The Ballards Association With the Rockford LCN

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Starting in the 1960s members of the Ballard family had a very interesting connection to the Rockford LCN. In 1959 Robert Ballard was working for the Cory Construction Company of Chicago, Illinois when he hired Joe Maggio of Rockford. Maggio was hired as a canvasser for the siding business of the construction company Ballard was with. In 1959 Maggio was a 23 year old Rockford native who had operated on the fringes of the Rockford LCN. FBI files stated that according to a Rockford Police Detective that growing up, “Maggio was not well-liked by the other young men of the neighborhood because he was considered a “stoolie” for the “outfit.” He said that this was because Maggio had a reputation for running to Nick Vince with stories about the “young punks” in South Rockford and kept Vince posted on their activities.” Nick Vince was a longtime trusted associate of the Rockford LCN and the brother of Charles Vince, a Rockford LCN member. In July 1959 Maggio had been brought before the Grand Jury in Rockford to give testimony about his knowledge of organized gambling and of two gamblers found beaten and strangled in the trunk of a car a couple months before.

Ballard stated that he had lived in Rockford at one time and this is when he had first met Maggio. Joe Maggio worked in the capacity of salesman with Ballard until approximately 1963 when Ballard had a used car lot in Gary, Indiana that he had Maggio operate as the lot manager. Maggio then worked in this capacity until December 1964.

In January 1965 Charles LaFranka, a 52-year-old Rockford native who was splitting time between Chicago and Rockford, was found murdered in the trunk of his car in Elgin, Illinois. Milwaukee LCN informant Augie Maniaci stated that in the days after LaFranka’s murder, the Rockford LCN made three new members- Sebastian “Knobby” Gulotta, Frank Correnti and Joe Maggio. This led to Maniaci’s belief that the three were responsible for LaFranka’s murder. Not only that, it was thought that LaFranka’s girlfriend, Donna Ott, had possibly set him up to be murdered. In another interesting connection found in FBI files is the entry:

“It should be noted that Detectives [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] have advised that [DONNA OTT] at the Plantation Restaurant, Rockford, Illinois, was LA FRANCA’s paramour. They stated that immediately after LA FRANCA’s death she became the owner of a brand-new Pontiac automobile and made a trip to Florida. On July 21, 1965, Detective [REDACTED] stated that he had learned that a used car dealer in Gary, Indiana who had formerly operated a night club in Calumet City, Illinois, was also a boy friend of [DONNA OTT] said that it is his understanding that this individual had a bomb explode in his used car lot at Gary, Indiana during the same week in which LA FRANCA was killed.”

Ballard had stated to the FBI he knew LaFranka prior to him being killed but it was only as him working in taverns as a bartender that Ballard frequented. He went on to indicate that he knew LaFranka’s girlfriend better than LaFranka himself. The information that a used car dealer from Gary, Indiana was a boyfriend of Donna Ott points to Robert Ballard in that Ballard did own a car lot in that city and that he knew both LaFranka, Ott and Maggio. Attempts to connect Ballard to a nightclub in Calumet City have been unsuccessful thus far.

In the summer of 1965 Ballard obtained options on about 14000 acres in an area known as Rum Key in the Bahamas Islands and stated it was his intention at the time to develop this land and possibly sell lots in the United States. He advised the FBI he was politically orientated in the Bahamas and the premier of the Bahamas was a close friend in that he had associated with the premier for some time. It was his intention to develop this land, however, he had a heart attack and the “deal” fell through.

He had gone to some lengths to develop the land including the renting of an airplane in which to fly persons to the Bahamas. At this time, he again had Joe Maggio with him and Maggio was with him at the time he suffered a heart attack in the Bahamas and looked after him while he was in the hospital.

Ballard advised that he had been relatively inactive until June or July of 1966 when he again operated with Maggio in the Universal Mortgage and Construction Company of Rockford, Illinois. Ballard pointed out that this was his company and he hired Maggio. He stated that he was in the company for about six weeks and during this time he and Maggio made about 10 or 12 sales, but he had to leave because of bad health incurred from the heart attack condition. He stated that Maggio operated the company for a short time, but finally it went defunct.

What is interesting about the Bahamas angle is that at the time, Joe Maggio and fellow LCN member Sebastian Gulotta were reported as having traveled to Florida and the Bahamas on gambling trips and hustling tourists. FBI agents went so far as to travel to the Bahamas on August 18, 1970 they inquired of an employee at the Lucayan Beach Hotel, Monte Carlo Casino there if he had seen Maggio and/or Gulotta. The employee “advised that he recognized photographs of Maggio and Gulotta as customers who he had seen on more than one occasion in the Monte Carlo Casino.”

Now, Lawrence Ballard was a brother to Robert and in 1971 he was involved with Morris Friedman on behalf of Freshness International which ultimately sold phony franchises for cosmetics and hygiene products while Ballard was also involved with Maggio in Styx and Stones, which was a record album/furniture store that was declared involuntarily bankrupt by the federal government for shady dealings.

Lawrence Ballard found himself in trouble again on September 2, 1975 when he was indicted by a Winnebago County Grand Jury on charges of bilking 50 investors out of about $200,000 for phony franchises in tools, hardware and auto parts. He was among four people that operated a business out of Rockford through 1973 under the name of American International Tool Company. The others charged were Ballard’s brother-in-law Serge Gaudry, Ballard’s father, Orris Ballard and Don Russell.

Gaudry and Orris Ballard were immediately arrested in Rockford and Russell was thought to have been living somewhere in Georgia at the time. However, authorities got a tip that Lawrence Ballard was living in Raleigh, North Carolina and when they went to arrest him on September 3, 1975 he had already checked out of his motel and fled to the airport where he piloted his single engine plane while a Sheriff’s deputy boarded another plane and gave chase. After flying to Asheville and Morganton, a total of about 460 miles, Ballard was low on fuel and landed the plane where he was taken into custody. The plane that Ballard used was a Piper Cherokee owned by Vince Block of Vince’s Flying Service out of Rockford.
As that case dragged on, more indictments came down on July 16, 1976 for mail and wire fraud in connection with selling phony distributorships for stereo equipment and candy. Indicted along with Lawrence Ballard were Morris S. Friedman, 31, formerly of Rockford now living in Skokie, Larry Gold, 45, Scottsdale, Joe “Gramps” Marinelli, 58, Theodore Moore, 54, and Robert S. Doiel, 51, all of Rockford, Louis Meier, 33, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Bartholomew Walsh, 53, Elk Grove Village and Phillip Johnson of Viroqua, Wisconsin. It was said Friedman was the ringleader and he was already on five years’ probation for selling phony distributorships for cosmetics. Marinelli of Rockford was also a longtime LCN member and no stranger to getting arrested. He had caught charges over the years for gambling, theft, assault and attempted murder.

Orris Ballard, Lawrence Ballard and Serge Gaudry were all convicted and sentenced to serve terms ranging from two to eight years in federal prison. Donald Russell was sentenced to three years’ probation. By June 1980 all three men stayed out of prison while appealing their convictions and they never made the Rockford newspapers again relating to these arrests.

Robert Ballard, whereabouts unknown. If alive today he would be in his early 80s.
Lawrence Ballard, whereabouts unknown. If alive today he would be 70 years old.
Orris Ballard died in Rockford, Illinois on May 11, 1982 after a short illness at the age of 59.
Joe Maggio was found murdered in the backseat of his vehicle on April 9, 1980 on the outskirts of Rockford.