After Frank Balistrieri announced that they were looking for someone to replace “Sam”, Ruggiero volunteered Pistone’s services to take over the day-to-day handling of Balistrieri’s bookmaking operation. Pistone concurred in Ruggiero’s offer. At that point, Balistrieri took Ruggiero aside and spoke with him out of the presence of Agents Pistone and Cobb. Although Cobb was only able to hear brief portions of this conversation to the effect that Balistrieri would have to call New York and that he (Balistrieri) was holding Ruggiero responsible, the full substance of this conversation was later revealed by Ruggiero to Cobb and Pistone in a tape recorded conversation in the early morning hours of August 28, 1978, after the trio left the Peppercorn.

After Balistrieri and Ruggiero concluded their private discussion at the Peppercorn, they returned to the area where Pistone and Cobb were standing and Balistrieri, in Di Salvo’s presence, advised Pistone to contact Di Salvo and make arrangements to meet with him to go over their bookmaking operation. At this point, Di Salvo agreed that Pistone should contact him to set up a meeting for Tuesday.

On the evening of August 28, 1978, at Ruggiero’s direction, Cobb made arrangements to meet with Balistrieri to advise him that Pistone would not be taking over the bookmaking operation. Upon learning of this fact from Cobb, Balistrieri said he would have to make some other kind of arrangements to replace “the guy that had it”. This statement indicated Balistrieri’s continuing intent to run his sports bookmaking business during the 1978 football season.

On September 13, 1978, Agent Cobb met with Frank Balistrieri, Steve Di Salvo, Peter Balistrieri, and Joe and John Balistrieri at Snug’s. Peter and Frank Balistrieri had just returned from a federal grand jury appearance. Cobb heard Peter Balistrieri tell Di Salvo, “You got a problem.” Frank Balistrieri then told Di Salvo that the government had pictures of Di Salvo meeting Sam Librizzi, “At the hospital . . . where you picked up the money.”

At some point in 1979, Leo Dinon sold his cigarette distributing company to Alioto Distributing for $8000-$9000.

On October 13, 1979, wagering activity totaled $10,600.00. On October 14, 1979, it totaled $47,655.00, and on October 15, 1979, it totaled $100.00. The total of $47,655.00 for October 14, 1979, a single day’s wagering activity, exceeded any daily total in either the 1977 bookmaking operation when at least seven writers were involved, and in the 1980 bookmaking operation when at least ten writers were involved. Wisconsin law prohibited gambling businesses taking in over $2000 a day.

On October 20, 1979, the district court entered an order permitting electronic surveillance at Snug’s Restaurant and Leonardo’s Pasta House. In support of its motion seeking the order the government submitted a 110-page affidavit of Agent Michael De Marco setting forth evidence that Balistrieri and his associates were engaged in extortion, illegal gambling, and the murders and attempted murders of suspected informants. The electronic surveillance produced evidence that the government intended to introduce at Balistrieri’s trial. These orders were subsequently extended on November 19, 1979, and December 28, 1979.

In a telephone conversation between John Piscuine and Sam Librizzi on October 25, 1979, Piscuine protested his inability to reach Librizzi to place some wagers. At one point Piscuine stated, “I tried to get a hold of you. Dennis wasn’t there.”

In a phone conversation on October 26, 1979, Balistrieri complained to Esther Ridgway about the losses he had suffered in his bookmaking operation. At one point he said, “I hollered at him, I hollered at Steve, I’m through hollering.”

In a January 10, 1980 conversation, Sam Librizzi, in responding to Frank Balistrieri concerning the status of delinquent wagering accounts, stated: “Now Dennis [Librizzi] owes us thirty-seven hundred. It’s on the slip there. What he gave me last week.” Librizzi made reference to “Feller’s 290″ in reporting to Balistrieri on the status of amounts owed by various persons to their gambling business. Frank Balistrieri and Sam Librizzi discussed setting up a sports bookmaking operation that would accept wagers on upcoming basketball games. The profits and losses from such an operation were to be split four ways between Sam and Dennis Librizzi, Frank Balistrieri, and Peter Picciurro. Sam Librizzi was the one who suggested the idea to Balistrieri, and in the course of this conversation referred to the fact that his brother Dennis had already opened up such a bookmaking operation in which Balistrieri and Sam Librizzi were included as partners. Librizzi further advised that he and Dennis were going to “combine” customers and “rent an office”.

In a telephone conversation on February 14, 1980, Micelli and Sam Librizzi discussed reduction of an amount owed by one of Micelli’s betting customers to Librizzi. At one point in this conversation, Librizzi told Micelli, “Yeah. But I see him all through the Football season, this was from . . .” In response, Micelli stated, “I understand, see, but I was waiting, as long as you got a little piece of money coming, that’s the time to pay.”

In a telephone conversation on February 18, 1980, Ed Feller told Sam Librizzi that due to the volume of bets, “[I]t seemed like football, for crying out loud.”

In a telephone conversation on February 22, 1980, Micelli advised Sam Librizzi that, “I just got through talking to my partner . . .”

In a telephone conversation on March 1, 1980, Micelli told Dennis Librizzi that he gave the “book” to the “other guy” because he (Micelli) was going to “leave in the next thirty-six hours.” In a telephone conversation on March 4, 1980, an unknown individual relayed a series of wagers to Sam Librizzi. These wagers were recorded by Librizzi on a bet slip under the account designation “Match”.

On March 5, 1980, the FBI seized documents (charting sheets and bet slips) from Frank Balistrieri’s bedroom in his residence on North Shepard Avenue in Milwaukee. Most of these documents were in the handwriting of Sam Librizzi. They reflected wagering activity on football games played on October 13, 1979, on October 14, 1979, and on October 15, 1979.

Much of John Alioto’s restaurant building was destroyed on August 15, 1981, in a fire that took the lives of two members of the Wauwatosa Fire Department, paramedics James Lorbeck and Lawrence Schampers. Lorbeck, 42, and Schampers, 38, died after they were trapped in the basement where the fire started.

Frank Balistrieri was indicted on October 1, 1981 of various gambling and tax charges. The case was assigned to Judge Robert W. Warren.

Balistrieri submitted his first motion for recusal on October 26, 1981, shortly after Judge Warren’s assignment to the case. The affidavit accompanying the motion set forth various statements and actions attributed to Judge Warren during the period from 1969 through early 1971, when he was Attorney General of Wisconsin. According to the affidavit, Warren believed that Frank Balistrieri was the head of the Mafia family in Wisconsin. Warren allegedly set into operation a systematic program, or “vendetta,” designed to ruin Balistrieri and to destroy businesses with which he or his relatives were associated. As a part of this program, Warren moved to dissolve certain Balistrieri-linked corporations for failure to file annual reports, saying that this “crackdown” was an effort to keep the crime syndicate out of legitimate business in Wisconsin. Warren also sought injunctions against four Balistrieri-linked taverns for not having workmen’s compensation insurance.

Benedetta Balistrieri, Frank’s daughter, followed her second husband, Johnny Contardo, a former lead singer for the band Sha Na Na, to Hollywood in 1982.

The October 4, 1982 car bombing of mob associate and the Stardust Casino’s Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal, in Las Vegas, was attributed to Balistrieri. Rosenthal’s Cadillac was parked in the parking lot of Tony Roma’s (620 East Sahara Avenue) and he survived only because a metal plate was installed under the driver’s seat.

Balistrieri’s second motion for recusal was filed on July 20, 1983. It incorporated the previous affidavit and included a new affidavit from one John Forbes. Forbes stated that he was then in the Federal Witness Protection Program, that he was then serving a sentence for burglary, and that over his life he had been charged with a number of crimes and convicted of several. He stated that in 1963 he became acquainted with one Herbert Krusche, a criminal investigator for the Wisconsin Department of Justice. According to Forbes, from 1968 through 1970, during the period when Robert Warren was Attorney General, Krusche asked Forbes to conduct a number of undercover investigations of Frank Balistrieri and persons alleged to be associated with him, in return for help in connection with criminal charges then pending. On several occasions in 1969 and 1970, Forbes related, he wore a body recorder or electronic listening device at Krusche’s request and monitored conversations of Frank Balistrieri and of his lawyer, Roland Steinle, among others. Krusche allegedly asked Forbes to break into someone’s apartment and plant a bug and to break into the basement of the Kings IV restaurant and plant a bottle of stolen liquor. On one occasion Krusche allegedly asked him to break into Steinle’s office and bring back any files he could find on Frank Balistrieri. Forbes stated that he complied with this request and brought back one file. According to Forbes, he met Robert Warren only once, in a meeting with other high officials of the Wisconsin Department of Justice. Forbes stated that he had made a tape of a conversation with someone about fixing a case pending against Forbes, then went with a reporter to the Attorney General’s office and turned over the tape. According to Forbes, someone stated that they could not use the tape “because it might be considered illegal or an entrapment or something of the sort.”

Forbes continued: “I made a statement to the effect I did not understand why they were concerned about it, in light of the number of times that I wore a bug for Mr. Krushe [sic] and went in places for him. Someone, I think [the Head of the Criminal Division], said “You better not talk about that.” [An assistant to Attorney General Warren] then asked if I had declared it on my Wisconsin tax return and kept a record of it. I said “no.” [The assistant] said “well, we did.” I understood this conversation to mean that I ought not to talk what [sic] I had done for Krusche [sic]. Attorney General Warren was present during this conversation. I do not remember any specific comments made by him. Except about entrapment etcetera. [sic]”

Balistrieri filed a third motion for recusal on August 16, 1983, attaching the affidavit of one Terrence Joseph Donley. According to Balistrieri, Donley contacted attorney John Balistrieri on August 11 after having read an article in the previous evening’s paper concerning Judge Warren’s denial of the previous motion for recusal.

In the affidavit Donley stated that he worked for the Wisconsin Department of Justice from June through September 1970 as an “undercover operative.” According to Donley, his immediate supervisors included Robert Warren. In Donley’s presence Warren allegedly swore that he was going to get Frank Balistrieri no matter what. Warren was alleged to have said, in substance, “If it’s the last thing I do, I’m going to put Frank Balistrieri back in prison for the rest of his life.” According to Donley, Warren frequently made statements of his intention to get Frank Balistrieri. Donley stated that a special detail of the Department of Justice under the supervision of Dan Hanley and under instructions from Warren was assigned to the Milwaukee detail on Frank Balistrieri and organized crime, and that it was the purpose of this detail to bring criminal charges against Frank Balistrieri. According to Donley, Warren would get upset if nothing was found. Donley stated that Frank Balistrieri and organized crime were among the top priorities on the Attorney General’s budget.

Balistrieri filed his final motion for disqualification on August 22, 1983. It included all the previous motions and supporting documents as well as new affidavits of Frank P. Balistrieri, John J. Balistrieri, and John C. Tucker, Frank Balistrieri’s attorney.

In his affidavit Frank Balistrieri stated his belief that Judge Warren had personal bias and prejudice against him. He reiterated the factual allegations of previous affidavits. The only new factual material we find is a paragraph stating that Balistrieri did not previously know Terrence Donley and did not give him anything for his affidavit, and a paragraph stating on information and belief that Judge Warren had said at a recent social gathering that he was delighted to be sitting in judgment in the case because he will have an opportunity to “put Frank Balistrieri away.”

The affidavits of John J. Balistrieri and John C. Tucker concerned the circumstances under which Terrence Donley came forward and gave his affidavit. John Balistrieri stated that he had never met Donley before and gave Donley nothing of value for his affidavit. They both stated, in substance, that news reports found in the Milwaukee Public Library confirmed certain statements that Donley had made regarding his background and his position as an informant for the State of Wisconsin during 1970.

The gambling case was reassigned to Judge Terence T. Evans for trial, and trial commenced on August 29, 1983.

In September 1983, Balistrieri and his two sons were indicted in Kansas City on charges of skimming over $2 million in unreported income from the Fremont Hotel and Casino (in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada) and the Stardust (in Winchester, Nevada), both associated with Argent Corporation (owned by Allen R. Glick, a San Diego real estate investor). 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, Balistrieri claimed to be innocent.

October 9, 1983, Frank P. Balistrieri, described by prosecutors as the city’s organized crime boss, was convicted of five gambling and tax charges but acquitted of five other counts stemming from a sports betting ring. Balistrieri, 65 years old, was accused of heading a betting operation from 1977 to 1980 that grossed at least $2,000 a day. The five-week trial stemmed from a government investigation that had included wiretapping of the Shorecrest Hotel, owned by Balistrieri’s son, Joseph, and a raid on Frank Balistrieri’s home in which Federal Bureau of Investigation agents knocked the front door open with a sledgehammer. Four other defendants were convicted on a total of 19 counts and found not guilty on two counts.

Two others were acquitted on all charges. One acquitted man was Peter Picciurro, whose attorney William Coffey told jurors in his closing statement that the court wanted to “grind Peter Picciurro up and spit him out because he’s in their way and they want Frank Balistrieri.”

Benjamin Ruggiero pleaded guilty in November and was sentenced to 11 years in prison, presumably lowered thanks to his involvement in catching the Balistrieris.

On January 5, 1984, Dennis Librizzi filed a motion seeking permission to file, as timely, an additional motion for a new trial. The motion alleges that the factual information supporting the January 5, 1984 motion for a new trial did not come to the attention of his counsel, Mr. Sutton, until December 31, 1983. The information used for the motion was that juror Douglas Plinska knew FBI agent James McDermott despite answering that he did not know any federal agent during jury selection.

At a hearing on January 16, while under oath, Plinska said he played on about 40 to 50 softball teams over the last 15 to 20 years, and that he turned 35 last year and joined, for the first time, a team in the “35 and over” league sponsored by the City of Brookfield. The team included about 15 “hard core” members who showed up for most games, and 3 or 4 others who only showed up for a few games. The team played about 14 games during the season, all on Monday nights. Plinska explained that he did not know McDermott except for the fact that McDermott was also on the team. They did not socialize together, and he did not know McDermott’s occupation until the team banquet was held on October 15, 1983, six days after Plinska’s duties as a juror in this case had come to a close.

A US District Court jury began deliberations on Saturday, April 8, after hearing from federal prosecutor John Franke about death threats, protection payoffs and the inner workings of the mob.

On Monday, April 10, 1984, Frank P. Balistrieri, described by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as the head of organized crime in Milwaukee, was convicted of extortion for trying to take control of an vending machine business run by undercover FBI agent Gail T. Cobb. Also convicted were his two sons, Joseph, 43, and John, 35. A fourth defendant, Michael SaBella, 73, a restauranteur and reported member of the Josepg Bonanno crime family in New York, was found not guilty.

On May 29, 1984, Frank was sentenced to four years imprisonment and a fine of $4,000 on the conspiracy, four years imprisonment and a fine of $10,000 on one of the § 1955 (conducting an illegal gambling business) counts, four years imprisonment and a fine of $4,000 on the other § 1955 count, and one year imprisonment and a fine of $1,000 on each of the two tax counts, with all the sentences of imprisonment to run concurrently. His sons were convicted of extorting a vending machine businessman and each received two years in prison and lost their licenses to practice law. “The first time I heard the word ‘Mafia’ was when I read it in the newspapers,” Frank said in a 10-minute pre-sentence speech to Judge Evans. He said that the convictions were results from a “conspiracy between the press and the government”, with the news media “inflaming and poisoning the community against me.”

Dennis Librizzi was sentenced on June 4, 1984, to imprisonment for a year and a day for conspiracy to conduct an illegal sports bookmaking operation and to three years probation for failure to file certain tax forms, on condition that he pay a fine of $15,000 during the probationary period.

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 distributing it to organized crime figures in Kansas City, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Cleveland. In failing health, Balistrieri pled guilty to two counts of conspiracy in exchange for dropping federal charges, which included attempting to conceal ownership of a casino to skim profits and interstate travel to aid racketeering. He also attempted to shield his sons, John and Joe, from any charges.

In December 1985, Balistrieri was sentenced to 10 years in prison (to run concurrently with his 13-year sentence from 1984). Close to achieving a seat on the ruling Mafia Commission in New York, Balistrieri was thwarted by this prison sentence. According to the Bureau of Prisons, Balistrieri was released from prison in late 1991.

He died of heart-related natural causes on February 7, 1993. Handling the funeral was Schmidt and Bartelt Funeral Service, though callers from the media were informed only that “a Frank Balistrieri” had died, without confirming it was the man itself. Senator Gary George, D-Milwaukee, was one of the notable attendees at Balistrieri’s funeral.