/17 05:05 PM
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alicecooper Offline
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Is Milwaukee still its own family like back in the day?

Re: Did Chicago and NY Gangsters make move into Wiscon [Re: alicecooper] #915728
06/20/17 08:30 PM
06/20/17 08:30 PM
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Jenkins Offline
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Originally Posted By: alicecooper
Is Milwaukee still its own family like back in the day?


No, I think it started to dwindle in the late 80's after Milwaukee was busted in the casino skim. Then Frank Balistrieri died in the early 90's and he must not have made many members to carry on the family.

Re: Did Chicago and NY Gangsters make move into Wiscon [Re: MrJustsayNo] #915742
06/21/17 02:19 AM
06/21/17 02:19 AM
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Posts: 78
JJB Offline
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FWIW, at least a couple of the Infelice/DeLaurentis wiretap cassette tapes that I have were recorded in a car in or around Lake Geneva.

Re: Did Chicago and NY Gangsters make move into Wiscon [Re: Jenkins] #915747
06/21/17 04:22 AM
06/21/17 04:22 AM
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 7,212
naples,italy
furio_from_naples Offline
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naples,italy
Originally Posted By: Jenkins
Originally Posted By: alicecooper
Is Milwaukee still its own family like back in the day?


No, I think it started to dwindle in the late 80's after Milwaukee was busted in the casino skim. Then Frank Balistrieri died in the early 90's and he must not have made many members to carry on the family.



The family made the same end of trafficantes,Marcellos ecc when the big boss died no one was able to replace it not his son nor piccurro plus they made most of their money from the Skim and plus the outfit take part of the milwaukee damily rackets. Now there are 10 made men left but the family is dead.

I found this list on the internet (don't jump on me) and I've spotted the names of the deads through this site
http://mafiamembershipcharts.blogspot.it/search/label/Milwaukee?updated-max=2015-03-30T03:38:00-07:00&max-results=20&start=2&by-date=false


John "Johnny Bal" Balistrieri b.1948
Dennis "Libby" Librizzi b.1947
Carlo "Connie" Balistrieri b.1958
Joseph "Baby Joe" Balistrieri
John Basile
Ralph 'Junnie" Brocca
George Busateri b.1948
Anthony "Tony" Cimino b.1967
Michael "Dr. Mike" Dentice
Paul M. "Paul Dennis" Dentice
Dominic Gaudesi
Andrew "Andy" Marconi
John "Giovanni" Safina b.1943
Nick "Nick the sp*c" Sansone
Richard Sansone
Jack "Jackie" Turrene

Last edited by furio_from_naples; 06/21/17 05:37 AM.
Re: Did Chicago and NY Gangsters make move into Wiscon [Re: JJB] #915761
06/21/17 10:48 AM
06/21/17 10:48 AM
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ChiTown Offline
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Originally Posted By: JJB
FWIW, at least a couple of the Infelice/DeLaurentis wiretap cassette tapes that I have were recorded in a car in or around Lake Geneva.


Wow is that for real? Where did you get those tapes? Lake Geneva is an hour outside of Chicago and where the old Playboy Club used to be. Most Outfit guys have vacationed in Wisconsin and held summer homes there.

Re: Did Chicago and NY Gangsters make move into Wiscon [Re: ChiTown] #915764
06/21/17 11:47 AM
06/21/17 11:47 AM
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JJB Offline
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Yes, it's for real, and it's pretty much what got me interested in the topic.

In or around 1997, I was helping clear an old building on Lake Street in the north loop that for some time had been used as a makeshift warehouse and that was going to be renovated into condos, and everything still there was being chucked. I noticed two shrink-wrapped pallets of boxes that had interesting labels, so I took a peek. The boxes were full of cassette tapes labelled with locations and Italian names that I didn't recognize, but I thought I'd grab a few and see what they were about.

I eventually got around to researching the names online and realized that I had wiretap tapes in my possession, and that they were all connected to Operation Good Ship Lollipop. At least one or two of them were between Infelise and Solly D (I could be wrong here though -- would make more sense for Jahoda to be there than both Infelise and Solly D -- it's been years now) in a car around Geneva, and I can recall at least 1 or two more that were recorded in a restaurant just south of North Ave on 25th Ave in Melrose Park (restaurant was on east side of 25th). Jahoda, and I believe Hal Smith, were also on these tapes. Quality wasn't great, though, and I never did get around to listening to them in their entirety.

I believe I had about 7 or 8 of them, half of which I have in storage back home somewhere. The remainder were loaned to a friend that I'm sure still has them. I should get them together next chance I have and digitize them for shits and giggles.

Last edited by JJB; 06/21/17 11:51 AM.
Re: Did Chicago and NY Gangsters make move into Wiscon [Re: MrJustsayNo] #915765
06/21/17 11:56 AM
06/21/17 11:56 AM
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Snakes Offline
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JJB, I remember you telling that story a couple of years ago. Incredible that they were just lying around in that warehouse.


"Snakes... Snakes... I don't know no Snakes."
Re: Did Chicago and NY Gangsters make move into Wiscon [Re: Snakes] #915766
06/21/17 12:05 PM
06/21/17 12:05 PM
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JJB Offline
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Yeah, thought I had mentioned that here before, but wasn't sure. I enjoyed the GR article with transcripts of some of the more colorful conversations at least some of the wiretaps caught.

Re: Did Chicago and NY Gangsters make move into Wiscon [Re: JJB] #915795
06/21/17 06:39 PM
06/21/17 06:39 PM
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alicecooper Offline
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I used to work with a kid in Madison years ago who said back in the 70's his dad lived in Milwaukee and some company had invented a better type of vending machine, a new patent or something...less likely to rip you off...I don't know.

So his dad wanted to get in on the ground floor and establish a route downtown. It was dead in the water. The business owners made it clear that it didn't matter how good the machine worked there was no way in hell it was going in their shops, period.

I don't know anything about vending machines but it would be cool to know what the company was and if it found success in parts of the country that weren't really mobbed up.

Last edited by alicecooper; 06/21/17 06:40 PM.
Re: Did Chicago and NY Gangsters make move into Wiscon [Re: alicecooper] #915798
06/21/17 07:16 PM
06/21/17 07:16 PM
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Toodoped Offline
Murder Ink
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Originally Posted By: alicecooper
Outfit guys had safe houses and shit in Wisconsin going back to the Capone days


Ralph Capone used to be the Outfit's representative and allegedly controlled many brothels. By the early 1940's I think he transfered over there permanently until his death in 1974. During his stay, he allegedly controlled many vending and slot machine operations.


He who can never endure the bad will never see the good
Re: Did Chicago and NY Gangsters make move into Wiscon [Re: MrJustsayNo] #915960
06/24/17 04:51 PM
06/24/17 04:51 PM
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Some of the Chicago guys had vacation homes up there at least, like Calabrese.

At the risk of spreading misinformation, I think in Family Secrets it talked about a number of them all owning vacation homes in the same vicinity/lake.

Of course that was likely 20, 30, 40 years ago.

Re: Did Chicago and NY Gangsters make move into Wiscon [Re: MrJustsayNo] #916151
06/27/17 09:28 PM
06/27/17 09:28 PM
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Green Grove Retirement Communi...
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Green Grove Retirement Communi...
The mob was everywhere where there were Jews or Italians in the 1930s through the 1950s.


"...the successful annihilation of organized crime's subculture in America would rock the 'legitimate' world's foundation, which would ultimately force fundamental social changes and redistributions of wealth and power in this country. Meyer Lansky's dream was to bond the two worlds together so that one could not survive without the other." - Dan E. Moldea

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