Milwaukee Phil

3600 Fluer Drive, Des Moines, Iowa

To the kids who lived at 3600 Fluer in Des Moines, Iowa the smiling man was known as Phil, but to the outside world he was known as Milwaukee Phil.

Milwaukee Phil was not a person to take lightly.  He had worked for Al Capone, but it would be his cousin Lou Fratto who brought him into the Outfit.  Soon he was working with two other old friends of Lou Fratto, Sam "Teets" Battaglia and John Marshal Caifano as an enforcer, mainly in Milwaukee and Chicago.  They saw that he was very good at taking care of whatever task he was given.  Many jobs required him to take trips to 3600 Fluer in Iowa which was a good meeting place because there was no surveillance there at all, and no heat.  This was the home of Lou Fratto, who was his cousin and the boss of the Iowa Mafia.

Phil was much more than an enforcer because he could think on his feet.  He soon started working for Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik who ran the "Corruption Squad" for the Outfit.  This was probably the most important Crew in the Outfit because they handed out the cash to law enforcement and politicians to keep the wheels greased.

The grease or payoff was what kept the Outfit on top for so many years and this is the real reason they kept away from drugs.  It was easy for a Judge to give a guy a slap on the wrist for gambling or Shylocking but selling hard drugs would never work the same.  These were important times in Phil’s life because he learned how the administration kept the Outfit on top.  When Jake “Greasy Thumb” Guzik died he was replaced  by another fixer, Llewelyn Morris Humphreys or Murray Humphreys aka The Hump.  Once again, the Outfit chose a non-Italian to handle their payoffs.     

The Hump

Phil would learn two important things from The Hump.  One was Union takeover and the other was the art of staying in the shadows, because the Mafia was intended to be a secret organization.  The Hump also had a favorite quote, "The difference between guilt and innocence in any court is who gets to the judge first with the most".

Phil must have taken the Hump’s advice to heart because he was quietly building an empire of vice in Milwaukee where he controlled a large gambling and shylock territory and it has been said that he was in control of a lot of the high end prostitution.  He worked with the leaders of the Milwaukee family but he was always an Outfit man.

It was at this time that he started working with Charles "Chuckie" Nicoletti dealing with The Outfits headaches that they could not payoff.  In May of 1962 Phil and Chuckie were taken in and questioned by police when they were caught sitting in a car.  The car turned out to be a "Hitmobile"  The car was designed with hidden gun racks, secret compartments, controls to turn off and on headlights and tail lights basically everything you needed to carry out a hit.  They told police that they were waiting for a friend.  The terrible twosome must have been good at their job because in nearly two decades of "Work"  they were brought in numerous times and questioned about murders but they were never charged.  Phil was said to have carried out up to 14 hits for the Outfit.

Phil soon found himself working with another non-Italian, this time a Greek named Gus Alex who was tough and carried out many hits and was very good at corrupting the people he needed.  Gus took over being in charge of Chicago’s non-Italian connected guys when The Hump died of a sudden heart attack caused by some overzealous FBI Agents who pushed him too far and his heart could not take the stress.

Gus Alex

Gus Alex’s most famous hit was probably when he and Lenny Patrick shotgunned James Ragen, the owner of the racewire in the street which he would not sell to the Outfit.

Milwaukee Phil learned a lot from Alex that would serve him during his rise in the Outfit.  In 1967 Lou Fratto was indicted along with the Milwaukee Mafia Boss Frank Balistrieri and Kansas City Boss Nick Civella on ITAR Charges because of a 300lb con man named Allen Rosenberg.  

It has been said that Phil helped put an end to the Conman who was found in March of 1967 riddled with bullets and handcuffed to a car.  Lou would pass away in November of that same year.  Milwaukee Phil had left a trail of murder and mayhem in the 1960's, one of the most famous was the M&M where he and Tony Spilatro used a vice on the head of a Chicago hood to get him to tell them who his partner was in murdering an Outfit guy.  The hood gave up his friend and they were both found with their throats cut.  

At the end of the decade Phil had moved into the top spot of the Outfit but his reign would be short lived. Despite controlling restaurants, nightclubs and stripjoints, Phil was convicted of extortion and sent to prison.  He would die while locked up in 1971.

Iowa Family

Everyone knows that the Mafia is in Chicago and New York, but most people do not know that there were 26 Families around the country.  A lot of them have died out and the descendants have moved on to live productive, law abiding lives.  These families did not disappear because of competition from other groups, they just died out because they no longer had a pool of poor hungry men to take their place in the family.

Charlie "Cherry Nose" Gioe

The Iowa Family is one of those La Cosa Nostra Families.  It was based in Des Moines, Iowa and the first recorded boss was Charles "Cherry Nose" Gioe who was put in place by Al Capone.  Des Moines is strategically situated as the crossroads of America, all roads come together there for freight.  This location was really important after prohibition when mobsters had all been running trucking companies to get their booze to market.  This would also lead to their control of the unions.  

Things would soon change in Des Moines.  Louis Fratto, Aka Lew Ferral, Aka Cock-eye would come into town after being on the lam from some gambling charges (originally from Chicago and then Milwakee).  He would first work with Charlie Gioe in Des Moines until it was decided that he would replace Charlie.

Charlie wanted to go to Beverly Hills to work with the Movie studios for the Outfit. He would made a lot a money for the Outfit before the whole shakedown went bust.  He had made a lot of money for himself and he had invested it well. Charlie was one of the first investors in a company that would put whipped cream in a can.  He wanted other Outfit guys to invest in it and he asked Lou Fratto.  They all thought he was crazy but time would tell because that company was Reddi Wip.  

Frank Sinatra, Frank "One Ear"

In 1936 Lou would become boss of the Iowa family after being given the position by Paul Ricca and Anthony Accardo.  Lou took over what Charlie had built, but he brought in his own guys. There was a sizable Italian population at the time but he liked to work with Jews, so besides his core group of his brother Frankie “One Ear” Fratto, “Milwaukee Phil” Alderisio, Johnny Marshall and a few others, he would not make any new guys in Des Moines.  

The rackets were great in Des Moines but the legitimate business was better.  Lou was able to become the beer distributor for a number of named brands.  Lou was very close to the Labor Leader named Barney Baker. Barney would become important later in many things including the assassination of John F Kennedy. He was known to have spoken to Jack Ruby before the Assassination in Dallas.  Barney was also involved in the Boxing game when he was said to be close to Sonny Liston before he lost to Ali.

Lou Fratto quickly made himself part of Des Moines society.  Lou was made a lifetime member of the Chamber of Commerce and during World War Two he raised over 1 million dollars in War Bonds.  He also recruited 75 men to join the Navy at the same time.

Lou Fratto and a Boxer

He had games going on all over and when two of his men Hymie Wiseman and Al Cramm were arrested in a gambling house they were quickly released and the charges against Lou were dropped. The administration of the Outfit were soon sent away for extorting the Movie Industry and one of those men was Charles Gioe, his former boss.  

Lou would be the man entrusted with bringing the payoff money to the Lawyer so the Outfit guys would be released.  Charles Gioe wanted to be back in charge of Iowa and he stuck his nose in some Union business in 1954.  On the night of August 18 1954 Charles was out to dinner with Hymie Wiseman and another man when they got into a car and another car pulled alongside and emptied a magazine into the car killing Charles instantly. Hymie was not hit and later was questioned by police but that proved to be a waste.  Lou was arrested for the murder of his former boss but there was no evidence so he was released.

He worked with Hoffa and the Teamsters, he worked with New York leaders like Tony "Ducks" Corallo, Joey Glimco and Tony "Pro" Provanzano.  He had a spectacular career as the leader of the Iowa Mafia family but it would end on November 24 1967 when he passed away from cancer.

On the Left: Hymie Weisman, On the Right: Dead Charles Gioe

Lou's brother Frank "one ear" Fratto was his number two man so he stepped up to handle the family business with Lou's oldest son Frankie Fratto Farrell.  Sadly, Frankie would only live until 1969 when he was on a plane with Boxing Champ Rocky Marciano when it crashed.  Frank stepped up again until his death in May of 1996 at the age of 81.

Iowa has changed much like the rest of America and the Cosa Nostra.  Iowa will join other places where the Mafia is now part of History like San Jose, San Francisco, Denver, Erie, Pennsylvania, Dallas, New Orleans and soon maybe Los Angeles.  I cannot do this family justice on this blog but please go to http://www.midwestmafia.com for more information.

Beer Company Trucks

Special Holiday Edition Post! St. Valentine's Day Massacre

"Only Capone kills like that," Bugs Moran 1929

The Saint Valentines Day Massacre

This is the name given to the murder of seven men from Chicago’s North Side Irish gang.

THE BEEF.

Throughout the 1920's, The Irish Gang - headed by leader Dion O’Bannion and Bugs Moran, battled with Al Capone for control of Chicago’s illegal businesses.  Dion was killed in his flower shop by Capone’s men on  November 10, 1924. Bugs assumed control of the gang after his murder.  Bugs continued to hijack Capone’s liquor shipments and shoot his men.

One of the most spectacular attempts on Al Capone came when Moran and his associates drove six cars past a hotel in Cicero, Illinois, where Capone and his associates were having lunch, and showered the building with more than 1,000 bullets.  Al Capone had enough, so he had one of his top killers "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn aka Vincenzo Antonio Gibaldi devise a plan.  Vincenzo took the name Jack Mcgurn when he was younger because he was a boxer, and an Irish boxer was given better fights than an Italian boxer.

THE PLAN.

Capone and his family left for their home in Florida weeks before the planned hit so that he would have a rock solid alibi.  Jack McGurn had two brothers, Harry and Phil Keywell (from Detroit's Purple Gang), rent a room at a boarding house conveniently located across the street from Bugs Moran’s gang's headquarters.  The headquarters were in a large garage behind the offices of S.M.C. Cartage Company at 2122 North Clark Street. The two brothers would keep watch, and get word to the hit team when they saw Bugs Moran enter the building.  They had a bootlegger that was known to Bugs offer a shipment of good whiskey to him on Valentine’s day. The plan worked well.  Five men from Bugs’ gang were waiting for the shipment and their boss to arrive.  There was a mechanic and an optician who considered himself a doctor.  Also there along with the men was a German Shepherd named Highball.   The brothers called the hit team and sent the message: Bugs had arrived.


THE HIT.

This is what is known.  A car parked in the rear.  Two men wearing trench coats came out of the car.  A police car pulled in front of the garage, and two “officers” (who were actually hoods dressed up like officers)  made their way inside the garage.  The two “policemen” lined up the seven men inside the headquarters.  They were all forced to stand facing a brick wall. The other two men from the car parked in the rear now joined the two “policemen”.  They each drew a Thompson Sub Machine Gun from under their coats.  One had a twenty round "stick" magazine and the other a fifty round "drum" magazine.  They used the stick because the drums were prone to jamming.  The police hoods -one armed with a shotgun and the other with a colt 45 automatic pistol - began to fire at the same time as the machine guns.  Seventy shots were fired in seconds.  At least two shotgun shells were found at the scene and the rest were 45 caliber cases.  When the shooting stopped, the seven men were down in a huge pool of blood.  Highball was howling in a high pitched cry.  The men in the trench coats hid the Tommy Guns under their coats and held up their hands.  They were marched out by the “police” to the waiting police car, and the four men drove away never to be seen again.

THE AFTERMATH.

Six men died on the spot.  One man, Frank Gusenberg, was still alive and was found crawling toward the door. He had been shot fourteen times.  He was taken to a hospital where he died without naming the men who shot him.  The dead were Frank Gusenberg, Pete Gusenberg, John May, Albert Weinshank, James Clark, Adam Heyer, and “Dr.” Reinhart Schwimmer (a gangster groupie) .  The problem was that Bugs Moran was not there!  He had pulled up just as the Police were getting out of their car.  Bugs figured that it was just another raid, so he left with two men. This was the end of Bugs Moran as an effective gang leader because he had lost his best men.  He would go on to live out the rest of his life as a petty criminal.  He would die with less than a hundred dollars to his name, and be buried in a potter’s field, beside other men who died penniless.

Al Capone would suffer greatly from the bad press. The public outcry was so great against Capone, that he was under too much heat to do business as usual.  He would be sent away for tax evasion and died later in Florida giving up his position as Boss to Frank Nitti.


Jack McGurn had an alibi, known as the Blonde Alibi because he was with his blonde girlfriend in a hotel all day.  He would be killed years later at a bowling alley by three men with machine guns.  It took place February 15th, 1936.

There has been much speculation about the shooters.  Two of them were almost certainly John Scalise and Albert Anselmi, two of Capones top killers.  They would be killed by him with a baseball bat three months
after the massacre.

Tony Arccado, the long time boss of The Chicago Outfit, was caught on an FBI wiretap talking about being part of the hit.  He did have  a role in the disposal of the car used in the hit.

Fred "Killer" Burke would later kill a policeman in St. Joseph, Michigan. When they went to the house Burke was using as a hideout he was gone but they found his girlfriend and an arsenal of weapons including two Thompson sub machine guns. They were used to kill Frankie Yale and were the same machine guns used in the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre.

A friend of mine was able to fire these two Thompson's recently for a TV show.  He gave me a 45 caliber  casing shot from the gun.  The guns are still in a police evidence lockers today because the crimes are still open.