WIRETAPS
DOWNLOADED: January 13, 2025, 1:13 PM
INVESTIGATIONS
Wiretaps, hitmen and hypnosis: One FBI agent's experience investigating the Milwaukee Mafia
Mary SpicuzzaMilwaukee Journal Sentinel
Retired FBI Agent Gary Magnesen, a 26-year veteran of the agency, worked in Milwaukee from 1972 through 1980. During much of that time, he served on a team investigating organized crime and mob boss Frank Balistrieri.
Balistrieri was suspected by law enforcement of ordering a string of murders in and around Milwaukee, but he was never charged in any of them — and the cases remain unsolved. One of those murders was the 1978 car bombing death of my cousin, August Palmisano.
The podcast “My Cousin Augie” chronicles my journey to find out who killed my cousin and why. The fourth episode — available on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts — tells the story of the murder of another man, August Maniaci, and the attempted murder of his brother, Vincent, in the years leading up to my cousin's car bombing.
Magnesen spoke extensively with me about the two cases and his work investigating Balistrieri, which eventually helped lead to gambling and extortion convictions in the 1980s.
Below are excerpts from that conversation, edited for length and clarity.
Q&A: Former FBI agent Gary Magnesen on investigating the Milwaukee mob
DOWNLOADED: January 13, 2025, 1:17 PM