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| 1946 |
Born August 24, 1916 in Milwaukee to Gaetano and Giuseppa Mangella. Family from Bagheria comune of Palermo, Sicily.
The DiSalvo family resided at 163 Huron St, where Gaetano owned a grocery.
Two of Benny's uncles, Andrew and Benedetto, were made members in Milwaukee and in the nearby capital city of Madison respectively.
On March 30, 1939 Benny was arrested by the Milwaukee PD on an assault and robbery charge. The following month he was convicted and sentenced to one-to-two-years at the State Reformatory in Green Bay. He was received at the institution on April 14, 1939 and paroled July 24, 1940.
On September 4, 1943 married in Milwaukee.
On January 28, 1946 he was arrested for the second and possibly final time, charged with threat to injury (burglary and larceny). Two months later the case was dismissed.
Around August 1952 DiSalvo and his wife left Milwaukee for Brooklyn, New York where they would remain for the next decade, residing first on Banner Ave and then at 2816 Batchelder St in Sheepshead Bay. DiSalvo worked for Dic Concrete Company in Elmont, Long Island.
In September 1962 DiSalvo returned to Milwaukee.
That November an FBI informant claimed DiSalvo had originally been ordered out of Milwaukee by the 'Italian syndicate' for trying to 'move in on the Outfit'. It was only recently, the informant noted, that the Family had permitted his return.
In late December 1962 DiSalvo appeared at the FBI Office in Milwaukee for an interview. He denied any previous difficulties with organized crime and stated the move to Brooklyn was done solely to find work. He admitted being a 'very close friend' of Milwaukee Member Carlo DiMaggio and others but disclaimed any knowledge of the Mafia. DiSalvo described himself as 'just a working man trying to get along', noting he occasionally put in hours at a pizzeria owned by a relative, Milwaukee Member Mike Albano.
In early January 1963 jukebox operator Anthony Biernat was abducted from the parking lot of a railway station in Kenosha, Wisconsin. On January 20 his body was discovered approximately twenty miles away in a basement on site of the abandoned R.I. Bong Air Force Base.
Two days after the body's discovery an FBI informant noted DiSalvo 'was supposed to have a hand in the job'.
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| D'Angelo |
DiSalvo reported to Family Boss Frank Balistrieri's brother Peter, a Capodecina who was also inducted in the early part of 1963. DiSalvo and the Balistrieris were close; his loyalty to Frank is noted more than once in informant reports, and it was DiSalvo's uncle Andrew who was said to have sponsored Frank for membership.
DiSalvo by then resided at 2902 North Humboldt Ave and worked for the Hunzinger Construction Company located in the nearby village of Butler.
On October 31, 1964 FBI CI reported: "[CI] advised Ben DiSalvo was a member of the Italian syndicate known as Union Siciliano and is probably a member of the Italian syndicate in Milwaukee at the present time."
Health problems and resultant operations curtailed much of his activity in the latter half of 1965.
By March 1966 his health had improved enough to obtain employment with Pabst Brewery, where he worked midnight shifts in the packaging department. He remained closely associate with the Balistrieris and continued to attend various social functions related to the Milwaukee Family but, informants noted, he did not appear to be involved any criminal activity.
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| 1970s |
On September 27, 1972 Louis Fazio was murdered in the parking lot of his East Side apartment building. Fazio, lying next to his automobile, had been shot once in the left shoulder and once in the back of the neck.
Five days later an informant told the FBI that Ben DiSalvo 'should be considered a logical suspect' in Fazio's murder. In 1974 an informant claimed DiSalvo and 'others' were used to clock the victim's movements in the lead-up to the hit. Fazio was actually killed, according to this informant, by 'some of the Kenosha people [in] a contract out of Milwaukee'.
Interviewed by the FBI in November 1973, DiSalvo was asked to comment on Fazio's murder and stated only that he knew Fazio and the death 'was a mystery to him'.
On February 26, 1974 an FBI informant reported: "[DiSalvo] continues to hang out with the 'Old Mustache Petes'."
By June 1974 members of Peter Balistrieri's crew included Harry D'Angelo, Benedetto DiSalvo, Jerry DiMaggio, Salvatore 'Sam' DiMaggio and Dominic Gullo.
In May 1979 DiSalvo and Harry D'Angelo were described by an informant as still criminally involved with Frank Balistrieri and 'will do anything Balistrieri tells them'. This informant claimed the pair had been involved in 'numerous murders' in the Milwaukee area. That Summer DiSalvo aided Harry D'Angelo in the takeover of a produce business, Anton Jennaro Inc., located at 331 North Broadway.
He spent the month of August 1979 vacationing in Bagheria.
By 1985 Family Boss Frank Balistrieri had a crew reporting directly to him that included his sons Joseph and John Balistrieri as well as DiSalvo and Dominic Gullo.
By 1987 DiSalvo worked for Harry D'Angelo at the latter's produce business. Contacted by the FBI on multiple occasions, he professed no involvement with or interest in the Milwaukee Family's affairs.
DiSalvo died January 17, 2009.
