The Mafia Boss Who Tried to Take Half of an FBI Company

In 1978, Milwaukee's Mafia boss demanded half of a new vending company. The man running it was an undercover FBI agent. Frank Balistrieri ran the Milwaukee Mafia from 1961 into the 1980s, under the Chicago Outfit's eye. A month before he met "Tony Conte" of Best Vending, a gambler named Augie Palmisano was killed by a car bomb in a downtown garage, and Balistrieri was the top suspect. So when he found out the vending man was FBI agent Gail "Ty" Cobb, brought in through Lefty Ruggiero and Joseph Pistone, better known as Donnie Brasco, why was that agent still alive? The video follows the illegal 1960s bugs that didn't save Balistrieri, the 1970s bombings, the dinner at his house and the remote-starter joke, the 1984 Green Bay trial where both agents testified, the Stardust and Fremont skim and the Kansas City case, his two lawyer sons, and the bombing that's still unsolved. The case details come from the federal appeals court opinions. Nobody was ever convicted of the Milwaukee bombings, and the video says so wherever it matters. #MafiaHistory #Milwaukee #DonnieBrasco