Frigo Cheese Corp. - The Story of the Great Man who Ran It

hankstruckpictures.com

With all the mob related posts I've written lately concerning the Italian American community, I thought it was about time for a story of a great Italian American businessman and leader.
In 1981, I obtained a job as a truck driver at the Frigo Cheese Company in Lena, Wi and it enabled me to make the move from Milwaukee to the small town of Crivitz in northern Wisconsin. The President of the company was Leo Frigo and, unfortunately, I never got the chance to meet him. I was only there for a short time before he retired in 1983. I never heard one person bad mouth him while he was there and didn't find out what a great guy he was until after he left. Below is a biography of him by Paul’s Pantry, a non-profit he started in Green Bay after he retired. Today, it is one the largest food pantry programs [Paul's Pantry] in the nation for feeding the hungry!

My 1990 Kenworth T600

Leo Frigo was born into a large Italian-American family who at the time were living in Pound Wisconsin. He was the thirteenth of sixteen children, nine sons and seven daughters of Pasquale and Camilla Frigo.
Pasquale Frigo, his father, was born in Italy and came to the United States with $50 in his pocket and the dream of opening a cheese factory. His mother assisted him in this dream and he opened the Frigo Cheese Factory in Wisconsin. Both of his parents possessed a strong faith, which they passed along to their children. In her oral history, S. Pasqualine noted that her mother always taught her children to trust in divine providence.
When he was five years old he enrolled in Guardian Angels Boarding School in Oneida. Several of his older brothers and sisters were also students there. He loved the woods in Oneida and sometimes played cowboys and Indians with the Oneida children, ending up tied to a tree when the Indians won!
His four years of high school were spent in De Pere at another boarding school, St. Norbert High School. There Leo made many lifelong friends and seriously considered a religious vocation. In fact, his sister, Sister Marie Pasqualine Frigo spent her life as a Catholic nun, working with children.
After graduating as Salutatorian of his class, he entered the Franciscan order in New York and after a few months entered the Trappist Order in Dubuque Iowa. After less than a year he decided a meatless diet was not for him, so he returned home and worked in the family business. When Uncle Sam came calling Leo entered the U.S. Army and served in the Searchlight Division in Korea.
Using the G.I. Bill, he became a student in the Dairy Science Department at Iowa State University, Ames where he met and married fellow student Fran Chapman. After graduation from ISU it was back to Frigo Cheese where his first managerial position was as plant manager at Carney Milk Products, Carney Michigan. After six years as a "UPer" he and Fran took their growing family of four daughters to Lena WI where he became the Corporate Production Manager and Treasurer. He and his brothers expanded the business into South Dakota and he traveled to the Dakotas by car every other week for two years, many times picking up hitchhikers of dubious character. Like his father before him, he was never afraid to give a helping hand to those in need.
Leo retired as President of Frigo Cheese Corporation in 1983 at the age of 52. He wished to devote the remainder of his life to apostolic work and had been preparing for that mission before retirement by joining the St. Vincent de Paul Society. His first few months of retirement were spent assisting parolees, taking them on job interviews and assisting in their rehabilitation. The director of a local halfway house, Arlene Conant, suggested to Leo that the biggest problems ex-convicts faced was finding a job and supporting themselves. They sometimes resorted to stealing to have enough food. Arlene took Leo to St. Joseph Food Pantry in Appleton and it is here that Leo conceived the idea of beginning a food pantry in Green Bay.

Leo Frigo at Paul's Pantry

Obtaining space in a corner of the former St. Vincent de Paul store on Webster Court, now renamed Leo Frigo Way, Leo organized meetings of volunteers through the churches of all denominations. He visited all the local grocery stores begging for their surplus unsaleable food, even going as far as jumping into the dumpsters to retrieve food when it was denied. Leo used to say,

"Its better that I go into the dumpster rather than making the poor go there, at the end of the day my dignity will be intact and so will theirs." 

Leo passed away on February 13, 2001 from injuries sustained in a car accident. He was delivering food to a shut in.
Pictured below is the Leo Frigo Memorial Bridge. After Leo's death, the Tower Drive Bridge in Green Bay was renamed in his honor. Leo spent his life building a bridge between the "have's" and "have not's."
http://www.paulspantry.org/our-founder

Leo Frigo Memorial Bridge, Green Bay , WI

Future of the Cheese Plant
I moved to Salt Lake City in 1993 and in January, 1996, a major fire broke out in the plant and destroyed it. At the time, it was owned by Stella Foods. Because of a major commitment by the community and state of Wisconsin, the plant was rebuilt and today is owned by Saputo Cheese, a Canadian based company. Following from the Chicago Tribune:

LENA, WISCONSIN — A fire at a cheese factory that forms the financial backbone of the community forced hundreds of residents to evacuate their homes Saturday--and fear for their livelihoods. The fire, detected just before midnight, raged for hours, spewing thick black smoke and noxious fumes across this community of 600 in Wisconsin's far northeast corner, witnesses said. The Stella Foods Inc. plant, known locally by its former name, Frigo Cheese Co., was destroyed, Mayor Ed Patenaude said. No one was injured in the blaze or during the evacuation in near-zero temperatures. The noxious fumes were created by an ammonia leak at the plant, said Pat LeBreck, the county's emergency government director. The cause of the fire hasn't been determined, but Stella Foods already has made provisions for rerouting its milk deliveries to six other cheese-producing facilities and other producers in Wisconsin, a spokesman said. Stella Foods Inc., based in Green Bay, is the fourth-largest U.S. cheese producer. It bought the Frigo plant in 1992 from Frigo Foods Inc. of Green Bay. The company sells ricotta, Parmesan and Romano cheeses under the Stella, Frigo and other labels. Stella Foods is a unit of Specialty Foods Corp. in Lincolnshire, Ill.
Chicago Tribune Article

Note: In 1997 Saputo Cheese USA bought up Stella Foods and the Canadian company has owned it since.

(Edit 4/29/2025): Nice story about the Carney, Michigan plant that was located about 60 miles from Lena. Readable text in from the image is shown just below it:

Forty-Five years ago, the largest milk processing plant in Menominee County, Carney Milk Products - Frigo Brand, was processing 300,000 to 500,000 pounds of milk per day - depending on the season. The plant was also a major employer with 75 employees. Lloyd Benson was manager.
The plant had been owned and operated by Casper Loberger prior to being purchased by Frigo in 1956. Benson stated that, “In 1956, we had about 150 producers shipping, at peak periods, 60,000 pounds of milk per day. In the last 20 years, many cheese factories and plants in the area have fallen by the wayside and their milk has come to us. The increased volume of milk enabled us to produce 4,000 pounds of cheese per hour.” In 1977, the plant was producing about 8,000,000 pounds of Italian cheese.
The Carney plant produced different kinds of cheese over the years but had begun specializing in Italian cheese due to demand. One of Frigo’s major plants was located in Lena, WI. Some of the cheese produced in Carney was sent there for further processing and packaging.
Many of the employees in the plant were women and their work often included trimming and packaging the large chunks of cheese (photo at right). Women also worked in the lab, where all of the milk and cheese was tested. The plant was USDA inspected and followed federal regulations. The plant’s Grade A milk operation brought in about 4,500,000 pounds of milk per month.
The plant in Carney closed in the early 1990s.
Several area haulers had trucks going to the plant and some had hauled milk to other cheese factories and Great A & P Tea Company’s White House Milk plant in Stephenson.

Article thanks to: https://www.facebook.com/MenomineeCountyJournal

Other Posts:
Benjamin "Lefty Guns" Ruggerio-The real story of the "wise guy"
The Beef That Didn't Moo - Wisconsin Ties to the Mob
Tales of the Milwaukee Mob and Two Cigarette Men!
Married to the Daughter of a Milwaukee Mob Boss-Our Pediatrician!
The Milwaukee Queen Bee of Organized Crime
Tale of a Failed Milwaukee Mob Hit!
Lieutenant Uhura (of the Starship "Enterprise") - close encounters with the Chicago and Milwaukee Mob!
Part Two: The Milwaukee Mob and Lieutenant Uhura (Star Trek)
The New York Mob and Iowa Beef - Part 1
The New York Mob and Iowa Beef Processors - Part II

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The New York Mob & Iowa Beef - Part II

hankstruckpictures.com

This is Part 2, of a two part series. Part 1 was posted last night (I recommend that you read it first). This, a story of Iowa Beef Processors and a criminal shake down perpetrated by the New York Mafia that affected most everyone in this country! 

Thanks to Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All American Meal and Jonathon Kwitny, author of Vicious Circles for much of this information:

Eric Schlosser writes: “In the spring of 1970, Holman and three other top IBP executives held secret meetings in New York City with Moe Steinman, a “labor consultant” who had close ties with La Cosa Nostra. Unionized butchers in New York were blocking (actually union dock workers) the sale of IBP’s boxed beef out of solidarity for the striking workers and fear for their own jobs. IBP was eager to ship it’s products to the New York metropolitan area, the nation’s largest market for beef. Moe Steinman offered to help end the butchers’ boycott and in return demanded a five cent “commission” on every ten pounds of beef that IBP sold in New York.”

The “commission” was the cut demanded by the New York mobsters! Since they controlled the union leadership of the east coast meat industry, they found the goose with many golden eggs. The union bosses didn’t give a rat’s **s about butcher’s losing their jobs. They were getting a small cut of the “commission” that that the mob boys doled out to them. There were millions upon millions of dollars syphoned off in this criminal operation.

Schlosser continues: “After a lengthy investigation of mob involvement in the New York City meat business, Currier J. Holman and IBP were tried and convicted in 1974 for bribing union leaders and meat wholesalers. Judge Burton Roberts fined IBP $7000 but did not punish Holman with any prison time or fine, noting that bribes were sometimes part of the cost of doing business in New York City. Holman’s links to organized crime, however, extended far beyond the payments that honest New York businessmen were forced to make.”

They actually forced Holman to get rid of four company executives, while installing Steinman’s son-in-law a group vice president of IBP. One of Steiman’s friends was also appointed to the board of IBP. This man was formerly in prison, being convicted of bribery and selling tainted meat.

Jonathan Kwitny writes in his book, Vicious Circles: "Iowa Beef, though founded only in 1961, already in 1970 dominated the meat industry the way few other industries are dominated by anyone. Since then, in partnership with [Moe] Steinman and his family and friends, Iowa Beef has grown more dominant still. It was as if the Mafia had moved into the automobile industry by summoning the executive committee of General Motors, or the computer industry by summoning the heads of IBM, or the oil industry by bringing Exxon to its knees. Moe Steinman and the band of murderers and thugs he represented had effectively kidnapped a giant business. Its leaders were coming to pay him the ransom, a ransom that turned out to be both enormous and enduring."
Kwitny continues,
"As a result of the meeting in the darkened suite at the Stanhope Hotel [in New York City] that day in 1970, Iowa Beef would send millions of dollars to Steinman and his family under an arrangement that continued at least until 1978. After the meeting millions more would go to a life-long pal of Steinman and his Mafia friends, a man who had gone to prison for using slimy, diseased meat in filling millions of dollars in orders [by bribing meat inspectors] and wound up on Iowa Beef's board of directors.
"Consequent to the meeting in the Stanhope Hotel, Iowa Beef would reorganize its entire marketing apparatus to allow Steinman's organization complete control over the company's largest market and influence over its operations coast-to-coast. In 1975, Iowa Beef would bring Moe Steinman's son-in-law and protege to its headquarters near Sioux City to run the company's largest division and throw his voice into vital corporate decisions."

Jonathan Kwitny concludes in his book, Vicious Circles:
"Because of their hold on Iowa Beef, the racketeers' control of other segments of the meat industry would expand and harden. And as a result of all this, the price of meat for the American consumer --- the very thing Currier Holman had done so much to reduce ---  would rise. Meyer Lansky once said that the Syndicate was bigger than U.S. Steel. When Iowa Beef Processors caved in on that April day in 1970, the Syndicate, as far as the meat industry was concerned, became U.S. Steel."

You know what the sad part of this whole story is? The New York mobsters who perpetrated this whole thing came away from this virtually untouched. In 1971, two double agents in the New York District Attorney's office tipped off a contact for Paul Castellano (who, in 1976, would become head of the Gambino crime family of New York) that Moe Steinman was being investigated. The two detectives then sold themselves for $30,000 and began to lay out the investigation for the mob and keep them posted on all developments. This went on for two years as the mob bosses and union leaders stayed one step ahead of the Feds. After eventually being backed into a corner, Moe Steinman appeared to cooperate with the strike force, and provide evidence of further help. What he was really doing was orchestrating his own deal, giving up a few union people who were “disposable”, along with select meat managers and others who were not the primaries in the scandal. He was also able to arrange a plea deal for himself, eventually serving 6 months in prison for all of his crimes. About 10 meat company executives were eventually convicted and mostly sentenced to probation and fines. Iowa Beef received a fine of $7,000 and C.J. Holman continued operating the company as if nothing had ever happened. The power of the American Mob was enormous, especially on the east coast!
Eventual Justice? In December of 1985, Paul Castellano and his driver, Thomas Bilotti were gunned down by four shooters wearing trench coats in front of a New York steakhouse. The mob executions were ordered and watched by John Gotti as he sat in a car across the street.

Other of my related Mob Posts:
"Mr. Fancy Pants" Balistrieri - Tracking Milwaukee's most dangerous mobster
The Beef That Didn't Moo - Wisconsin Ties to the Mob
Tales of the Milwaukee Mob and Two Cigarette Men!
Married to the Daughter of a Milwaukee Mob Boss-Our Pediatrician!
The Milwaukee Queen Bee of Organized Crime
Tale of a Failed Milwaukee Mob Hit!
Lieutenant Uhura (of the Starship "Enterprise") - close encounters with the Chicago and Milwaukee Mob!
Part Two: The Milwaukee Mob and Lieutenant Uhura (Star Trek)
The New York Mob and Iowa Beef - Part 1

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The New York Mob & Iowa Beef - Part I

hankstruckpictures.com

This is Part I of a two part series. Part II tomorrow.

I’m sure most everyone in this country has eaten beef from Iowa Beef Processors, Inc. They were acquired by Tyson Foods in 2001 (now known as Tyson Fresh Meats). Way back in the 1950’s, a man by the name of Currier J. Holman, born in Sioux City, Iowa had spent many years developing a vision behind a new way of “meatpacking”.  The standard business model of the “Big 5” meat packers (Swift, Armour, Wilson, Morrell,and Cudahy) of that era involved the transport by truck and rail of “swinging meat” beef carcasses all over the country for local store processing by mostly union member butchers. I entered the trucking industry in 1981 and still remember seeing the old refrigerated trailers with vertical rails along the ceiling to hold the meat hooks for swinging beef. And I remember the older drivers telling me how dangerous trailers full of swinging meat were on curves and corners in the old days!
The following first part is thanks to nebraskastudies.org and a link to their site follows. Photos, courtesy Nebraska State Historical Society and Hankstruckpictures.com:

In 1961, a new operation, Iowa Beef Processors, Inc (soon known as IBP) emerged, forty-five miles to the east and north of Omaha, in Denison, Iowa. Its founders set out to completely rethink meatpacking.

IBP located in Dennison to be close to the production of both corn and cattle. Traditional packing houses were multi-story buildings in which livestock were driven up a long ramp to the top floor. They would also slaughter different species in the same building, requiring different departments. They then used gravity to move the carcass from killing room to chiller and then into a railcar.
Iowa Beef Packers, as its name suggests, slaughtered only beef, and its facility was all on the ground level and completely refrigerated. By refrigerating from the beginning, they were able to prevent shrinkage due to dehydration. They also invested heavily in automation and created a true disassembly line where each person had one specific task in the butchering process.

With their line processing of beef, they dramatically reduced the skill level that a meat processor needed, opening up the potential pool of workers. In Dennison, they found an eager labor force drawn largely from people with experience in agriculture. Importantly, this labor force was not organized into a union. A non-unionized, lower-skilled workforce meant the company could pay lower wages, and the automated design meant higher employee output, giving IBP a substantial market advantage.

They also economized by going directly to the rancher or farmer to buy cattle, thus eliminating the stock yards from the transactions. And with large trucks, they transported their cattle straight from the feedlot to the processing plant, further increasing efficiency.
IBP revolutionized the industry by developing boxed beef. Transporting carcasses to butchers was grossly inefficient. It meant that the slaughterhouse shipped a lot of waste material, and carcasses did not fit efficiently into the rectangular spaces of refrigerated trucks and rail cars. By cutting the carcasses into smaller pieces that fit nicely into boxes, they were able to pack substantially more beef into a truck, dramatically reducing the cost-per-pound paid for transportation. And because they were doing more of the processing at their plant, the beef required less skilled labor at the meat counter.

In 1967, IBP opened a new, highly automated and immense plant at Dakota City, Nebraska, a small town just across the Missouri River from Sioux City, Iowa, another major meat-producing city. This became their flagship plant and headquarters.

IBP’s innovations seriously threatened traditional meatpacking jobs, and national unions knew that. Soon, the Dakota City plant became the location of dramatic, sometimes violent, strikes.
The union had some issues, for sure, but the continuing strike was a mystery for Mr. Holman. No matter what concession was offered, it was flatly rejected, seemingly without common sense reasoning. Henry Ford was celebrated for inventing the assembly line procedure for automobiles that made cars affordable for the average citizens of this great country. Holman found himself embroiled in dispute when he employed the same principles in the meat industry. Technology, efficiency and progress certainly was not good for professional butchers, but it would be foolish to think you can stop it. What follows in Part 2, tomorrow, will explain the enormous criminal scam perpetrated by the New York Mafia with their vast union control that siphoned off many millions of mid-western dollars! The New York union leaders didn't give hoot about the butcher's jobs. It was all about bribes, payoffs and getting their piece of the action!
http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0900/frameset_reset.html?http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0900/stories/0902_0600.html

Other Related Mob Story Posts:
The New York Mob and Iowa Beef Processors - Part II
"Mr. Fancy Pants" Balistrieri - Tracking Milwaukee's most dangerous mobster
The Beef That Didn't Moo - Wisconsin Ties to the Mob
Tales of the Milwaukee Mob and Two Cigarette Men!
Married to the Daughter of a Milwaukee Mob Boss-Our Pediatrician!
The Milwaukee Queen Bee of Organized Crime
Tale of a Failed Milwaukee Mob Hit!
Lieutenant Uhura (of the Starship "Enterprise") - close encounters with the Chicago and Milwaukee Mob!
Part Two: The Milwaukee Mob and Lieutenant Uhura (Star Trek)

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Chicago Cops and the Ambulance Chaser

chicago.citysearch.com

Here's another great post by Ken Skaggs in his Driver Story Magazine Blog. You can link to his site below or in my side bar. He has some very interesting posts on old Chicago corruption!

Chicago 1981: I had been an ambulance chaser for a while and was already popular with most of the cops in 16th district. But this one incident will always stay etched on my mind because I was beaten for no reason. It worked out in the end because I got the car, but only thanks to a good friend. I can’t remember the cop’s name, and even if I did I wouldn't tell you.

I didn't always chase with a tow truck, I was usually in a car, but on this day I happened to be driving one. I was just cruising around, listening to a police scanner, when I came upon an accident. In fact, I saw it happen. It was on Montrose, between the Edens Expressway and the viaduct- a head-on collision.

Since I was right there and a witness, i jumped out of my truck and made sure everyone was OK. They were relatively unharmed, and the driver at fault (always my favorite to get, because then you can usually get the other car too) asked me to tow his car before I could even suggest it. Of course, I said yes, and waited for the cops to come and fill out their report.

I was standing there with the driver when the cop’s pulled up. Now, in most cases, I’d tell the cop I would “take care of him” if I got the car, but in this case I thought I’d try to get the car without talking to the cops- big mistake.

One of the cops motioned me to the side and said I couldn’t tow this car, that he already had a guy on the way. I said I knew this guy, and he already said I could. The cop insisted I leave the scene immediately, but I remained, and told him I knew my rights, as did the driver, and I was a witness as well. Again he insisted I leave before he arrested me for solicitation. I assured him I would “buy him lunch” but that just pissed him off.

The cop then grabbed by beeper off my belt and smashed me in the head with it a few times. I blocked most of his blows, and that just infuriated him even more. He slapped the cuffs on me and put me in the backseat. As I sat down, since I was handcuffed and couldn’t block, he smacked me a few more times with my now-broken beeper, then dropped in on the squad-car floor at my feet.

I sat there for a while, stunned at what just happened, and tried to figure out what I did wrong. Like I said, I knew most of the cops, but I didn't know this clown.

Just then, a good friend, and fellow chaser showed up. Now this friend (who shall remain nameless) was a very well connected chaser who had been at it for a generation- in fact, he was the guy who took me under his wing early on and taught me the ropes when I first started.

I watched from the squad-car as he shook hands with the cop, and made casual conversation. It seemed like forever before I could get his attention. Finally, my good friend noticed me in the backseat of the cop-car. He said, “Hey, why do they have you in here?”

I answered, “This cop just beat the crap out of me because I wouldn't leave- and I was a witness.”

My buddy told the cop I was “cool” and that he should let me go. The cop opened the door and took the cuffs off me, and apologized, saying he didn't know.

I wound up towing both cars, paying the cop $100 ($50 each car), and made a new “friend” at 16th district.

Click here to link to driverstorymagazine.com

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Part Two: The Milwaukee Mob and Lieutenant Uhura (Strar Trek)

transgriot.blogspot.com

Remember Star Trek and the actor who played Lieutenant Uhura of the crew of the Enterprise? Her real name is Nichelle Nichols and in her autobiography described a couple of brushes with the Chicago and Milwaukee mobsters that could very well have put her in an early grave! 

Part two follows, Part one was posted last night:
Nichelle, born in 1932, studied in Chicago as well as New York and Los Angeles. Her first big break came in an appearance in Kicks and Co., Oscar Brown, Jr.'s highly touted, but ill-fated musical. Although the play closed after its brief try-out in Chicago, she attracted the attention of Hugh Hefner, the publisher of Playboy, who was so impressed with her appearance that he booked her immediately at his Chicago Playboy Club. While still in Chicago, she performed at the "Blue Angel", and in New York, Nichols appeared at that city's "Blue Angel" as a dancer and singer. Between acting and singing engagements, Nichols did occasional modeling work.

While making a name for herself in the Chicago clubs, she received a two week offer to open a posh new supper club in Milwaukee. It was a dream job, headliner status, a two week contract with options for up to six, and great pay. The newly remodeled club was magnificent with a spacious stage that was a performer’s dream. She met the musicians, chorus-line dancers and Laura, a singer whose specialty number was a scintillating bolero. Everyone seemed like one big happy troupe.

The first week went very well, with great reviews and packed houses, but she sensed something peculiar about the place. The dancers would giggle nervously between acts, then dash from the stage, dress in a flash, and head upstairs to mingle with the customers after each show.

From Nichelle’s basement dressing room, she would hear Louie the bartender snapping at the girls, “all right, let’s move it. Ya know, Mr. B. don’t like nobody bein’ late. Let’s go!” Within minutes, they’d be gone. What these pretty young girls were doing was going upstairs to “B-drink”. This was an old practice where the girls mixed with the audience to encourage male customers to run up large bar tabs. If you were B-drinking with a customer, you might order
a glass of champagne, then the bartender would pour you a ginger ale. The customer, who probably ordered champagne, also, got billed for two champagnes. This allowed the club to make a fantastic profit on the bar and also created an atmosphere conducive the other business of prostitution. Of course, in the better B-joints, prostitution was not openly practiced, but many a girl made her “dates” on the side. Nichelle was sitting in her dressing room one evening when Louie the bartender came banging on the door. “ Miss Nichols! You’re wanted upstairs!” She replied “Thanks but no thanks. I’m getting ready for my next show.”
“Look,” he replied firmly, “I’m not askin’ ya, I’m tellin’ ya: You’re supposed to be upstairs. NOW.”
Nichelle: “Excuse me? Who do you think you are talking to?” Louie’s mouth dropped as she closed the door in his face!
When Nichelle got a chance to talk to Laura, the bolero dancer, she found out what was going on. “This used to be a strip club” she said matter-of-factly. “Leopards don’t change their spots, they just change the decor”. Nichelle: “You mean it’s the same owner who owned it when it was a strip joint?” “Yeah replied Laura, “we were the strippers. Or did you think we were all legit?” She then realized that this was probably a mob connected joint that she was working.

The Meeting
The next night the club’s owner came to the dressing room, Frankie Balistrieri. Nichell described him as small, stocky, yet always impeccably dressed. “I understand from Louie that we’re having a problem.” Nichelle: “I don’t have any problems, I go upstairs every night, do my two shows, then I go home.” “Yeah, I know,” he said patiently, then proceeded to explain to me what my job really was. “So you see, that’s how we do it here.”
“I’m sorry”, Nichelle replied. “I don’t B-drink and I don’t play B-bars. My agent told me this was a legitimate supper club.” “But I want you should do this,” he said gently as he calmly cracked each knuckle.

After going back and forth for awhile, with Nichelle asserting that she was raised by good parents, didn't drink, didn't smoke and had a young son to raise, she threatened to leave if that’s what Frankie expected of her.
Frankie stood there silently, looking at her. “Okay,” he said at last. “You’re bringing in lots of customers. They like you, so it’s okay. You always mind you mother and father, you will not go wrong. Anybody tells you anything, you tell ‘em to talk to Frankie Balistrieri. I like ya. You got class kid.” “Thank you”, said Nichelle.
Note: Mobsters seldom take no for an answer. They just think of another way to get to you! This was in the mid-1950’s and Frankie was not yet the “godfather” of the Milwaukee mob, that wouldn't happen until 1961, but he was training hard for it!

Nichelle knew she had to get out of there and was counting the days until her two week contract was up. A couple nights before what was to have been her last night came another knock on the door from Louie. “Oh, uh, Miss Nichols,” he said in his cretinous voice, ”by the way: Frankie wants ya here anuddah two weeks.”

Frankie exercised that first two week option with a raise, then another bigger one, by which time, Nichelle was dying to leave. She began to get the idea that Frankie was fond of her when he invited her up to visit his family. His wife and children were said to have never been seen at the club before.  While staying at a very nice hotel around the corner and up the block from the club, she began hearing stories about Frankie and the local rackets. He was not yet the Midwest Don he would become, but was working hard at it. His gang and his rivals were entrenched in a turf dispute, and right before she left, a stripper at another club was shot on-stage and killed by a rival mob. They had no compunction about making sure that their girls never got away. The implied threat of a savage beating or a shattered nose kept all the girls in line. Nichelle became increasingly afraid and more determined than ever to get away. Ironically, her show was growing increasingly popular and for the first time in Frankie’s career, one of his shows was reviewed in the local paper. The better she got, the deeper the hole she was getting into.
 

When finally marshaling the nerve to tell him she was leaving, she first saw the dangerous glimmer in Frankie’s eyes. “You know,” he said menacingly, “nobody quits on Frankie Balistrieri.”
Scrambling to find an excuse, she blurted out “But it’s my dad. He’s had a heart attack and my family needs me back home. I have to go.” It was the performance of her life. “Your dad, huh?” Frankie considered as he eyed her carefully, her thinking that he knew she wasn’t telling the truth, but he “seemed” to go along with it.
Remember, they just start thinking of another way to get to you!

“Okay, here’s what we’re gonna do: You leave and go care of your father. I respect you. That’s beautiful. Then you come back here and bring your little boy. We’ll find you a nice apartment. You’ll love it here!”
Smelling the trap, Nichelle responded, “I’m not bringing my son here. And I’m not moving to Milwaukee. I’ve been here 10 weeks and I’m dying inside. I’ve got to go.”
Frankie’s response was a statement, not a question: “Okay, go home, and come back, and you’ll give me six weeks. Then you’re free.”   Nichelle went home for a couple of weeks and told her parents some, but not all of what was going on. Her father had enough experience with the mob that he also knew she couldn't just walk away. She had observed Frankie carefully and started to formulate a plan. So did Frankie. Thinking that if she stayed the whole six weeks, he’d be able to convince her never to leave, he started turning up the heat. Enter Frankie’s lawyer, Dominic Frinzi or Mr. F. as everyone at the club called him. In his $1000 silk suits, he was slick, suave and cunning as a snake. He tried to buy her with a key to an apartment, fur coat and jewelry, which Nichelle had to continually refuse.

It was now time for Nichelle’s plan. Three or four weeks into her run, she contacted a reporter that had written a great review of her. She told him she had a real scoop for him and proceeded to enthusiastically reveal how because of the terrific exposure she’d gotten working for Balistrieri, she was on her way to New York! She told of how she owed everything to Mr. B, she gushed, because he was so kind to feature me in his club. The writer ate it up and when Frankie read the item in the paper, he did too! “Why dincha tell me you were going to New York?” he asked proudly. Whether Frankie really believed that she really believed that he had discovered her, or was simply saving face and deciding to give her a break, we’ll never know. Frankie went around for years boasting that he discovered her. Nichelle’s engagement was mercifully shortened a couple of weeks and she finally got away. However, not before a girl from another club was found dead one morning, her body disposed of in a trash can!

Credit and thanks to Nichelle Nichols and her 1994 book Beyond Uhura. The book is still available at Amazon (link provided below) and is a very good read, especially if you were a Star Trek fan!

More of my posts about the Mob:
The Beef That Didn't Moo - Wisconsin Ties to the Mob

Tales of the Milwaukee Mob and Two Cigarette Men!

Married to the Daughter of a Milwaukee Mob Boss-Our Pediatrician!

The Milwaukee Queen Bee of Organized Crime

Tale of a Failed Milwaukee Mob Hit!

Lieutenant Uhura (of the Starship "Enterprise") - close encounters with the Chicago and Milwaukee Mob!

Part Two: The Milwaukee Mob and Lieutenant Uhura (Star Trek)

The New York Mob and Iowa Beef - Part 1

The New York Mob and Iowa Beef Processors - Part II
"Mr. Fancy Pants" Balistrieri - Tracking Milwaulee's most dangerous mobster

My Amazon Author Link

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Lieutenant Uhura (of the Starship "Enterprise") - close encounters with the Chicago and Milwaukee Mob!

startrek.com

Remember Star Trek and the actor who played Lieutenant Uhura of the crew of the Enterprise? 

Part One:
Her real name is Nichelle Nichols and in her autobiography described a couple of brushes with the Chicago and Milwaukee mobsters that could well have put her in a very early grave twice!
Nichelle was the daughter of Samuel and Lishia Nichols and was born in 1932 in Robbins, IL, a small town about 30 miles southwest of Chicago. Her father, Sam was the town  mayor and chief magistrate.
Earlier that year came a headline in the Chicago newspaper “Capone Gin Mill Smashed: Small Town Busts Mobster’s Booze Factory”. The small town that the gin mill was in was Robbins! As soon as Sam read the paper, he knew he was going to get a visit. He sat on his porch all day waiting, a long black limousine finally appearing and proceeding up the driveway. Sam told his wife to get the kids and go into the the house. “Sit the kids down and don’t make a sound”. She sat down on the sofa with a pillow in her lap and hugged her youngest child, Frank, sitting next to her.

As the limo came to a stop, four men exited the car, all wearing black camel-hair coats and black fedoras. One of them opened a back door and a fifth man emerged wearing a pearl-grey silk suit, white silk shirt, and tie.
“You Sam Nichols?” he asked. “Yes, I’m Sam Nichols and the mayor of this town” was the reply.
The man then asked Sam if he knew who he was and Sam replied “I know why you’re here. I read the newspaper. I just don’t know why you’ve come to me”. The stranger said “Well you’ve got a problem Sam, my name is Mr. Capone and I’m here because my brother Al is very displeased with you.” Sam asked “Can we talk privately in my study? My wife is pregnant, and you’ve frightened my children. No need for them to witness this, is there?” “Lead the way” replied Capone.

One man remained outside as the other three following Sam and Capone into the house. Two posted themselves in the parlor with Lishia and the children, while Capone, the other goon and Sam went upstairs to the study. Lishia, hugging the pillow tightly, stared straight ahead.
Sam offered Capone a brandy, which he accepted, and began “I know your mill was raided by one of my officers. He was a rookie and thought he’d make a good impression.”
“He made a helluva impression, Sam” snorted Capone. Sam: “Yes. Well. What I don’t understand is why you’re here to settle your displeasure with me. I didn’t even know your mill was in my township.” Sam knew by the look on Capone’s face that he didn’t believe him. Sam: “I know you’re here to kill me. But I ask two things: One, why hold me responsible, and two, whatever you do to me, don’t harm my family-please.”
Capone snarled “For five big ones a week is why you’re responsible, Sam” He set his glass down, rose from his chair, turned and softly commanded to his bodyguard: “Be quick and clean.” As Capone had his hand on the doorknob Sam firmly stated, “I never received a dime of your goddamned money!”
The gangster turned and ordered “Explain, Sam”. “YOU explain", said Sam, "I should at least know why I’m about to die! Who did you give money to?” Capone exploded “What are you, pazzo?” “Your police chief, Sam! Two for him and three for you, in cash, on time, every week for the last 18 months. Now, I’ve had it with this game. Arrivederci!”
Sam jumped from his chair. " I never received a dime from that weasel,nor did he ever approach me about it! He knew if he had, I’d have handed him his head on a platter. I’d have never let you put your gin mill in this township! This is a clean, honest town and I’d rather die before I’d help it be corrupted, dammit!”
Capone and his goon exchanged a quick glance before relying, “You almost did, Sam. I’ll tell you what, we’ll check out your story. It checks, we won’t be back.”

They then went downstairs and Capone crossed the room and patted Lishia’s shoulder, and said “You can relax sweetheart. Sam’s OK. For now.”

For the first time, Lishia’s eyes met the visitor’s, and as she stared through him, slowly removed the pillow from her stomach to reveal a pearl-handled six-shooter, fully loaded. The children gasped and Sam held his breath. “It’s a damn good thing he is”, she hissed.

Startled, Capone’s goons all drew their guns, but their boss gestured for them to relax. “You had this all the time?, he asked incredulously. “Why didn’t you use it?”

“You hadn’t done anything,” she answered icily. “, You were guests in my home.”  Capone’s nervous guffaw crashed the silence. “You’re all pazzo!” Turning to his bodyguards, “Out of here, you goombas!”.

Turning at the door, Capone said, We won’t be coming back Mrs. Nichols.” Then to Sam, “ You've got yourself one helluva lady there, Mr. Mayor.” Capone and his henchmen then drove off and never bothered them again.

And where was Nichelle Nichols? Under the pillow, next to the gun, inside Lishia, waiting to be born!

Had Sam been killed that day in his study, it’s frightening to think of what would have happened next. It’s highly unlikely that Capone would have intended not to harm Sam’s family. That would have left witnesses who could have put him away for life! Stay tuned for Part Two tomorrow. It’s the story of Nichelle’s encounter with the Milwaukee Mob and leader Frankie “Mad Bomber” Balistrieri!
Link to Part II below!
Credit:
Beyond Uhura "Star Trek and Other Memories" by Nichelle Nichols
Good reading, and highly recommended, especially if you are a Star Trek fan!

Other of my related Mafia Posts:

The Beef That Didn't Moo - Wisconsin Ties to the Mob

Tales of the Milwaukee Mob and Two Cigarette Men!

Married to the Daughter of a Milwaukee Mob Boss-Our Pediatrician!

The Milwaukee Queen Bee of Organized Crime

Tale of a Failed Milwaukee Mob Hit!
"Mr. Fancy Pants" Balistrieri - Tracking Milwaukee's most dangerous mobster
Part Two: Milwaukee Mob and Lieutenant Uhura (Star Trek)

My Amazon Author Link

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Married to the Daughter of a Milwaukee Mob Boss - Our Pediatrician!

Composite photo by Pat Migliaccio

I sometimes wonder how many good and decent Italian Americans were affected by the vast criminal mafia network in this country. The history of the American Mafia is fascinating to me, as I have tried to learn about it over the past couple of decades. After finding out many years later that some of the people I dealt with back in Milwaukee were connected (see “Related Posts” links below), I have been doing a lot of research.
Being a franchised gas station operator back in 1970’s Milwaukee, I decided to start up a side business making and selling ice wholesale, installing freezers at various businesses and selling the owners ice to retail to the public. Thank God, it wasn't a vending business, as I had no idea at that time, it was tightly controlled by Frank P. Balistrieri, who happened to be the leader of the Milwaukee Mob! In 1978, the FBI sent in an undercover agent by the name of Gail T. Cobb to set up a fake vending business, was being tailed and very nearly killed by a couple of Balistrieri's thugs. He was a ruthless and disgusting man and I have no sympathy for mobsters in the least. But we all have family, and if some of your family is connected, it can’t help but affect you in many negative ways, whether you participated, tried to ignore, or were just aware of.

After getting Gavin Schmitt’s new book a few weeks ago “Milwaukee Mafia (Images of America)”, I sat down to read it. I had been eagerly awaiting the release of the book for months and had pre-ordered it. The book contains about 125 pages of fascinating photos from back in the mob days that really bring out the rich history of Milwaukee. I highly recommend it.

As I was reading through and looking at the photos, I came across a familiar name that caught my eye. That name was “Dr. Joseph E. Vaccaro” as I looked at a caption of a photo from the early 50’s. Looking more closely at the picture, I couldn't believe my eyes. The man looked so familiar and I realized I was looking at a photo of our old pediatrician from back in Milwaukee! I was born in 1952 and this was the doctor who made house calls to our home when my younger brother and I were sick! I thought  “this guy was a doctor and what the heck is he doing in a book about the Milwaukee Mafia?”.

Dr. Vaccaro was the pediatrician for all of my brothers and sisters and my parents used him all the through the 50’s and into the 70’s! Of course after the first few years, it became impractical for a Doctor to make house calls and my parents would take the kids to his office. What follows is what I have been able to piece together from more research the last few weeks:

After getting his medical degree in 1940, Joseph started his practice as a pediatrician. In 1947, it was announced in the Milwaukee Journal that he was engaged to a Carmen Migliaccio. Carmen just happened to be the daughter of a high ranking Milwaukee mob member by the name of Pasquale Migliaccio. Migliaccio and Joseph Vallone were immigrants from the same small village of Prizzi, Sicily.

milwaukee mafia 'images of america"

• Together, they formed a business, Migliaccio & Vallone Wholesale Grocers on N. Broadway in Milwaukee. Migliaccio (back row, far left in the picture) was Dr. Vaccaro’s father-in-law.
• Migliaccio's business partner, Vallone, ran the Milwaukee mob from 1927 to 1949.
• Notorious mobster Nick Fucarino, who had a lengthy arrest record, was employed by Migliaccio & Vallone.
• Salvatore Ferrara (front row, far left in the picture) was the Milwaukee mafia boss from 1949 to 1952. The Chicago “Outfit” forced him to step down in ‘52 and John Alioto then replaced him as the Milwaukee "Godfather".
• Dr. Vito Guardalabene (back row, far right in the picture) was the grandson of Vito Guardalabene, who was the mob boss in Milwaukee from 1918 to 1921.
• “Chico’s Bar-B-Q" (the restaurant they are at) was owned by Frank La Galbo, well known by police and the FBI as an active mobster, once having beaten a murder rap, the reason being "lack of evidence".
• The dinner was in celebration of Rocky Graziano’s boxing victory (that is Graziano sitting front row, third from left in the picture)!
• Dr. Joseph E. Vaccaro (back row, second from left in the picture) our family's pediatrician, standing next to Pasquale Migliaccio, his father-in-law!

Seems to me that Dr. Vaccaro married a troubled woman and they were separated at least three times before going through a very nasty and public divorce in 1956. Dr. Vaccaro claimed that his wife was bad tempered, abusive and was always accusing him of affairs. In a complex situation, there were three lawsuits going on at the same time. Vaccaro counter-sued his wife, mobster father-in-law and his nurse for $100,000 claiming that they were trying to extort money from him. Eventually, Carmen was granted a divorce,  getting the house, a car and alimony from Vaccaro.

During the trial a woman was accused of trying to tamper with the jury. One witness claimed that she had been seen at Como’s, a restaurant that Migliaccio owned at the time! The judge demanded that she step up to the bench for questioning and she fled the courtroom, getting away.

Also, during a break in the settlement hearing, Dr. Vaccaro walked up to Migliaccio in the hallway, extending his hand to shake. Pasquale yelled something to him and punched him in the face. Vaccaro declined to press charges. (Don’t think I would either!)

There are court records from the mid 70’s indicating that Dr. Vaccaro and Carmen were still fighting over the divorce settlement.

Born in 1916, Dr. Joseph E. Vaccaro died in 2001 at the age of 85 at his home in Fountain Hills, Az. (presumably of natural causes!)
More interesting bits and facts: 

• Migliaccio kept a low profile and I can find no record of any arrest, but he was certainly connected to the mob. The FBI believed he was a high ranking member.
• In 1944, Migliaccio & Vallone Wholesale Grocers were sued by the Office of Price Administration for overcharging on sugar and processed foods.
• Frank La Galbo, owner of Chico's Bar-B-Q, lived in constant fear for his life. He would never enter his restaurant from the street, always going in and out through a back door. He had a cottage in Peshtigo, Wi that was described as a fortress, with dogs patrolling the property, surrounded by an electrified fence. FBI file notes reported the location of his cottage being on Right of Way Rd. about a half mile northeast of the city of Peshtigo on the Peshtigo river. That cottage was put up for sale in 1962. La Galbo died in 1976 at the age of 68 of a gunshot to the head, "as he was getting into his car in the driveway!". The DA ruled it a suicide.
• Dr. Vito Guardalabene's (seen in the picture) father and grandfather both ruled the Milwaukee mob at different times.
• Pasquale Migliaccio died in 1961 at the age of 74.
• At some point after the divorce, Carmen remarried and took the last name of Sehulster.

Credit and thanks to:
Gavin Schmitt, his new book, Milwaukee Mafia "Images of America", available at Barnes & Noble.
The Framing Business - Rise of the Milwaukee Mafia, 1892-1961
Archives of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

You can read more of my mob related posts by clicking the links below:

The Beef That Didn't Moo - Wisconsin Ties to the Mob
Tales of the Milwaukee Mob and Two Cigarette Men!
Married to the Daughter of a Milwaukee Mob Boss-Our Pediatrician!
The Milwaukee Queen Bee of Organized Crime
Tale of a Failed Milwaukee Mob Hit!
Lieutenant Uhura (of the Starship "Enterprise") - close encounters with the Chicago and Milwaukee Mob!
Part Two: The Milwaukee Mob and Lieutenant Uhura (Star Trek)