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The Milwaukee Mafia: Mobsters in the Heartland
Milwaukee's Sicilian underworld is something few people speak about in polite company, and even fewer people speak about with any authority. Everyone in Milwaukee has a friend of a friend who knows something, but they only have one piece of a giant puzzle. The secret society known as the Milwaukee Mafia has done an excellent job of keeping its murders, members and mishaps out of books. Until now.
From the time Vito Guardalabene arrived from Italy in the early 1900s, until the days the Mob controlled the Teamsters union, Milwaukee was a city of murder and mayhem. Gavin Schmitt relies on previously unseen police reports, FBI investigative notes, coroner's records, newspaper articles, family lore and more to bring to light an era of Milwaukee's history that has been largely undocumented and shrouded in myth. No stone is left unturned, no body is left buried.
From the time Vito Guardalabene arrived from Italy in the early 1900s, until the days the Mob controlled the Teamsters union, Milwaukee was a city of murder and mayhem. Gavin Schmitt relies on previously unseen police reports, FBI investigative notes, coroner's records, newspaper articles, family lore and more to bring to light an era of Milwaukee's history that has been largely undocumented and shrouded in myth. No stone is left unturned, no body is left buried.
- GenresNonfictionTrue Crime
321 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 16, 2015
42 people are currently reading
114 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 2, 2015
Gavin Schmitt’s The Milwaukee Mafia is entertaining history and an important scholarly contribution. It is a long overdue assessment of the substantial role of Milwaukee underworld figures in the evolution of American organized crime.
The author provides generous detail while shuffling at a moderate pace through the underworld events of nearly a century. Though Milwaukee’s organized crime history includes less mob violence than some larger U.S. cities, there are plenty of gangland murders to discuss. Schmitt handles these with frankness and attention to detail. He regularly suggests reasonable explanations for criminal acts that remain officially unsolved.
Through Schmitt’s book, Milwaukee emerges as a full partner in an international Sicilian criminal network. The city’s strong organized crime ties to Chicago are explored in depth, and Schmitt notes that the rise of Capone’s Outfit and the demise of the Sicilian Aiello clan in the Windy City heightened the importance of Milwaukee as a base for the more traditional Sicilian Mafiosi of the region. The author also pursues underworld and bloodline connections from Milwaukee to such places as Kansas City, Las Vegas, St. Louis, New Orleans, Pittsburgh...
The author provides generous detail while shuffling at a moderate pace through the underworld events of nearly a century. Though Milwaukee’s organized crime history includes less mob violence than some larger U.S. cities, there are plenty of gangland murders to discuss. Schmitt handles these with frankness and attention to detail. He regularly suggests reasonable explanations for criminal acts that remain officially unsolved.
Through Schmitt’s book, Milwaukee emerges as a full partner in an international Sicilian criminal network. The city’s strong organized crime ties to Chicago are explored in depth, and Schmitt notes that the rise of Capone’s Outfit and the demise of the Sicilian Aiello clan in the Windy City heightened the importance of Milwaukee as a base for the more traditional Sicilian Mafiosi of the region. The author also pursues underworld and bloodline connections from Milwaukee to such places as Kansas City, Las Vegas, St. Louis, New Orleans, Pittsburgh...
February 2, 2018
So. Hard. To. Get. Through. I ended up quitting the book before I got anywhere near the end because it was just too much. I had high hopes but I’m there were too many names and information I didn’t care about. It could have been so good!
December 21, 2018
A little too Journalistic.
January 3, 2019
I was hoping for more. A lot more. Instead of a comprehensive story this is just piecemeal photographs in a loosely connected web.
March 30, 2022
This was a hard read for me and I was not able to finish, despite being approximately 50 pages from the end of this book, because I completely lost interest. Although it does provide some interesting history on the Milwaukee Mafia you frequently have to sort through details that aren't necessarily relevant to the story being told which make this hard to follow. This book may be great for other, but if you are like me and have a more "give me the pertinent details" mentality in regards to non-fiction/true crime this book may not be for you.
March 13, 2022
Scads of names and places and dates!
Case studies of the history of the life of the Mafia in MKE. The chapters covered the lives and demise of many of the main figures in the MKE underworld - and quite a number of the not so main characters. Many of both sets of characters also interacted with similar factions in Racine, Chicago, Rockford, Kansas City, Philadelphia and New York.
Complicated webs they certainly wove.
Case studies of the history of the life of the Mafia in MKE. The chapters covered the lives and demise of many of the main figures in the MKE underworld - and quite a number of the not so main characters. Many of both sets of characters also interacted with similar factions in Racine, Chicago, Rockford, Kansas City, Philadelphia and New York.
Complicated webs they certainly wove.
July 28, 2025
Gavin continues to use my grandfathers likeness without asking my family. My father even reached out at one point but he never responded. The mugshot on the cover is him. If you ever want to hear some real mafia stories feel free to reach out.
April 24, 2022
Very well researched and full of details. It is incredible how much nefarious activity is attached to some very prominent Milwaukee names. A very well executed report of mob history in Wisconsin.
March 5, 2024
Worst poor excuse of a journalist. Just recopied the FBI files and abuse public record pictures of some innocent people as the clever devil knows what he’s doing. He did t grow up with these people, he knows nothing about them and he just speculates as to what he thinks and just to sell his book he has guilty by association pictures of innocent people as he s desperate to sell his books . He knows most of the innocent people are dead so he won’t be sued. He encourages gossip , bares false witness against thy neighbor. He has that racist smug attitude and just perpetuates the ignorance of the Old Days. The book does not have an ounce of redeeming value. A disgusting person and irrresponsible poor excuse for a journalist.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews