On May 29, 1984, the crime boss of the Milwaukee crime family from 1961 to 1993, Frank "Frankie Bal" Balistrieri was sentenced to 13 years' imprisonment
- mobtalk247
- Jun 2
- 5 min read
Updated: Jun 8
On May 29, 1984, the crime boss of the Milwaukee crime family from 1961 to 1993, Frank "Frankie Bal" Balistrieri was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment after being convicted of extortion under the Hobbs Act based on the testimony of an FBI undercover agent. On April 9, 1984, Balistrieri, along with his sons John & Joseph Balistrieri, were convicted of attempted extortion of a vending machine business, under the Hobbs Act, based on the testimony of FBI Special Undercover Agent Joseph Pistone, working undercover in New York City as "Donnie Brasco", who was sent to Milwaukee, to help set up a vending machine company. Introduced to Balistrieri as a vending-machine representative of the Bonanno Family members, soldier Benjamin "Lefty Guns" Ruggiero & capo Mike "Mimi" Sabella, the agent was the victim of an extortion attempt by Balistrieri, after the agent attempted to intrude into the Milwaukee vending-machine business, without Balistrieri's prior approval.
The investigation had included wiretapping of the Shorecrest Hotel, owned by Balistrieri's son, Joseph, & a raid on Balistrieri's house, in which FBI agents knocked the front door down with a sledgehammer. Balistrieri was later sentenced to the 13 years' imprisonment & was fined $30k, & his sons received 8-year prison sentences & were fined on July 30, but the term was reduced to 5 years; each son, who were lawyers, had their law licenses suspended & they were later disbarred. On November 5, 1991, Balistrieri was released early from prison, due to poor health. In December 1992, Balistrieri was admitted to St. Mary's Hospital (now Columbia St. Mary's) in Milwaukee, reportedly for colon surgery. Balistrieri died about 2 months later at the age of 74, on February 7, 1993, in Milwaukee.
In the spring of 1976, agents Joseph Pistone volunteered to infiltrate the Bonanno crime family, a job for which his fluency in Italian, Sicilian heritage, & the knowledge of mafia idiosyncrasies gleaned from his Paterson background were well suited. For the undercover operation, the false identity of Donald "Donnie" Brasco was created, with a backstory that involved work as a low-level jewel thief. After extensive preparation including FBI gemology courses, he went undercover as a jewel thief. The operation was given the code name "Sun-Apple" after the locations of its 2 simultaneous operations: Miami ("Sunny Miami") & New York City ("The Big Apple"). After months of planning, in September 1976, Pistone started his undercover operation, an operation that was initially intended to last for around 6 months turned into several years. The FBI erased Pistone's name on office rolls and his personnel file; anyone who called asking for him would be told that nobody by that name was employed there. His co-workers, friends, & informants had no idea what had happened to him.
The original focus of the operation was to infiltrate big-time fences & truck hijackings that would in turn lead to the Mafia. While Pistone was undercover, he informed on the activities of the Mafia during some of the most volatile power struggles in organized crime. Pistone worked his way into becoming an associate in Jilly Greca's crew from the Colombo family that was primarily involved in hijackings & robberies. After about 6 months, Pistone shifted to the Bonanno family by developing a relationship with Anthony Mirra. When Mirra was sent to prison, Pistone was tutored in the ways of the Mafia by Bonanno soldier Benjamin "Lefty" Ruggiero, whose captain was Mike "Mimi" Sabella. Pistone also had these vending machine dealings with Balistrieri in Milwaukee. After the 1979 murder of Carmine “Lilo” Galante, Pistone reported to captain Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano.
Pistone was responsible for a lucrative business venture in Holiday, Florida, when he opened and operated the King's Court Bottle Club. In Florida, Pistone worked with another FBI agent working undercover as Tony Rossi. Napolitano later contacted Pistone, whom he hoped to make a made man, to murder Alphonse "Sonny Red" Indelicato's son, Anthony "Bruno" Indelicato, who had previously evaded death, after missing a May 1981 meeting which left Indelicato, Phillip “Lucky” Giaccone, & Dominick “Big Trin” Trinchera dead. The FBI then ordered the end of Pistone's operation. He wanted to continue until he was set to become a made man that December; Napolitano would lie about his "making his bones" (participating in a Mafia-ordered hit) to prove his loyalty. But Pistone's superiors decided that the operation was becoming too dangerous & set an end date of July 26, 1981. Only after Pistone departed did FBI agents Doug Fencl, Jim Kinne, & Jerry Loar inform Napolitano that his longtime associate was an FBI agent.
Pistone received a $500 bonus at the end of the operation. Pistone was an FBI agent for 17 years, from 1969 until he resigned in 1986. The evidence collected by Pistone led to over 200 indictments & over 100 convictions of Mafia members, & some responsible for his infiltration were also killed by other mobsters. At 83 years of age, Pistone lives in an undisclosed location with his wife Maggie & their 3 daughters, under assumed names. Pistone has been active as an author & consultant to worldwide law enforcement agencies, including Scotland Yard, & has been called to testify before the United States Senate as an expert on organized crime. In September 2012, Pistone testified in Montreal, Quebec, at the Charbonneau Commission public inquiry into corruption, as an expert witness. Pistone detailed his undercover experience in his 1988 book Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia. The book was the basis for the 1997 film Donnie Brasco, for which Pistone worked as a technical adviser, starring Johnny Depp as Pistone & Al Pacino as "Lefty" Ruggiero. It was also the basis for the short-lived 2000 television series Falcone, starring Jason Gedrick as Pistone (whose mob alias was changed from "Donnie Brasco" to "Joe Falcone" for legal reasons). Pistone was a consultant on Donnie Brasco to add authenticity to the fictionalized portrayals & settings.
Pistone’s life was used in an episode of FBI: The Untold Stories. Pistone revisited his experiences as Donnie Brasco in his books The Way of the Wiseguy (2004) & Donnie Brasco: Unfinished Business (2007, co-authored with Charles Brandt). Pistone wrote a novel titled, The Good Guys (2005), with Joseph Bonanno's son, Salvatore "Bill" Bonanno. He has also written several works of fiction such as Deep Cover, Mobbed Up, & Snake Eyes. He has served as an executive producer on movies relating to the Mafia, including the 2006 film 10th & Wolf. In 2008, Italian artist Rossella Biscotti interviewed Pistone in her video The Undercover Man. In May 2020, Pistone started a podcast called Deep Cover: The Real Donnie Brasco.
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