Four highlights from the ‘My Cousin Augie’ podcast about the Milwaukee Mafia

I grew up in a family of storytellers.

My uncle John told us about my grandparents’ arranged marriage. My father loved sharing memories of my grandmother’s cooking and baking. And my aunts told stories about how spoiled my father was, despite his stories to the contrary.

But there was one story that no one in the family wanted to talk about. The story of my cousin, August “Augie” Palmisano, who was killed in a car bomb in downtown Milwaukee in 1978.

With the help of my Journal Sentinel colleagues, I spent months investigating my cousin’s murder. In January, we published an article about our investigation.

More recently, we’ve been working on a podcast about Augie’s life and death called “My Cousin Augie,” which can be found on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or wherever you get your podcasts. The seventh and final episode — at least for now — was released on August 21st.

It was a wild ride filled with new people, interviews, and information not included in the original investigation. Thanks to the help of executive producers Bill Schulz and Gina Barton, we were able to weave much more into Augie’s story.

For example, we detailed the lengths to which law enforcement agencies went to investigate a series of unsolved murders believed to have been committed at the behest of the Milwaukee mob in the 1970s.

We’ve also added additional context about Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward and more family stories, including some told by Augie’s son, Mike Palmisano.

This podcast is also intended as a thank you to the hundreds of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel readers who have sent us emails, phone calls, texts, letters and messages about our research.

Here are some of the new developments that can only be heard on the “My Cousin Augie” podcast:

The Hitman, the Paperboy and the Hypnotist

One of the stories that we included in the podcast was about the 1975 murder of one of my cousin’s best friends. That man, August “Augie” Maniaci, was shot to death in the alley behind his house. Like my cousin, he was killed that morning as he was leaving for work.

The shooter used a .22 caliber rifle with a silencer.

The murder was immediately seen as the work of organized crime and a professional hitman. But unlike many such murders, there was a witness. A newspaper deliveryman had just finished his route and was walking through the alley when he saw the shooting. The problem is that he was terrified and said he could not remember the killer’s face.

Ultimately, the FBI decided to hire a hypnotist to unlock the paperboy’s memories. Under hypnosis, the teen was able to recall the man’s face in minute detail. We explored the case in episode four, “Augie’s World.”

The architect of ‘the skim’

Frank P. Balistrieri was widely known as the boss of organized crime in Milwaukee. He was also a key figure in the skimming of Las Vegas casinos, which later inspired the 1995 Martin Scorsese film “Casino” starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Sharon Stone.

We’ve covered Balistrieri’s involvement in episode three, “Fancy Pants” extensively.

In the episode, retired FBI agent Gary Magnesen recounts how Balistrieri used his connections to the Teamsters Union pension fund to help businessman Allen Glick buy several casinos. But it wasn’t long before other mob bosses got wind of Balistrieri’s deal and demanded a cut, Magnesen said.

“He was basically threatened,” Magnesen said. “That this is the way it’s going to happen, or you’re not going to be here anymore.”

The investigation into “skim,” as it came to be known, ultimately dealt a major blow to organized crime in Milwaukee.

An act of kindness

I was honestly a little nervous about what stories would come out about my cousin once the initial investigation was over. He seemed like a nice guy, but you never know who might come forward and show a different side of someone.

But instead, I have been overwhelmed by the dozens of people who have reached out to me since the article appeared to share stories of my cousin’s kindness and generosity. One of those people was Robert Gegios, a prominent Milwaukee attorney who grew up in Whitefish Bay. He called the day my article appeared and left me a voicemail.

Gegios told me that when Augie was a little kid, he would bring produce to his parents’ restaurant. Then Gegios told me about Augie’s act of kindness one Christmas Eve — which he didn’t learn about until years later.

“I will never forget this, for the rest of my life,” said Gegios.

We included Gegios’ story in episode two of the podcast, titled “The King of Commission Row.”

Cousin Mike shares his memories

After the first article ran, Augie’s son, Mike, agreed to do an extended interview about his father. His stories about Augie were incredibly moving and provided an important insight into who Augie was as a person. It’s impossible to imagine the podcast without him.

Many of his stories are included in episode two, “The King of Commission Row,” and episode seven, “The Downfall of Mr. B.”

In the podcast, Mike talks about what it was like to lose his father at a young age in a brutal and public way.

He said that over the years people have come to him asking if he and his family were members of the mafia.

“When the movies come out, like ‘The Sopranos’ or something, they romanticize it and think it’s so cool or something,” Mike said. “But I’ve been there myself — wrongly — and it’s not that romantic.”

“It is a relief to me that the truth has come to light.”

Mary Spicuzza is an investigative reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. You can reach her at [email protected].