In this episode, Gavin covers the murder of Jack Dentice, and part one of Tony Gennaro snitching from prison. There are two different versions of the motive for Jack's murder, and Frank LaGalbo is included in both of them.
"During dinner, LaGalbo and Jack got into an argument about girls and LaGalbo told Jack that his girl was a prostitute and that she worked for his uncle, Vince Crupi.”
Hey everybody. Welcome back to Milwaukee Mafia. This is Eric Wulterkens . This is Gavin Schmitt. And Gavin take it away with our subject of the day.
So I have to do something before we begin. It seems like you have to do something before we begin a lot. Yes I do. I wanted to get people up to speed for this episode. Eric, do you remember the name Frank LaGalbo at all? I do remember the name, I don’t know if I can pin it back to where I remember it. Okay, so he’s important so I want to kind of remind people of who he is. He first came up because he’s a nephew of Vincent Crupi, the guy who was the Vice Lord in Milwaukee. So Frank LaGalbo would help out around the red light district. And then he came up again later because he was a business partner of Angelo LeMancho> They had a tavern together. He came up again because he was one of the guys that the Colorado guys talked to. He’s popped up a little bit here and there along the way. He is going to come up today.
lt with intent to kill in May:
One of the men there ducked into a back room while he was still lathered with a towel around his neck. If he had stayed in the chair he probably would have died. Outside the Police found a 12 gauge shotgun and four shells. The serial number had been scrubbed off. Sargent Dieden, who you remember as the guy that is not Italian but can speak Italian, was in charge of this investigation and coincidentally he had gotten shaved in that same barbershop a few hours earlier. So he had already been there that day.
Joe Dentice was treated at the hospital before he was moved to the Police Ward of the jail for his safety. He was unable to identify the gunman or the car they drove. Police believe the attack was retaliation for Dentice ratting out his cousin’s killers.
So they pick up Frank LaGalbo for assault with intent to kill but it ends up not going anywhere because the guy he shot, or allegedly shot refuses to identify him.
But now we are going to go back a step before we go forward.
Why was Dentice shot at? He was accused of ratting out his cousin’s killers. A year before this barbershop incident Dentice had been in New York. He was visiting his cousin John Riggio. His father said, “You should probably not visit your cousin, he’s involved in the grape and wine business and you know what that means”. He also had a legitimate business. He owned some mini golf courses.
While in New York the two of them met two other men at Coney Island and drove to the other men’s house. The car was parked in front of the Most Precious Blood Church in Brooklyn when all of a sudden two new guys turned around and shot Dentice and Riggio with Riggio dying of his wounds. Dentice, shot in the chin but still alive, was found by Police slumped over the steering wheel and taken to a hospital.
Members of the church were nearby and scurried in a panic. Dentice identified the killers. They were two local Brooklyn guys. When it came time for trial Dentice was locked up because they felt he was safer in the jail than he was on the streets.
After a mistrial the first time they were tried again and the killers were convicted. One of them even got the electric chair. So the mob may have had a reason to be mad at this guy. You are not supposed to go to court and testify against people. That’s a big no-no.
t is the current day – June:
Jack Dentice was 29, divorced, and lived with his brother. His ex-wife moved to Michigan. His parents were still alive and he had four siblings. He had previously operated The Cotton Club in Racine under the name of John Danish. Which is exactly not that strange. He is not the only one named Dentice that went by the name of Danish.
Within an hour of leaving the Miami Club. It’s after midnight, and Dentice is found dead. Shot in the head and his upper left arm. His body was left in his Ford V8 at the corner of Jefferson and Menominee, in Milwaukee. The headlights were still on.
Police immediately picked up Frank LaGalbo outside the Little Italy tavern. Dentice’s clothes were sent to Madison for examination. LaGalbo’s hands were given wax impressions and it was shown that there was gunpowder on his hands which usually means that you had recently fired a gun.
LaGalbo admitted that he was drinking with Jack Dentice but insisted that they were strangers and had never met before. Police suspected that two men had been involved in the killing. One of them held Dentice’s hair from the back seat while the other man shot him. LaGalbo’s attorney tried to get him out on a Writ of Habeas Corpus but the plea was rejected.
This is the Captain of the Police speaking to the press. “We have evidence that Dentice was trying to muscle in on an illicit alcohol gang.” Frank LaGalbo said to the press that he was framed and said :``When I heard that Dentice had been killed my blood froze.” “The Police had to get somebody for his murder and they picked on me”. The powder on his hands was because he was hunting pigeons earlier that day.
He hired Mario Megna as his Attorney. The charges ultimately get dropped when they are unable to really find any evidence on LaGalbo. He was held for awhile but other than the powder on his hands which he claims is from shooting pigeons, they have nothing. The charges are dropped.
anything about me because in:
So Kramer responds. He goes “Dear Tony; I received your letter. I wish I could make a visit to the prison and personally see you but due the pressure of Police business here I am unable to get away. I am therefore sending Detective Bailey, who I assure you is totally trustworthy. You may tell him everything that you would have told me and he will relay such information to me upon his return. You have my assurance and that on Detective Bailey that whatever you say will be regarded in the highest confidence. It will be regarded with utmost secrecy. I need hardly tell you that assistance that you may give through such confidential information that will lead to clearance of major crimes committed by local Italians will be appreciated.”
what Denaro had to say “In:
I refused to go there because I figured there was something wrong. Never before had they invited me to their picnic and we were always having arguments about the alcohol business. So this picnic made me suspect that they were probably ready to kill me and Jack. When Jack went to meet them they did not see me with him. They quickly changed their minds and no longer wanted to have a picnic.
They went to LaGalbo’s tavern and they had dinner instead. During dinner LeGalvo and Jack got into an argument about girls and LaGalbo told Jack that his girlfriend was a prostitute and that she worked for his uncle. When Jack heard what LaGalbo had said about his girlfriend he came home very mad and a little drunk and began to search for his gun to shoot Frank and Frank’s gang in the third ward.
The next day Jack’s girl ran away because she was afraid to live with Jack after LaGalbo had said that about her.
Jack was ordered to be killed by the order of the big shots. LaGalbo has three taverns but the licenses are with different names. Many beautiful girls work at these taverns for him and trouble is always happening in these places.
It is not surprising that Jack would know things about LaGalbo because they were partners but then he dropped his biggest bombshell. There were several more murders that he knew about that the big shots were behind. We will talk about those next week.
This case went unsolved.
Decades later the FBI spoke with one of their informants and they were told that the murder was carried out by Mike Mineo, Frank LaGalbo and Andrew DiSalvo who was from Racine. The motive was that Dentice was getting money from an unidentified union and was supposed to give DiSalvo part of the money but he didn’t.
