Gavin Schmitt: 7 books

Wind through the criminal history of the cities along northeast Wisconsin’s Fox River with the author of Milwaukee Mafia as your guide.   The safe and sedate Fox Cities have seen their share of horrible crimes. Coldblooded murder, kidnapping, prostitution, organized crime and other misdeeds shocked...

Milwaukee is best known for its beer�and rightfully so. But in the days of Prohibition, the big alcohol suppliers were not Miller, Blatz, Schlitz, and Pabst. The Mafia had control, and it made its money by running alcohol as far away as Canada and Indiana, as well as with counterfeiting, the numbers...

An upright citizen kidnapped in public and dumped in a shallow grave. A police chief’s wife arrested for murder. A mobster kidnapped by FBI. An ongoing corruption probe looking at everyone from lowest bookie to judges and prosecutors. What is going on in small town America?

In Wisconsin history, no single group has been on the land longer than the Menominee Indians. While other tribes were pushed west by the Europeans and Americans, the Menominee stayed firm and held on to their ancestral homeland. Though their territory has been greatly diminished, there is something to...

Neenah rests in the heart of the Fox Valley, positioned between Appleton and Oshkosh. The city sits at the junction of Lake Winnebago and the Fox River, which has always been central to its draw for both recreation and business. Flour and paper milling utilized the river�s powerful flow and brought...

From when Vito Guardalabene arrives from Italy in early 1900s, until the days the Mob controlled the Teamsters, Milwaukee was a city of murder and mayhem. Author relies on unseen police reports, FBI reports and more to reveal Milwaukee’s history thats been shrouded in myth

Murder Capital explores Prohibition-era Madison, Wisconsin. Per capita, Madison was the most violent and deadly city in the United States during the 1920s. Along with the usual suspects (bootleggers), Madison was unique in its strong Ku Klux Klan presence. In the background was a prominent judge,...