Last week, I mentioned the now-released book by Gavin Schmitt, The Milwaukee Mafia: Mobsters in the Heartland. The book details the rise of organized crime in the city, particularly in the Third Ward, home to the bulk of Milwaukee’s Sicilian population in the first decades of the 1900s. The history of crime and vice in Milwaukee are woefully under-examined and Schmitt’s book sets out to correct these omissions. I had the good fortune to be able to ask Schmitt a few questions about Milwaukee Mafia and his work in general.
Matthew J. Prigge: This is an incredible account of an aspect of Milwaukee's history that is largely forgotten today. What got you interested in this early era of organized crime in the city?
Gavin Schmitt: I'm guilty of two things: a stronger-than-average interest in the darker side of history and having an insatiable thirst for knowledge. With organized crime in Milwaukee, these two aspects collided. We have something very dark, very sinister... and something that required a lot of research. I couldn't resist.
MJP: Why do you think this part of the city's history - both what is covered here in the book and the Frank Balistrieri era that comes after - has been ignored by so many local historians?
GS: This is a great question. Milwaukee has some top notch historians, from John Gurda to Martin Hintz to Robert Tanzilo. I'm shocked that we can have a dozen books on Dahmer but none on Balistrieri. I don't know why it hasn't been tackled before, but hopefully this changes in the future. There are still many stories to unearth.
MJP: What were some of the research challenges in putting together a history of what most considered to be a "secret society?”
GS: The biggest challenge was simply the time period I was working with. Most records, if they ever existed, have long since been destroyed. The Milwaukee Police Department was more than willing to share their files with me, even for cases officially still "ongoing,” but prior to the 1940s the paper trail gets thin. The idea of "omerta" (the code of silence) is something of a myth, or at least an exaggeration. As you see in the book, there were always insiders willing to talk to police. By the 1960s, the FBI had a handful of high-ranking Milwaukee mobsters, most notably August Maniaci, regularly feeding them intel.
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A rare image of Vito Guardalabene, Milwaukee’s first mafia boss.
Photo courtesy of Gavin Schmitt
MJP: One of the central figures in the book is Vito Guardalabene, the city's first organized crime "boss." Tell us a little bit about him and how he came to be boss.
GS: Guardalabene remains a mystery in many ways, but we know he was the first boss and wielded authority through his sons and sons-in-law. With those connections, he had authority over who was hired and fired in the Third Ward, who could get a loan from the local bank, and other seemingly mundane things. By centralizing this authority, he was able to force new Italian immigrants to pay him tribute if they required these services. How he came to be boss required some speculation on my part. With his family connections, he certainly had the right framework to take the position. But I suspect he also had a high level of authority in Santa Flavia, Sicily before ever coming to Milwaukee and the decision was made in the Old Country. No "smoking gun" exists, unfortunately.
MJP: Finally, this book takes us up through the 1950s. Do you have plans for a follow up that would cover the Balistrieri years up to the current era?
GS: This all comes down to the publisher. For this book, I actually cut out almost as much as ended up being printed. I'm also actively adding more files, photos and notes to my research on an almost daily basis. There are more books to be written, and I'd be honored if that job ends up on my desk, but ultimately it's not my decision to make.
Men connected with the Milwaukee Mafia join celebrate with boxer Rocky Graziano (seated, second from the left) at Chico’s Bar-B-Q.
Milwaukee County Historical Society
The Milwaukee Mafia is available now online and at local booksellers. The Milwaukee Launch Party for the book is Saturday, March 14 at 2 p.m. at Boswell Books, 2559 N. Downer Avenue.
Check out what I’m up to at matthewjprigge.com
