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Gangland Wire

Frank Balistreri and the Milwaukee Mob

Gangland Wire

Gary Jenkins: Mafia Detective

True Crime, Documentary, Society & Culture, History

4.6623 Ratings

🗓️ 30 May 2022

⏱️ 50 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Venmo me @ganglandwire Click here to “buy me a cup of coffee” To go to the store or make a donation or rent Ballot Theft: Burglary, Murder, Coverup  click here Gary talks to Milwaukee author and mob historian Gavin Schmitt about the history of the Milwaukee organized crime family. One of the first things we learn is that Milwaukee rarely enforced the Volstead Act and consequently, the mob was important in smuggling from Canada but inside the city of Milwaukee, it was hard to tell that alcohol was a banned substance. Gavin continues to explain the rise of the Frank Balistreri crime family. Frank Balistreri became to head of the Milwaukee family and he was instrumental in Midwest organized crime activities. Frank Balistreri and the Teamsters are the most current and important stories we discussed. He was able to help influence the Central State’s Teamster’s Pension Fund to loan money to Allen Glick to buy the Stardust casino. In return, Glick ensured the mob could skim money from the count rooms. Gavin Schmitt has several books on Milwaukee crime. For your purposes check out The Milwaukee Mafia: Mobsters in the Heartland Show notes by Gary Jenkins Venmo me @ganglandwire Click here to “buy me a cup of coffee” To go to the store or make a donation or rent Ballot Theft: Burglary, Murder, Coverup  click here To rent Brothers against Brothers, the documentary, click here.  To rent Gangland Wire, the documentary, click here To buy my Kindle book, Leaving Vegas: The True Story of How FBI Wiretaps Ended Mob Domination of Las Vegas Casinos. To subscribe on iTunes click here, please give me a review and help others find the podcast.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

You are listening to Gangland Wire, hosted by former Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit Detective, Gary Jenkins.

0:16.7

Welcome all you wiretappers out there, back here in the studio of Gangland Wire, here in the studio and on a Zoom call with my new friend Gavin Smith from up in Milwaukee.

0:26.1

First thing, a little commercial.

0:27.9

Don't forget to hit me up on Venmo at Gangland Wire, support the podcast.

0:32.4

Once in a while, buy me a Starbucks coffee.

0:35.7

Mine me one of those expensive coffees.

0:37.4

Some people even buy me a shot in a beer every once in a while or just buy me a din Starbucks coffee. Might me one of those expensive coffees.

0:41.3

Some people even buy me a shot in a beer every once in a while or just buy me a diner coffee for 10 cents.

0:42.8

You used to be able to get one of those, but you can't get one of those for 10 cents anymore.

0:47.5

You can also hit the donate button on the web page if you want to, Gang Land Wire, and I

0:53.2

appreciate it.

0:54.2

Gavin, welcome.

0:55.5

Glad to be here.

0:56.4

It's really an honor.

0:57.3

I think you might be the original Gangland podcast.

1:02.3

Gavin, I think you're right.

1:04.0

I look back and I see all these guys that got their mob podcast, but I look back and they

1:10.1

weren't anywhere. And when I started, there was one

1:13.5

other guy that I can find because I looked around for him. There was a guy up in New York that had

1:19.3

one and he kind of tried to act like he was a gangster too. I don't know if it lasted or not.

1:24.2

It was to me, it kind of turned me off trying to listen to it, but I don't know

1:27.6

a denigrated competition. I don't need to do that. But shortly after I started that one with

...

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