Frank Balistrieri, the notorious mob boss of Milwaukee, stood among the most ruthless and dangerous figures in organized crime. His reach extended far beyond his own city, with strong ties to Kansas City, Chicago, and New Orleans. Balistrieri was a heavyweight in the underworld, but his reign faced mounting pressure during the Kennedy administration. By the early 1960s, federal scrutiny of his rackets intensified. In 1963, Joe Valachi publicly identified him as a dangerous and influential mob boss, placing him squarely in the crosshairs of law enforcement.
However, Balistrieri's ultimate downfall wouldn't come until the 1980s, when the FBI zeroed in on the infamous Las Vegas skim—a racket they had known about since as early as 1957. In fact, by 1963, federal agents had already cracked the Mafia's method of siphoning millions from Vegas casinos. Yet, despite this knowledge and a 1967 Life Magazine exposé that laid the entire scheme bare, no decisive action was taken. Casinos changed hands, some went bankrupt, and new owners emerged. But the Mafia’s shadowy influence never wavered, sustained by strategic bailouts funded by the Teamsters’ pension funds, ensuring their stranglehold on Las Vegas remained unbroken.
Enter Alan Glick, a legitimate businessman who became the mob’s unwitting pawn. Balistrieri, along with other powerful mobsters, saw an opportunity in Glick. Before long, Glick was installed as the head of the Stardust Casino, where he unwittingly became a central figure in the mob’s operations. This marked a turning point that would eventually lead to Balistrieri’s unraveling, as the FBI closed in on the Vegas skim, culminating in the takedown of major Mafia figures during Operation Straw Man.
In my next series, I will dive deeper into the story of Alan Glick—how he became entangled in the Mafia's web and the pivotal role he played in the Stardust Casino scandal. I will also explore Balistrieri’s bold 1963 interview, where he addressed the Kennedy administration’s accusations, offering a rare glimpse into the life of a man who fiercely denied his criminal empire. The story concludes in the 1980s, when the combined efforts of federal agencies finally dismantled his operations during the Vegas skim investigations, sealing his legacy as one of the last great Mafia bosses to fall.
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