Episode 65: Carlos Marcello

Episode Transcript
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(00:11):
Welcome to the sit Down, aMafia History Podcast. Here's your host,
Jeff nay Do. What's up everybody, and welcome in to another edition of
the sit Down, a Mafia HistoryPodcast. I'm your host, Jeff ny
Do. Hope you're all having agreat day. Hope you had a great

(00:32):
Fourth of July holiday. I knowFourth of July is always a great holiday
because it's really the unofficial start ofsummer. You're kind of ready to go.
You're at the pool, or you'reat the beach or wherever you are.
You have some great food, seesome people. There's no gifts that
have to be given. It's avery laid back day. Weather's gentlely nice.

(00:54):
It's a lot to be thankful for. I hope you all had a
grade fourth of July. It's abig week for me, well, because
for Fourth of July. It's alwaysbig for me because not only do I
have Fourth of July, but Ican look forward to the fact that my
birthday is about a week later,July tenth, So it's a big week
for me. My birthday will beon Sunday. I'm another year older,

(01:14):
which you know, I think onceyou get to thirty, you start to
really dread birthdays because it just meansone more year down on your clock,
but still pretty young. And I'msure I'll get some birthday wishness. I
thank you all for them. We'regonna get right to the show today,

(01:34):
and you know, on this show, there's no frills, there's no nonsense.
We generally get right into the topic. We've got a huge one today.
You know, the person in allsixty five episodes we've done well,
actually we haven't done that. I'vegotten asked about most is today's topic.
We're gonna talk about the little man, Carlos Marcello, in my estimation probably

(02:00):
think, without a doubt a guythat I think it's hard pressed when you
look at the American mafia. Heis arguably the most powerful, richest,
most successful mafia figure really in thehistory of American Coast and Austra. You
know, when most people talk aboutthe mafia, and I'm not talking about

(02:22):
history ends, I'm not talking aboutauthors, very few will include Carlos Marchello
and their mount Rushmore. If youwill, you're always gonna hear the Carla
Gambinos and the Lucky Luciano's. Andthat's fair. But when it comes to
power and truly ruling an area.Carlos Marchello literally ruled the South. Him

(02:43):
and Santos Santa Traffic Can'te were justpowerhouses. That simple. This is a
guy that in the sixties as aas a whole of what he was bringing
in revenue wise, Carlos Marchello wasthe most successful company in the entire state

(03:04):
of Louisiana. To keep in mind, he ran the mafia. Keep in
mind, in the mid sixties,it was estimated Carols Michello was bringing in
two billion dollars with the b Now, when we put that into perspectives,
I mean what that means today.I mean, that's if we're talking about

(03:28):
a billion dollars in nineteen sixty five, that's equivalent to I don't know,
when we look at it, it'slet me double check here, it's I
want to say it's about ten billion. It's incredibly big amounts of money,

(03:49):
and it's just something that it's reallyunimaginable when you think about it. This
is a man that had really noeducation. He barely spoke the language.
He was not even a US citizen. Let's get into the story of really
the most revered mafia figure ever,a guy that may have been involved with

(04:10):
the murder of a president, mayhave been involved with the murder of a
US senator, may have had aconnection to the assassination of Martin Luther King.
This is a guy that, whenit comes down to it, is
probably the most politically connected corrupt individualthat this country's ever seen from a mafia
standpoint, Let's get into it.Carlos Marcello on the sitdown. Cologno Minicore

(04:38):
was born February sixth, nineteen tenin the North African country of Tunisia.
Now a lot of people are goingto wonder, is that factual? Absolutely?
Carlos Marcell's family, it was saidthat they lived in refugee camps or
in the area of tunis in Tunisiafor about a year or two. Any

(05:00):
Sicilian immigrants would flock to Northern Africain hopes to eventually head over to the
United States, and that's exactly whathappened. Ultimately, his parents, Giuseppe
and Luigia would actually move from Tunisiainto the United States in nineteen to eleven.
When Carlos was an infant. Theywould travel on a ship called the

(05:25):
Liguria, which is steamship they wereactually from Revenusa in Sicily, which was
a fairly well known town. Ultimately, the Marcello family would have eight children,
and once coming to America, Carlos'sfather actually worked on a sugar plantation.
And I mentioned at the beginning thename Minicore. That was his birth

(05:48):
name, that was his name inItaly, that was the family name.
Giuseppe Midicore was his father. Now, interially enough, a lot of individuals
from Ravenusa and from Sicily actually settledin the same area of New Orleans,
in an area Jefferson Parish, andthe individual that ran the sugar plantation's name

(06:12):
was actually Minnicore as well. Soto avoid confusion, Carlos's father would actually
change his name to Marchello. Nowfor Marcello's they would be like any other
immigrant family. It really didn't matter, you know, whether it was New
York or Chicago or New Orleans.New Orleans was a ravishing area for Italians.

(06:33):
I mean about two hundred thousand Italianswould go through New Orleans and it
would ended up today being a veryItalian area. In fact, Carlos's father,
Joe, would save a lot ofhis money. It would alsoly buy
a rundown farm in the southeast NewOrleans neighborhood of Algiers. During those times,

(06:55):
Algiers was actually, you know,like much of New Orleans, fairly
run down. Algiers was actually anarea that had many African American people living
in that area, and it waskind of an area bereft of anything positive.
His father would actually own a smallbar in Algiers, and he'd actually

(07:17):
use his farm to grow fruits andveggies that the family would sell in the
French Quarter. In fact, reallyby thirteen fourteen years old, Carlos realized
that school probably wasn't for him.He would head it Decatur Street in the
French Quarter and they would alongside theirfamily sell fruits and veggies. Now,

(07:39):
Carlos was the oldest of the children, and for whatever reason, he actually
never became a citizen of America,which down the road we'll talk about ended
up being a pretty big issue forCarlos. Marcell Marcello by eighth grade would
drop out and he would actually beknown around town and really around his small

(07:59):
neighborhood as a bit of a leader. He ended up leaving school to kind
of go to work. Basically,you started pushing fruit cards up the French
Quarter. And like many young boys, really you take umbradge or kind of
the thought of you want to lookat the older guys around you and what

(08:20):
they're doing. And like any kidwhen you grew up in a narray,
bereft of anything positive, you're goingto slot in with the undesirables. You're
going to slot in. If you'rehanging out with five losers, you're going
to be the sixth. And that'sexactly what happened to Collins Martell. He
began hanging around robbers and criminals andgangsters, and before you know it,

(08:41):
he starts making money, becomes astudent of crime, if you will.
By his late teens, college Martellis making money. He actually moves by
then into the French Quarter. He'drented an apartment for about two dollars a
week in those times, and hewas able to do his thing. Now,
I kind of want to talk alittle bit about the landscape of the
American mafia, particularly in New Orleans, and it's really one of the birthplaces

(09:05):
of the American mafia. There's reallybeen a fringe of the New Orleans crime
family really all the way back,you know, to you know, Frankly
in eighteen sixty ish. You know, it ultimately would culminate in the eighteen
nineties. A man called Charles Matrongaactually would run the family. Really into

(09:28):
the twenties, the Matronga crime familywas the known entity in New Orleans.
And really when we look back atkind of the original Charles Matranga family,
it was really the earliest recorded crimefamily in the country. I mean,
it wouldn't be until the eighteen eightieswhen Giheppe Morello would kind of become someone

(09:52):
involved in New York criminality. Soreally the birth of the American mafia was
actually in New Orleans. Ultimately,my name you'll hear a lot. Really
before Carlos Marchello was a person calledSilver Silver Dollars Sam Corolla. He would
kind of take over the family fromhis predecessor and really take them from kind
of a black hand society, anextortion group to really a mafia group where

(10:18):
they had an underbass, they hadcompos they had soldiers, And we'll talk
more about kind of Carlos Marcello's slottingin. Marcello by his late teens,
Beyan kind of taking up a friendshipwith certain criminals. He alongside two other
individuals started robbing bank stores things ofthat nature. Carlos Marcello and his friends

(10:39):
would actually hit a bank and thenthey'd ultimately hit a Chinese grocery store.
The problem for Marchello was he wasn'tvery lucky when it came to getting away
with it by a second robbery theChinese grocery. He would actually be caught
in nineteen twenty nine and be arrestedfor robbery in thirty He would ultimately get

(11:01):
nine to twelve years in Angola,which is one of the more notorious prisons
in the state of Louisiana. Now, through whether we would call it connections
or not, the truth is,for many years the state of Louisiana was
a very corrupt place. Now bythis point, Carlos Mitchell's father actually had

(11:24):
connections obviously into you know, themafia from in Sicily, and it was
said that he would actually banded withcertain representatives to get Carlos released. He
would only serve for about four yearsand was released in the mid nineteen thirties.
Now, Carlos's father would actually shifta lot of his work ethic to

(11:48):
shrimping. Actually, by the ageof twenty four, his brothers and him
were obviously kind of creating their ownlife, but Joe Marcello would actually expand
his interest into shrimping. Shrimping hadbeen kind of a big agricultural economy for
a lot of people, especially inSouth Louisiana, particularly with the Italians,
as they would head out in thatGulf of Mexico and really do some really

(12:13):
big things on some of those shrimpboats down there, and Carlos's father get
into that. But for Carlos,he would use a lot of the money
that he had made and kind ofsaved up, and he had actually bought
a rundown bar for about five hundreddollars in a little town outside of the
Louisiana called Gretna. It was actuallypart of Jefferson Parish, not far from

(12:35):
New Orleans proper. It was aplace at twenty ten O'Connor Street in Gretna.
He would call it the Brown Bomber. He put his brother Peter in
charge of the bar. Now,Gretna was a perfect place for Carlos Marcello
because it was a cd suburb thatreally kind of was a den of iniquity,

(12:56):
if you will. It was whereall the undesirables hung out. It
was where the drug dens were,it was where the bars were open all
hours. It was where they hadgambling halls and pool spots and whorehouses.
It was a perfect place for ayoung criminal and a criminal syndicate to run
their operations. Now, by thispoint, the New Orleans crime family was

(13:18):
in control by a guy called Silversilver Dollar Sam Corolla. It's a bit
of a tongue twister, Silver Dollarssaying he was in control, and he
would really maintain control up until youknow the forties, if you will.
He would assume control in around nineteentwenty two, and as we said,

(13:41):
he kind of transformed the New OrleansMafia from kind of a black hand extortion
group to a legitimate criminal family.And for Marcello, hanging out in Gretna
was big for him because that's wherehe'd meet an individual called Peter Tadaro.
Peter Tadaro was a Kappa regime thathad business in Gretna and he was a

(14:05):
coppo in the Matroana crime family.He was a big time member. He
would kind of take Carlos under hiswing and kind of offer a mentorship to
him. And by the age oftwenty five, he would promote Carlos to
membership and he'd become a made memberof the New Orleans crime family. Now,
for Carlos, things were good.He was twenty five, he was

(14:26):
making money. He had a bar, He was making a little scratch on
the sides in pool halls and gamblingspots. He would also meet a woman.
Around that time. He would comeinto contact with a beautiful woman called
Jacqueline. Now, one thing aboutJacqueline that we'd have to talk about is
her last name is Tadaro. Shewas actually the niece of his mentor,

(14:50):
Frank Tadaro. He would ask forher hand and within four months he fell
in love with her. They wouldbe married in September of nineteen thirty.
Now Carlos would live in a smallapartment on Techie Street in Algiers. He
had a liquor store below it,and his wife would actually run that business.
So for Carlos Marcella, he quicklyrealized that, you know, getting

(15:15):
money, creating legitimate income with itwould allow you to make more money than
take that money and throw it backinto you know, other businesses and things
of that nature. He also wouldcreate a business that was distributing pinball and
jukebox machines. Obviously, that wasa huge thing in the thirties and into

(15:37):
the forties, and this would ultimatelybecome where Carlos would become very rich,
very quickly and make very big timeconnections. He would create a company with
his brother called the Jefferson Music Company, and he'd eventually corner the market.
He basically would say, if youhad a pinball machine or jukebox, we
were going to be the ones thatwere giving it to you. Now,

(15:58):
with the money he made, herealized that the drug trade was in a
very effective way to make a lotof money. He saw big profits pushing
marijuana in not only New Orleans,but in Gretna. By nineteen thirty five,
he and his partners were really,according to the Federal Narcotics Bureau,

(16:18):
some of the biggest weed dealers inNew Orleans. A weed was big business
and they were pushing a lot ofit. I mean, Carls Morchella was
not pushing you know, dimebags orqps. They were pushing pounds of marijuana.
By nineteen thirty eight, an undercovereddrug agent would actually pinch Corls Marchello.
He would ask to buy twenty threepounds of weed from Carlos, and

(16:44):
again he happened to be a federalagent and Carlos was busted for them.
Though he again wouldn't really face muchof a punishment. He would plead guilty
in front of an individual judge.Ruff's foster was sentenced to a year in
Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. He was finedabout seventy seven thousand dollars as well.
The problem for the government was CarlosRichella never really had to pay for a

(17:08):
crime. Strings were pulled, andas usual a very lax government. He
would be pardoned about nine months inso only he did about nine months of
his year sentence. He would headback down to New Orleans get right back
to work in his jukebox business.He continued to assisted mister Tadarow and the

(17:32):
men of his family. The goalnow though was for Marcello. It was
to get away from maybe the morenefarious things like marijuana selling and really become
incredibly connected, making the right connections, becoming very rich and having the lay
of the land and having connections withit. Carlos was the point man.

(17:56):
He was paying off police. Hewas becoming very powerful, but he wanted
more. Now. There was alot going on, and we talked about
this during some of the episodes wedid about mar Lanski Frank Costello. One
of the big problems that people likeFrank Costello are running into. Costello was
very connected in pinballs, poker machines, that sort of business, slot machines,

(18:21):
and the issue that mister Costello wouldhave is in the mid thirties,
mister la Guardi was an elected mayorof New York and he despised the mafia.
He was Italian, he was agood Italian. He waged war on
crime and the gamblers that were kindof trying to take over a city.
At one point, Loguardi had thatfamous radio broadcast where he said, let's

(18:45):
drive the bums out of town,and he kind of said, if you're
a gangster, get the hell outof here, basically, And what he
did was he took an assault onillegal poker machines, gambling of any kind
and pretty much drove them out ofNew York. By nineteen thirty five,
the machines that Costello had were eitherconfiscated or just destroyed. At one point,

(19:08):
mister Laguardi would actually throw the machinesinto the I believe East River.
At one point it was a bigissue and for Frank Costello meant he would
lose a lot of money. AndI heard it compared one time to kind
of being like Frank Costello would buyten race horses and none of them would

(19:30):
be allowed to raise. He hadall this equipment that was just sitting there
and he wasn't able to use it. So he got the smart idea to
connect with the person called Huey Long. Huey Long was the ex governor of
the state of Louisiana. He wasvery connected in the public political scene down
in New Orleans. He connects withhim, they make a deal. Costello

(19:52):
has a thousand machines or so andhe places them in New Orleans. Now
again, remember it's not like hecould just place these machines in New Orleans
and that would be that he wouldhave to make this political connection through an
individual called Philip Costell, Dandy PhilCostell. He was an aide to Frank
Costello. He was a guy thathad a lot of confidence and he was

(20:14):
kind of putting control of handling this. He would work closely with Huey Long
and a guy James Barcado. Now, Bracado and Huey Long were very connected
to the New Orleans mafia. Obviouslybeing the governor and being corrupt, they
all had a lot of connections inthat area. Carlos was slotted in as
the guy to handle all of themachines. And remember he had the Jefferson

(20:38):
Music Company, so we can installall these different machines and he could handle
everything, but he was going toget a fee. He would also kind
of be connected with Costello's newest operation, which was this company that ran these
machines. Now for him, Carlosknew that he could handle the effort of

(21:00):
operating on the machines, and thesemachines were pumping out a lot of money.
People love to gamble. You think, if you have let's just see,
have a thousand machines and they're makingten dollars a day, that's a
lot of money you could make.And remember this is in the thirties and
forties. Now, what Marcello reallyknew right away was if you had political

(21:22):
power, you could do what youwanted. Something like al Capone realized Carlos
should become very close to the chiefof police in Gretna your reguard Miller,
and he knew that, Yeah,you'd have to spend some money, but
if you had the law on yourside, you could literally do whatever you
wanted. It was set at onepoint that Carlos Marcello had incredibly deep pockets

(21:45):
on his pants. At one point, it was an old livestele that Carlos
Marchello could store thirty to forty thousanddollars in cash in his pocket. He
would just walk around doling out payoffsto people, whether it was cops or
representatives or whoever. He was incrediblygood at realizing that, and that's why

(22:11):
people like Marcello and Frank Costell andall these different people were so highly regarded.
In fact, by nineteen forty four, Carlos was so connected with the
mafia from a national perspective. Hewould have the share of a place called
the Beverly Club. It was alegitimate gambling casino. It was one of
the first nightclub gambling casinos in NewOrleans. And alongside Frank Costello, Meyer

(22:34):
Lanski, and a state legislator calledFreddie Rickefer, all of these guys would
have a stake in this place calledthe Beverly Club. Carlos was brought into
this shareholder and a lot of historicalaccounts would say that at one point he
had about twelve and a half percentof the casino. There was also a

(22:59):
rumbling that he perched for about fortyfive K. But again, this was
big money. He was now avery rich individual and he was playing with
the big boys. He was not, you know, selling pounds in marijuana
on the street or hanging out inthe dingy bar and Gretna. He was
making big money. Now. TheBeverly Club ended up being a major windfall

(23:21):
for these guys. It would openin December of nineteen forty five, and
you know, citizens and distinguished peoplelike would would come in. They had
beautiful bars and dining rooms and gamingareas. People like Jimmy Duranty and boxers
were there, and entertainers and athletes. Carlos was the manager obviously at the
club, and you know, someof his brothers would hang out as well,

(23:45):
including his brother Anthony and Peter.They'd become very involved in actually the
day to day operations. He'd evenhire Jefferson Parish police as door met and
bouncers. And again it's the samesong and dance. These guys were making
money, they were getting the rightpeople involved, and everyone was becoming a

(24:07):
partner, if you will. Atone point, the chief of Detectives of
New Orleans Police, John Grosch,was found to have a safe deposit box
containing over one hundred and fifty thousanddollars in cash. Now remember that's in
nineteen forty, Okay, to putthat into perspective, this individual had a

(24:29):
box with about three point one milliondollars in it. This was a person
in John Grosh that was making aboutone hundred and eighty five dollars a month.
That's the kind of money he wasmaking. Of someone like Frank Costello
for being involved with the casino.Carlos paid off everyone and he got everyone

(24:52):
involved in the bargada, and heknew that happy people were making money and
making money. They were happy.It was pretty simple now. By the
mid forties as well, Carlos,as we didn't talk about, didn't have
to a World War two because hewasn't a citizen. So he was able
to sit back, relax and Ihave to worry about ward and was making

(25:14):
a lot of money. He wouldalso get involved in other ventures as well.
They would continue to build up thejukebox and pinball business, but he
would also get involved with a wagerservice for a racetrack gamblers. He would
work with a member of the NewOrleans Mafia called Joe Peretta, who would
become one of his top lieutenants,and they would take over the largest racing

(25:37):
wire service in Louisiana. So allthe different tracks down there, whether it
was Louisiana Downs or these different places, they would report race results and things
of that nature. And back inthose days it was different than today today.
If you bet on a race atLouisiana Downs, you can go on
TVG or Twin Spires and get theresults than five minutes of the race.

(26:00):
In those days, you'd have tokind of contact the service and they would
be able to throw it out toyou. So with all this stuff he
was making money on whether it wasa casino or a race service, or
the jukebox business, or the baror the liquor store. He became a
very rich man. By this point. He and his wife Jacqueline now had
four children and they needed to moveto a bigger home. He would move

(26:23):
to an area called Marrero, whichwas a very nice suburb about ten miles
away from New Orleans. He wouldbuy a home for about forty two thousand
dollars. Now, remember I meanforty two thousand dollars. Think of this.
This is in the mid forties.So he bought a very beautiful home

(26:44):
in those times. That would equatetoday to about six hundred and thirty k.
So think of your wherever you live. So if you live in let's
just say New Orleans, I meanthat's a very nice palatial area. It's
a very nice spot. Now thiswas also a major point in his career
for Marchello because in nineteen forty seven, the boss of New Orleans Silver Dollars,

(27:10):
Sam Corolla for about ten years,was facing deportation. He decides,
you know what, you know,I'm pretty pretty old by this point.
Keep in mind, I mean SilverDollars. Sam was in you know,
in his fifties. I mean,he was facing a lot from the government.
He decides to head back to Italy. He was from Terrasini, a

(27:32):
spot in Italy and Sicily, andhe decides, you know what, I'm
gonna just leave. I'm going togive up control. Now, he had
a son, Anthony Carola, whowas you know, someone that was involved
with the mafia. He assumed thathe would take over control, you know,
and why not, He's the sonof the mob boss. But not
so fast. By this point theman for the job was Carlos Marcello,

(27:56):
and that's exactly what happened. Hehad a power, he took it over
everything he had, the casino andin fact, by this point he'd actually
owned his own casino called the NewSouthbork Club. On May fifth, nineteen
forty seven, a group of individualsthat really had most of the control of
the family would all go to abar in the back room of a bar

(28:22):
called the Black Diamond in New Orleans. Now at the seat of the table
that night were notable New Orleans mobstersTom Rizzuto, Frank Lombardino, Joe Capro,
Anthony Carolo, Joe Peretto, NofieldPecora, and Carlos's brothers Vincent,
Joseph, Peter, Anthony, Jakeand Nick. They were all involved,

(28:45):
including his nephews as well. Theywere all involved with the mob, and
pretty much everyone in the room appointedCarlos as the new boss of New Orleans.
Now, Corolo was mad. Hewanted to be the guy. But
in the end, and Marcello's panachespoke for itself. He was making a

(29:06):
ton of money. He was veryconnected, he was very big nationally,
and he was dialed in to theworld of New Orleans politics. Now,
I want to kind of sidetrack itfor just one second. According to FBI
reports, they would actually make claimsthat for a long time, really from

(29:29):
the mid forties until the early sixties, there was actually a shadowy figure that
was running New Orleans, not calledCarlos Marcello. Now you'll hear some historians
discuss this. It was said thata man called Leo Luca Trombadore was running
New Orleans. He had actually beenvery close and a familial cousin to Duceppi

(29:52):
Morello. Morello kind of instructed himto go out of New Orleans and handle
things. But there's very little evidenceto back that up. I guess it
is possible. But the man inNew Orleans was Carlos Marcello. Now his
underboss would be his brother Joe.His brother Vincent was also made into the

(30:14):
family, and other members of thefamily were also involved, including one of
his brothers, Salvatore. He wasa soldier in the family, so he
pretty much kept everyone in control inhis family. In the world of the
New Orleans Mafia, now Carlos asthe new boss would hold the court out

(30:36):
of a bar called the Willswood Terrace. He would actually also be integral in
opening a restaurant called Moscas. Now, if you've ever been to New Orleans,
Moscas is actually still there today.You can go and get, in
my estimation, from what I understand, one of the best Italian meals in

(30:56):
New Orleans. It's actually in alittle suburb called West we Go. It's
a little spot. It's a littlewhite building right right right in that little
town, and you can get aterrific meal. Funny enough for Marcello,
he would actually love to eat andhe would hire an individual called Pravena Musca

(31:18):
to be the cook at this placecalled Muscas. At one point, Praveno
Moscow is actually the personal chef ofal Capone. He was from Chicago.
Collage would buy the little house andtavern, and by nineteen fifty one he'd
actually leave the tavern to Musca tohave and to this day it's still there.

(31:40):
From what I understand, they havedelicious food. As I kind of
talked about earlier. I've actually talkedto several people in New Orleans, and
I'm sure we'll have a listener totell me the same thing gave. We
got great food so forever in theNew Orleans area. I know if I
ever get there, I'll make sureI get to Mosca's absently. By nineteen

(32:00):
fifty one, though, as weknow, many mobsters were coming under the
heat of the federal government, andduring that time, the Tennessee Senator SS
key Fauver was summoning mobsters to explainthemselves. Right, you're going to go
in front of our committee and we'regonna speak to witnesses, the hoodlums,
the racketeers, and we're gonna getthe lay of the land. We want

(32:23):
to hear about the mafia. Thematter was, though Key Faver wasn't going
to get anyone to actually talk.No one actually talked during any of this,
and Carlos was summoned alongside his brotherAnthony. Also interviewed was James Bracado,
Joe Peretto, Dandy Phil Costell,the old political fixer, and the

(32:45):
mayor of New Orleans. So therewere plenty of people that were having to
speak about their involvement or their knowledgeof the American mafia, particularly New Orleans.
That Carlos would be grilled about allsorts of things, everything from his
bars, his clubs, to theslot machine companies he ran, to the
casino, to the racing wire service. And what it also allowed he Forverd

(33:08):
to do was he'd also try toget some info out of Carlos about his
relationships with different mobsters, including SantaTraffic, Canty, the boss of Tampa,
and Josephvello, who was very connectedin Dallas. He ran organized crime
in Dallas, Texas. Now,for anyone that's curious Carlos is you know

(33:30):
territory was not just New Orleans.He was very much He very much controlled
Dallas, Arkansas, different areas ofMississippi into Oklahoma, and he controlled all
sorts of territory and had all sortsof people kind of in his camp.
It's funny because during the hearings,as we know, many many mobsters didn't

(33:57):
say anything. Carlos Marchello would takethe fifth one hundred and fifty two times.
The only question he'd actually answered waswhen he was asked by a committee
member, what loss if you violatedMarcello would respond, quote, not being
an attorney, I would not know, and I'm sure he would do it
better. New Orleans accents tough.The one thing we would find out about

(34:22):
Marcello is we'd actually get to seehim. And what we'd find out was
even a little fellow as a stockylittle guy, had a big, large
head, you know, little squatbody. It was estimated that Carls Marchello
was like five two five three.Now, I'm sure people will make hype
jokes about myself and compare me toCarlos mirtchell but I'm actually significantly tall than

(34:44):
mister Marcello. At one point,he'd become to be known as the Midget
of the mafia. He was alsocalled on television the evil genius of crime
and one of the principal criminals inthe United States and number one hoodlum.
So you know, one thing itwould do was it put a face to
the name of Carlos Marcello. Butfor law enforcement, they just didn't get

(35:07):
much out of the key fall overhearings. It was a different time for
the mafia. It just was.By nineteen fifty three, Carlos continues to
not only make a ton of money. But as every good entrepreneur does,
he started buying up a bunch ofreal estate, including kind of an area,

(35:27):
a group of buildings just outside ofLouisiana and in an area called Rossier
City. What he would buy isa bunch of office complexes and a motel
block, a restaurant, a lounge, kind of an office complex, a
strip mall, if you will.Included in that block of property was a
place called a Talent and Country Motel. Now, for the rest of his

(35:51):
criminal career, this is where CarlosMarchello would run his operation. It was
only about five minutes from a homehe would buy, which we'll get into
and just a second, and thisis where his business would be run.
He had a huge mahogany desk,and all the people in his inner circle
hung out there. All his trustedlieutenants, nor Fio Pacora, Joe Pereto,

(36:14):
his brother Anthony. Everyone kind ofoversaw operations from that place right there.
Even Pecora's wife Francis, would actuallyact as Carlos Marcello's secretary. And
this is where there was a greatquote that came out of the office building
on a front door in the building. There was a message that read three

(36:35):
can keep a secret if two aredead. That's one of the great quotes
from Carlos Marcello. He'd always saidthat three people can keep a secret as
long as two people aren't around totalk about it. Facebook is building tools
to enhance safety and security. Overforty million people are using Facebook's privacy check
up each month. That's nearly sixtytimes the population of Washington, DC.

(37:00):
About the work ahead at Facebook dotcom, Forward slash action, and you
know, this is where it waskind of realized by Marchello that he was
the king of the volcano, ifyou will. He was a very rich
man, he was a very powerfulman, and he had realized by this
point that not only he controlled Louisiana, but as I said, his criminal

(37:21):
operations extended into Mississippi, Arkansas,Texas, Alabama, Nevada. I mean,
he had interest in California, intoMexico, the Caribbean, Guatemala.
He had income coming from gambling,casinos, narcotics, prostitutions, slots,

(37:43):
extortion. He was bribing public officials, judges, peace officers, prosecutors,
mayors, councilmen, state legislators.He even had a member of Congress in
his pocket. Now, with allthis illegal money, he was able to
go and buy all sorts of capital, whether it was real estate, motels,
restaurants, banks, liquor stores,taxi companies, bus firms, shrimp

(38:07):
boats, gas stations. He controlledso much. His fortune was vast,
and as we said, by thefifties early sixties, Carlos Marchello was making
revenues in the billions with a bthat is a vast criminal enterprise. When

(38:30):
it comes to Mafia Boston's there isno person in the history of the mafia
that controlled one man that controlled moreterritory than Marcello. There just isn't.
Sorry, you know, you havea lot of rich people in the mob
mob history, you did, butthey all were part of a family,
and it was all a bunch ofpeople in the family that controlled it.

(38:52):
Marcello was the guy. It's thatsimple. Now. It's funny because a
lot of he claimed a lot ofhis fortune came from land deals that he
made. He also would claim thatat one point that he was just a
salesman. He worked for a companycalled Pelican Tomato Company when Mattier, Louisiana

(39:12):
and earned about fifteen hundred dollars amonth. Now, on paper he probably
owned the company. But as Iheard one author talk about, he must
have been the greatest tomato salesman inthe history of mankind to be that wealthy
and rich. So we basically arelooking at from forty seven to nineteen sixty

(39:39):
ish he would probably be the richestmobster in America. And I don't know
if it's a question. He absolutelywas one of the most powerful and influential.
He had. The Commission didn't reallybother him. He did what he
wanted. It's not like they camedown and told him what he was going

(40:00):
to do. He opened his bookswhen he wanted, he made men when
he wanted. He didn't have todeal with the Commission. I don't in
my opinion, if you asked mewho the most powerful mobster in the history
of American mob was, it's Marcello, because unlike him, he had a

(40:21):
unique ability to not really have toworry about the Commission, and he controlled
such a vast territory. Now,interestingly enough, a mobster out of New
England would actually talk about Marcella atone point and say, quote, it
was very tight. They were allin deathly fear of Marcello because he's got

(40:43):
the law or the politicians in hisstate writing in his hip pocket. You
just can't go against him. Andthat the control that he had was incontestable.
There was nobody bigger. And whatwas about his mass success was he
had no education. This is aguy that spoke in broken English. This

(41:08):
is a guy that hadn't commanded thelanguage. As you know, if you've
ever been to New Orleans, theyhave a very interesting way of speaking.
They have that cajun cajun kind ofaccent, right, a lot of nuttings
and dats, right. He onlywent to school till fourteen. This is

(41:29):
a guy that was a multi onehundred millionaire, likely immense success. Crazy.
In nineteen sixty one, there wasan individual that used to be an
FBI egene. He actually worked forthe New Orleans Crime Commission. He actually
was tasked by the federal government toreport as a kind of historical authenticator and

(41:57):
expert ar Marcello. He would kindof talk about and lay out kind of
how the family diving things out.Now. Peter Marcello, his eldest brother,
would actually manage strip clubs in theFrench Quarter. His brother Pascal would
have a gambling house in Gretna.One of his younger brothers, Vincent,

(42:17):
ran the Jefferson Music Company. Theywould handle pinball on jukebox machines. Joe
Junior, his son, was hisright hand man, and not only did
he work under his father, buthe would run the wire service and booking
network that Carlos had. Brother Tonywould help run the Town and Country motel

(42:37):
that Carlos did business out of.And other brother, Sammy, his youngest
brother, would actually aid in themanagement of the Jefferson Music Company. So
everyone kind of had a job.Carlos had very close family. Everybody was
married, everybody had you know,the the willpowered on a Sunday meet for

(43:01):
a meal. It's pretty crazy howtruly well done the family was. As
far as how everyone had a job. I just can't talk enough about Carlos
Morchello and his success. By thispoint, he and his wife decided,
you know what, we're even richernow we've got these kids. Let's move

(43:23):
to a big ass house. That'sexactly what they did. Carlos Mitchello would
purchase an eight bedroom home with Kyleroofs and Corinthian arches in the beautiful suburb
of Mittier. And you know it'sinteresting because I've actually seen his home.
Carlos Mitchello would actually die at thishome, which we'll get to down the

(43:45):
road. It is beautiful, rightacross the street from a country club.
It's a beautiful part of Mittier.One of his neighbors was actually head of
a wealthy family that about fifty yearsbefore, was the head of the mafia.
He also would have a summer homeacross Lake Ponta Train in Covington,

(44:07):
Louisiana. It was good for ColineMatchello. Things were great. He had
no issues, nothing was wrong.But as we know, this is where
things start to get very hairy forCarlos Marchello right around the late fifties,
nineteen fifty nine to be exact.As we know, the keith Over hearings

(44:29):
didn't growner much for Carlos Marchello orreally for the government, but they would
also though six years later set upanother committee under John McClellan of Arkansas to
really investigate OC and labor racketeering.We started to find out that the mafia
was a continued worry for the USgovernment and they wanted to bring them down

(44:53):
now the chief counselor for the McClellanhearings. Not only were John Kennedy John
Kennedy, but chief counsel was hisbrother, Robert F. Kennedy. And
when I polled people about the mafia, and I've ever mentioned Carlos Marcello,
the first name they bring up wasRFK. And this is where the hate

(45:16):
for RFK starts for Carlos Marcello,and this is where things start to get
very interesting. Carlos will be calledto the meeting on March twenty fourth,
nineteen fifty nine, after he wasgiven a subpoena and served that he would
have to go and speak. Now, he had tried to get out of
it, but he had to endup going and on that day. As

(45:42):
we know, you know, whetherit was in nineteen twenty eight or nineteen
twenty nine, or nineteen forty sixor nineteen fifty seven, all these different
meetings would happen, these national summits, if you will, uten fifty seven,
we as we know, the Applel Acin meeting happened. Now Joe

(46:06):
Marcello, Carlos's brother, and Josephvella, who was running Dallas, who was
kind of a satellite of the Marchellafamily. They actually went to Aple l
Ackin. This is where and whythe McClellan hearing has happened, because Apple
Lackin really put as we know,the mob on the government purview and now
people like Marcello having to explain themselves, and Carlos would kind of just think

(46:32):
to himself, basically, there's reallyno evidence that I'm associated organized crime?
Why am I here now? Aswe know though, and what I'll talk
about before we actually would hear fromCarlos Marcello, we would hear from Aaron
Cone, who, as I said, was a former FBI agent. He
was the head of the New OrleansCrime Commission. He was an expert on

(46:52):
Louisiana criminal elements. Basically he hadbeen in involved with the arrests of John
Dillinger and Mab Barker, Gangs andBabyface Nelson and all these different people.
And he would spend the next twentyor so years investigating crime in Louisiana.
And at this point his man incontrol that he was dealing with was Carlos

(47:16):
Marchell And what he really did washe did exactly what I'm doing right now.
He laid out the structure of theLouisiana mafia. He told the committee
everything that Carlos is involved in andeverything that his family was in control in,
how they basically dominated the underworld ofNew Orleans, and that how the

(47:37):
mafia and New Orleans had dominated thecriminal underworld for the last seventy years.
He talked about the fact that CarlosMarcello's Slot operation had five thousand machines in
place. He would talk about thatthe company would earn five hundred million annually

(47:59):
from a legal gambling, one hundredmillion from legitimate interest in transportation, financing,
housing and service industries, one hundredmillion from illegal activities in bars,
taverns, whorehouses, prostitution. Hehad a crew that would handle professional burglaries
and hold ups that made him aboutten million a year. Prostitution brought in

(48:22):
about ten million a year, andhe also earned about one hundred million in
the form of not paying his taxescorrectly. As I said in a Post
article Saturday Evening Post article in nineteensixty four, it would claim that the
enterprise in that year earned two billiondollars in revenue. From the fifties into

(48:45):
the sixties. That's crazy. Eachyear and this is a big problem for
Mitchell because this was the first personto really put his issues in the things
that he was doing on Front Street. Now, as usual for Michelle,
he didn't answer any questions. He'dcite the Fifth Amendment many times. Now,
the young Kennedy was starting to getpissed off. Robert Kennedy believed that

(49:08):
you're not going to show him disrespect. And both these guys had stubborn personalities.
Whether it was the young Kennedy orthe old guy Marcello, no one
wanted to say anything. No onewanted to show their hand. Now,
Kennedy was infuriated, but Marcello wasmore infuriated, and this would set up

(49:29):
several years in a row of justpeople going at each other retaliation, and
the first to hit was Robert Kennedy, which we'll talk about here in just
a second. The one issue thatMarcello always had, while he was rich,
while he was powerful, while hewas politically connected, while he pretty

(49:50):
much owned New Orleans in the stateof Louisiana, the one thing that he
couldnot get passed was the fact thathe was not a citizen. In fact,
no one really knew where he wasfrom. Was he from Sicily,
Was he from Tanisia? No onereally knew. Now. One of the
countries that Carlos was doing a lotof business in was Guatemala. A lot

(50:15):
of the fruit that his companies usedwere from that country. He had a
lot of trade connections there. Hesmuggled weapons. He was very connected in
Guatemala. That's where he got hismarijuana. And it wasn't very far.
I mean, think about the geographicallocale of Guatemala. I mean, it's
not far from New Orleans. Hecould be there in a couple hours.

(50:37):
He would hire a criminal friend ofhis called carl Nole to basically create a
fictitious Guatemalan birth certificate, and thatwould kind of be his ace in the
hole if he were ever called intoquestion. He would use this, you
know, and that would be thathe would bribe a lawyer Cane Antonio Villadores

(51:01):
and associates to kind of create thegap in the entries of the birth registry
and they would say that he wasfrom a village called San Jose, Panula.
They gave him his birth name Clodummil Core. They'd even use specially
antiquated ac to get passed and tomake it look legitimate. So Carlos believed

(51:23):
that he had the ace in thehole. Now, as we know,
in nineteen sixty one, John Kennedywould become president, and John Kennedy did
something really bad for Carlos marchell andfor the mafia. He put his brother,
Robert Kennedy in control of the JusticeDepartment. And guess what mister Justice

(51:45):
Department does. He has it outfor Marcello. And this is where the
first agenda list agenda was get Marcello, get him out of here. And
he knew he could get him out. He knew that the one weakness that
Marcella had was he was not acitizen. Now, Robert Kennedy would write

(52:07):
a book called The Enemy Within,and he would say, quote in the
book, if we do not attackorganized criminals with weapons and techniques as effective
as their own, they will destroyus. And then he had quote never
forgotten the way Marcella had treated himin the McClellan. Here, he decided
to use unorthodox methods to strike backat Carlos Marcello. Now he was aware,

(52:31):
according to him, of the forgedbirth certificate that Carlis Marchello likely had,
and he would use this as away to deport Carlos forever. In
nineteen sixty one, Carlos tried toget out in front of it by you
know, paying a visit to theimmigration office, which he was required to
do so. He would ultimately,though, be led away at handcuffs and

(52:54):
be sent to a motorcade at theinternational airport, he'd be bundled into an
air and flown to Guatemala City,twelve hundred miles away. About a month
later, he would have his lawyerfollow for an immediate return. Now this
is where Marcello gets dealt with,and Kennedy thinks that he hasn't figured out

(53:19):
the next eight weeks should be areal problem for Marcello. After he's arrived
at Guatemala, he was able tocall his wife. They would actually come
and join Carlos in Guatemala, andthey'd be moved to the Billmore Hotel,
along with his lawyer and two ofhis brothers, Sammy and Vincent. About
a month after the arrival, thegovernment would inform Carlos that hadn't arranged for

(53:42):
them to be returned to America.When the party arrived to the airport to
embark on their trip back, Carloswas suddenly told that his visa had been
denied. Instead, he and hislawyer were taken by secret service agents into
El Salvador and left in an armycamp. Eventually they were taken to the
capitol of El Salvador, San Salvatorand hand it over to a commander of

(54:05):
a large military barracks. The commanderwould inform the two men that they'd be
taken to Honduras, to a smallprovincial airport where they would fly to the
country and go back. Now that'snot exactly truthful, because about six months,
six hours into travel on this busthey were on, they were simply
just dropped off in the middle ofthe jungle and left. And think about

(54:30):
it like this, Marcello is inhis forties, he's got a suit with
alligator shoes on, and he's droppedoff pretty much in the middle of the
jungle. He would also be staggeringor an airport and to hire an aircraft
that would fly him from the Hondurascapital home. Now, according to many

(54:52):
onlookers, Carlos was quote battered,bruised, and utterly exhausted, and they
would check into a hotel and sleepfor about two days They would then fly
back to New Orleans and reassure Marchello'sfamily that Carlos was okay and that he'd
arrived back to America several weeks later. Weirdly enough, Marchello claimed that he

(55:15):
obtained a visa and brought a ticketto a commercial flight to Miami, ran
no trouble passing through customs, butthe government would contend that he had in
fact been flown into the country aboardan aircraft in the Dominican Republic, and
that he likely had longtime connections withthe General Rafael Trehillo, who many people

(55:38):
in America had connections to, includinghis old friend Santo Trafficante, who obviously
pulled some strings to get him backinto the country. So by that year,
he's back in America and he goesright back to business as usual.
But as we know, Robert Kennedycontinues to aggravate Marcello. On October thirtieth

(55:59):
of that year, he would announcean indictment on Marcello on falsifying his Guatemal
birth certificate and perjury, and onDecember thirtieth, the Board of Immigration Appeals
would uphold his deportation order. Butby this point Marcello was done with Kennedy.
He was absolutely furious about that monthto six eight weeks that he had

(56:22):
to have in Central America, andhe felt it was a complete slap in
the face to him as a man. And this is where there starts to
become a lot of talk from CarlosMarchell that I think a lot of people
didn't necessarily want to believe, butit really was a writing on the wall.
Throughout summer and fall of nineteen sixtytwo, Carlos would continue to be

(56:46):
pressured by the Feds. He hadindictments looming, There were tax liens against
him, very heavy tax liens.Obviously, the government knew he had forged
his birth certificate, and he knewthat once and for all over the last
ten to fifteen years, he mayactually get deported. And this is where

(57:07):
things get interesting. In September nineteensixty three, the author Ed Reid would
visit a property that Marcella owned calledChurchill Farms on the west bank of the
Mississippi River. It was about asixty five hundred acre property. Now Marchella
had purchased this property in nineteen fiftynine for about a million dollars. He

(57:31):
was making a lot of money,and why not he went there and hunted.
He would hang out and bust balls. He had a conference room where
he'd invite different people and you know, hang there and drank and talk business.
There was just a kind of acamp, if you will, think

(57:51):
of it like Camp David for anypolitical people out there. And what would
happen is people that were close toour Cello would turn up there and they
would talk and bullshit, including aguy called Jack Leberto. Now Liberto was
very involved in the MAFI. Hewas a soldier in the New Orleans crime
family. He was very close toMarcello. He worked in the produce business.

(58:15):
He actually at one point drove fromMarcello. Also, there was a
person called Carlos Rupelo. He wasanother one of Carlos's main men, long
friend, longtime friend. He'd actuallyknew him back when they were kids in
Algiers and New Orleans. Now edReed would say that he would go at

(58:37):
one point to this place and hewas invited in to talk. Now,
another man there at the time wasa guy called Edward Becker, who was
a friend of Rupelo. He's afriend of Marcello. He was actually a
private investigator at one point, andthey were discussing different things. Between at

(58:59):
the hunting camp and at Town andCountry, Carlos's headquarters. They would spend
the day drinking and talking shop,and this is where Becker and Reed start
hearing comments from Marcello that started tobe pretty interesting. At one point,
Carlos started stomping around the room,ranting and screaming about what he was going

(59:22):
to do to Robert Kennedy. InSicilian, he would say, quote,
take the stone out of my shoe. He looked at Becker and said,
don't worry about that son of abitch, Bobby. He's going to be
taken care of now. In thebook The Grim Reaper by Ed Reid,
he would talk about the fact thatit was interesting because apparently Carlos Marcello didn't

(59:45):
speak Sicilian. He spoke Italian,which was kind of interesting. He also
would say to Becker, would saythat Marcello, quote, you can't go
after Bobby. Look at the troublethat will bring you. Carlo said no,
not that. He'd also say inSicily, they say, if you

(01:00:05):
want to kill a dog, youdon't cut off the tail, you cut
off the head, which Becker wouldsay that to him, it was very
clear that he would state that hehad planned to have President Kennedy murdered,
not Robert Kennedy. He believed thatif he killed Kennedy, Robert Kennedy would

(01:00:25):
go away. Now Becker would meetMarcello again on different occasions. They would
meet in multiple places, including acouple of weeks later, they would meet
in Miami Beach with Santa Trafficcante,the mob boss from Tampa, at the
Scott Byron Hotel. They would discussbusiness in Cuba with a businessman called jose

(01:00:47):
Alman Junior. Now he was theretrying to raise some money to build some
condos and apartments in Cuba, andthis would come from the team Seris.
As we know now. During thecommation, traffic Canty would also get on
the act as well. He hatedKennedy. Also, he would be little
Robert Kennedy for his war against HAFAand made mentioned to the fact that he

(01:01:10):
and his brother, the president wereserious trouble. Now, mister Aylman,
the Cuban would support President Kennedy though, and he thought he would probably be
be re elected. Traffic Canty seriouslylooked him in the face and said,
quote, you don't understand me,Jose Kennedy's not going to make it to

(01:01:30):
the election. Someone's going to hithim. Now. The problem that Traffic
Canty has was Alman was a rat, and he would say under oath that
this conversation he reported to FBI agent'sPaul Scranton and George Davis, but no
one in the agency took in theaction. They believed that it was just

(01:01:52):
Traffic Canty and Marcella talking a bunchof shit. And this is where it
starts to kind of make sense,because it was clear marcell hated Kennedy.
He had threatened that he was goingto kill him. Traffic Canty was obviously
very involved. Now there would bepeople that will go against his story.

(01:02:13):
A high end police intelligence chief calledQB. Badu would say many years later
that Marcella never talked like that.He's not even Sicilian. He was born
in North Africa, which is notreally true. I mean, he is
Sicilian, but he wasn't really hedidn't know a Sicilian because he never lived
in Sicily. He lived in Tunisia. He would say, quote, you

(01:02:34):
have to know Marcella in the waythat he talked, how stupid. That
story is a lawyer for Marcello andTraffic Canti. Frag Grogano would also say
he doesn't speak that shit when talkingSicilian, only English. So whether we
agree with this story or not,it is interesting and that came from,

(01:02:57):
you know, people that were directlyinvolved with If Marcella really depends who you
believe. Regano there would also saythat in nineteen eighty seven when he visited
Traffic Canty and they were on adrive on Batuore Boulevard and Tampa in Sicilian,
Regano was told by Traffic Canty quote, we shouldn't have killed John,

(01:03:22):
we should have killed Bobby. Sothere's a lot of back and forth.
The people that matter here, TrafficCanty and Marcello both had very similar points
that they made about the Kennedys.The truth was both hated them. As
we know, the FBI would continueto investigate this in the Warrant Commission because

(01:03:44):
look, the truth is in nineteensixty three, we all know what happened
on Friday November twenty second, nineteensixty three. John Kennedy would be killed.
We don't need to go through that. We all know that the FBI
and the government present that there wasone solitary kid shooter, solitary shooter,
a little gunman called Lee Harvey Oswald. They would claim that he would use

(01:04:09):
a rifle and then he was aterrific shot. Uh, and he was
this incredible marksman. Now many peoplethat knew Lee Ari Oswell would say that
they couldn't believe it because they hadknown him the former Marine as a mediocre
marksman. I mean, if hewas that good of a marchman, wouldn't
the American military have given him sniperduties? I feel like they would.

(01:04:34):
Now. Look, I'm not goingto rehash the actual assassination. I mean
you can do that for yourself.There are a thousands of books about it.
You know, We've seen documents andreports and articles, and the Warrant
Commission would actually be created. Andnow the Warrant Commission ended up just not
really looking into a conspiracy. Theyreally just looked into the actual murder.

(01:04:57):
And I hearde you. If youare very interesting in this, you should
definitely read into people like Robert Blakelywho were involved with the Warrant Commission.
But I kind of want to talkabout the connections that the people involved in
this assassination had to mister Marcello.Now Lee Harvey Oswald was very connected to

(01:05:21):
New Orleans. His uncle, aman called Charles Morett, was actually a
bookie for Carlos Marcello. He wouldactually act as his father. It was
very much found out that Lee arviOswald his only surrogate father was Charles Burrett,

(01:05:43):
and he actually worked Morett under SamSea, who was very high up
in the Marchello organization. So therevery much was a closed connection between Marcello
and Morette and Seya, who wereall connected to Lee Harvey Oswald. It's
also very widely well known that learviOswold's mother, Margaret, dated many members

(01:06:08):
of the Carlis Marcello organization. Soit's not like, you know, Learviado's
was just some recluse lunatic that justhappened to do this, which is what
the government wanted you to believe.Now as we know, days later,
lear vi Oswold would be killed.He'd be shot in the abdomen by an

(01:06:28):
individual called Jack Ruby. Now JackRuby, according to the Warren Commission,
had no definite mob connections, whichwe would find out as complete false.
He was a strip club owner whohad a very close relationship with members of
the Dallas organized crime family as wellas Carlis Marchell and Santa Traffic Canty Junior.
Now, if you know anything aboutJack Ruby, he was actually born

(01:06:53):
Jacob Rubinstein in nineteen eleven in Chicago, and he would have ties from nineteen
forty seven on in the Dallas mob. And weirdly enough, on November twenty
fourth, he was just mo actuallyescorted through the basement of the Dallas police
headquarters. And he mar actually died, you know, about two years later

(01:07:18):
from cancer, so that the connectionto the assassination both were now dead.
Naturally enough, the night before theKennedy assassination, Jack Ruby would have dinner
with a man called Joseph Campesi.Now Campci is the number two man under
Jack Savello in Dallas. And aswe know, Dallas was a faction of

(01:07:44):
New Orleans. It was pretty muchrun by Marcella and that Jack Ruby was
the missing link between everybody involved here. Now, why don't we know about
that? Why doesn't the federal governmenttell America about that? Because out side
of mob buffs like us, noone really knows that. Now, Peter

(01:08:06):
Noyse and Ed Reid, the authorI talked about, would be the first
to connect Marcello to JFK's assassination inhis book The Grim Reaper in nineteen sixty
nine. Peter Noyse would actually writea book called Legacy of Doubt published in
nineteen seventy three. And just asthe President was shot. Guess who had
their deportation hearing that day? CarlosMarchello, And guess what happened? He

(01:08:31):
beat the rap. Carlos Marchello continuedto live with a four leaf clover up
his ass, dreaded Kennedy was dead. He was happy? Why wouldn't he
be? A one thirty that day, everybody was notified that Kennedy was killed.
The only person that was actually happywas Carlos Marchelli walked out of the

(01:08:53):
courtroom slowly with a very big smileon his face. A couple hours later,
a verdict, if not guilty,had come in and he'd beat the
rap on both charges in the deportationcase. A few minutes later, Air
Force one would leave Dallas Airport andcarry the badly mutilated body of President Kennedy

(01:09:15):
back to DC. Now for Marcello, though in sixty four he would actually
be indicted again on jury tampering afterit was found out that he had paid
off a jury in that case.But he would continue to beat the rap
in those cases. The truth washe just couldn't be He couldn't be dealt

(01:09:36):
with. They had no way tobring Carlos Marcello in. He had friends
everywhere. He had friends at highplaces, state friends, federal friends,
governors, senators, labor leaders,everybody. At one point, ninety eight
percent of the Louisiana State legislature wouldexcept bribes. According to Peter Hand,

(01:10:02):
a close friend of a governor.Think about that, ninety eight percent.
Virtually every legislator accepted bribes. Howdo you ever bring this guy to justice?
Now? Carlos also controlled the headof Louisiana State Police, Roland Cupola,
and he also had a lock onthe Department of Revenue, which would

(01:10:25):
collect all state taxes. They wouldactually once assess his home, which was
worth about one hundred and sixty thousanddollars, for about eight thousand dollars.
When you wanted something done and youwere Collas Marcella, you got it done.
As would happen as well. Notonly was Carlos a very rich Man.
He continued to maintain connections with everyonein America from a criminal stamp,

(01:10:49):
but he was very close to TraffordCanty. He was really closed for Chicago
and Joey Doves Ayoupa. He wasconnected with Joe and Nick Savella in Kansas
City. He also was very connectedwith Angelo Bruno in Philadelphia, Dominique,
Brooklyre, and Los Angeles. Andhe also continued to be friends with people

(01:11:09):
in the Genoese crime family like FrankCostello. Excuse me, guys, now,
I didn't want to talk about onegroup. A lot of people ask
me about the Dixie Mafia. TheDixie Mafia were a band of guys that

(01:11:30):
pretty much ran around the Dixie area, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana committing crimes.
I guess who was someone that wasclose to them? Who do we
know? Carlos Marcello. And Idon't mean to continue to say this,

(01:11:50):
but I'm gonna keep saying it.I'm gonna keep saying it. I'm gonna
keep saying this. By the midsixties, Carlos had done everything he needed
to do. He was running adynasty and this has been going on for
twenty years through corruption, of prettymuch every person in the state. He
was the governor. It's that simple. And he was the preeminent leader of

(01:12:13):
the mafia in America. No onewas more influential, no one was more
wealthy. The Commission wasn't in hispocket bothered him. He did everything he
wanted on his own. He manipulatedpolitics, business, crime. Is that

(01:12:35):
simple. I want to talk offby a funny story. At one point
in the sixties, nineteen sixty six, actually Carlos Marchello would give a check
of ten thousand dollars to a societyof women who was raising money for the
Girl Scouts of America. Marcello wouldtell the woman, quote, don't mention
my name that I gave this donation. I don't want any publicity about this.

(01:13:00):
The gift would be news all overNew Orleans in two days. Everybody
knew him. But he was evenbeing good to the Girls Scouts. Now
in nineteen sixty six, it wouldn'tbe meant that Carlos didn't have any connections
with the Commission. He would beinvolved with Commission activities. And if you

(01:13:24):
know anything about Appa Lacin, there'sone thing you won't hear much about.
It was a meeting at Lostella Restaurantin Farso's Queens, a large group of
mobsters, high end mobsters, wouldgather at a table in a private dining
area in the basement and they wouldtalk Turkey. Now the police would raid

(01:13:45):
that building and arrest everyone, allthirteen of them. They were all members
of the mafia. Now at thatmeeting, it was a who'ge who of
gangsters. Obviously, you know,Carlos Marcello was there, you know his
son was there. Even Anthony Carolowas there. There were all sorts of

(01:14:11):
people there, all sorts of majorpeople in in in the office that day.
Now, other men in the lunchwere Mike Miranda and Tommy Aboli,
Jerry Cattina, the Genovese family newlyappointed Colombo boss Joe Colombo, Neil de
la Crouch underbossed the Gambino family.Also included there was Joe Ngallo, who

(01:14:33):
is the Gambino consolieri, Dominic Alongi, who is Tommy Aboli's driver, and
a soldier from the Genebeze family,Anthony Cirillo, also from Florida Santa Trafficanti
was there. Carlos alongside his brotherJoe Junior, were there Anti Carollo,

(01:14:54):
Frank Gagliano. It was a goodgroup of guys. Now the fans would
burst They're not the fans. TheNYPD would burst in and arrest everybody.
Now, the funny thing is allthe people involved, you know, fixed
the dispute, resolved their matters,and went right back to Lostella for the

(01:15:14):
rest of lunch. It's funny becauseit would actually be dubbed little Appalacin and
for years it would be insisted thelaw enforcement that he was never associated with
the mafia. Now, the problemfrom Richella was this was the first time
that he could say, you know, well, I guess maybe I am

(01:15:35):
involved, or people could say hewas involved. Why would he be at
lunch with all these mobs is ifhe wasn't involved with the mafia? And
guess who were the first people totake note the FBI office in New Orleans.
Upon his return back to New Orleans, Carlos would say, quote,
what's the matter with some old friendsgetting together for lunch? This was strictly

(01:16:00):
social gathering, that's all it was. Now this meeting would make headlines everywhere,
and news services would start picking itup everywhere. September thirtieth, of
that year, Carlos and his brotherJoe would fly from New York to New
Orleans. At the airport was abunch of onlookers, spectators, reporters,
photographers. A fracas would happen,and at one point an FBI agent was

(01:16:26):
there. He kept tabs on Carlos. According to this agent, Patrick Collins,
he would approach Marcello the little Marcellowould shout at him, I'm the
boss around here, and then punchedhim in the faith randomly. Carlos would
ultimately be arrested for assaulting an FBIagent, but it was thought of years
later that the reason Marcello socked Collinswas he was having a relationship Collins with

(01:16:55):
the wife of his brother Joe,a woman called Bootsy. So that was
maybe why he socked mister Collins,who deserved it quite honestly. Now the
good news, as usual, continuesto hit Carlos Marcello, as we know.
On June fifteenth, nineteen sixty eight, after Carlos was in court to

(01:17:19):
hear the indictment was thrown out becauseof a hung jury that he was involved
in, he got more good news. Robert Kennedy was gunned down in Los
Angeles, and within five years bothJohn Kennedy and Robert Kennedy was dead.
Is there a luckier person in thehistory of the mob than Carlos Marcello.

(01:17:42):
I don't think there was. Now, Interestingly, I want to just bring
up the fact that the man thatkilled allegedly killed Robert Kennedy alone was sure
hand Sir Han. He was aPalestinian person. I do want to talk
about the connections that, weirdly enough, Sir Hen sur Hen may have just

(01:18:02):
randomly had coincidentally to Marcello. Marcellowas very good friends with Mickey Cohen,
who was a mobster in LA.At one point, Sir Han Curhan actually
worked at Santa Anita Racetrack, whichMickey Cohen owned. Cohen was also very

(01:18:25):
close with Jack Ruby, who killedLearvey osl. Now, look, I'm
not going to say that Robert Kennedywas hired by Mickey Cohen and or Marcello
to kill Robert Kennedy, but itis interesting. Now I am not really
going to get into the MLK assassination. I did want to discuss that there

(01:18:48):
is a lot of connection between theassassination of Martin Luther King Junior and Marcello.
It's important to realize one of thevery negative things about Marcello. For
as rich and powerful as he was, he was a very serious racist.
It was alleged that Marcello hated blacks. He vietnamme opposed the civil rights movement.

(01:19:15):
At one point during the sixties,he openly expressed his hatred of not
only Martin Luther King, but RobertKennedy, who he called mlk's white Knight.
It was also very well known thatMarcello was a known supporter of the
Ku kuks Klan, that he generouslywas a supporter of anti civil rights movements.

(01:19:41):
Interestingly enough, FBI director at onepoint jag Behoover would share his views
in that he nominated Martin Luther Kingas the Man of the Year. At
one point, Marcello would say that, you know, kind of veheently going
against everything, and there was alot of things that Martin Luther King did

(01:20:02):
that were amazing. He was ahero in American history, but Marcello hated
it. This is not simple.Now. Four days after Martin Luther King
was killed, a black man calledJohn McFerrin would tell the FBI in Memphis
that he had overheard a telephone conversationprior to the day of the murder,
in which a speaker would say,quote, kill that son of a bitch

(01:20:26):
on the balcony, you will getfive thousand dollars. Don't come here,
go to New Orleans and get themoney now. The man on the telephone
was identified as a man called FrankLiberto. He was the brother of Salvatore
Roberto, who was very close withCarlos Marcello. Also, according to a

(01:20:49):
journalist called William Sartuur, the allegedkiller of Martin Luther, King James o'ray
attended a meeting at either the townin country motel they hang out of Carlos
Marcello on December seventeenth, nineteen sixtyseven. At this meeting was a guy

(01:21:10):
called Charlie Stein, Salvatore sam DiPiazza, Lucas de Leo, and Salvatore
Lecherida. All these men were involvedwith the New Orleans mafia and were very
connected with Carlos marcell Later, JamesArray would claim he left New Orleans on

(01:21:30):
December nineteen with twenty five hundred dollarsin cash and the promise of twelve k
to quote do a big job earlyin the next year. So think about
what I've just said over the lasthalf an hour. We can make the
case that Carlos Marcello was very involvedwith the planning and the masterminding of the

(01:21:51):
assassination of John Kennedy. He mayhave been involved quota deadly or truthfully with
the assassination of Robert Kennedy. There'sa lot of evidence that he may have
also been involved with killing Martin LutherKing, or having someone kill Martin Luther
King. Now, in nineteen seventynine, the House Select Committee on Assassinations

(01:22:15):
would confirm the mob Tize and theMen and their links to Marcello. Now,
in nineteen sixty one, an intelligencereport from the FBI disclosed that a
prominent Kukux Klan member called William Mavis, who was the Imperial Wizard, had
told a clan gathering in October thatracial problems in the South would only be

(01:22:35):
eliminated by the murder of doctor King, and that he had quote underruled associates
who would kill anyone for a price. So more on this. Salvatore Roberto,
who was very connected to the mafiaand Marcello and Sam de Piazza were

(01:22:56):
both King hitters in the gambling outfitsof mar Marcello's empire, and it was
not beyond the realm of possibility thatMarcello would fund Ray as he stalked Doctor
King through the South leading up toApril of that year where he was killed.
Now, the House Select Committee onAssassinations also conclude that there was a

(01:23:17):
ninety five percent probability that Martin LutherKing was killed by a conspiracy. Now
late many years later, in nineteenninety three, a man called Lloyd Jowers
went on primetime television stated that hehired the killer of Doctor King as a
favorite to New Orleans mob boss CarlosMarcello, who in turn was doing it

(01:23:40):
as a favor to Jed Hoover,who deep down hated Martin Luther King.
He was also adamant Jowers that hewas not James or that the killer was
not James ol Ray. So there'sa lot of interesting connections here, and
the FBI filed King would consist oflike six thousand articles. In nineteen ninety

(01:24:04):
nine, a lawyer called William Pepperwould win a civil court verdict for the
King family which found a conspiracy includingCarlos marchell lay behind the murder of doctor
King, plus throwing the fact thatit was very well known that Carls Marchello
was a known racist. For ColsMarchello, offering people was not a problem,

(01:24:26):
and it was also not hard todo. He can not only kill
regular people, but he could killanybody. He killed the President for Christ's
sakes. Listen. I'll always say, if you actually believe that Marcello was
not involved with the murder of JohnKennedy, I think you're nuts. I
don't think you know much about anything, and I don't think you really read
much. The Warrant Commission is notsomething that I would ultimately very much believe

(01:24:51):
in, and in fact, itreally wasn't a look into the conspiracy and
in any way. But at theend the end of the day, obviously
things were getting crazy from Marcello,but he continued to make a lot of
money. By nineteen seventy two,Carlos was sixty two years old, the

(01:25:11):
more powerful and probably the most powerfulcriminal in America. You know, Carlos
was probably bigger at that point thanCarlo Gambino, who was particularly gigantic.
The House Select Committee on Crime woulddeclare nineteen seventy two that Carlos Marchello was
quote a formidable menace to the institutionof government and the people of the United

(01:25:33):
States. No government spokesperson would eversay that about Gambino. I think he
was, as I said, theking of the volcano, and he had
been the king of the volcano reallyfor the last twenty years or so.
Now, Carlos Marcello would again becalled in front of the committee, and
as usual, he didn't say anything. He would say, though, at

(01:25:57):
one point quote I'm not in nomafia, in no racket, and not
organized crime. Now the FBI wouldreopen and reorganize its New Orleans office and
appoint a young, tenacious agent calledHowd Hughes to head a stripe force to
target Marcello. And by nineteen seventytwo Jaggar Hoover was dead. So the

(01:26:19):
kind of the carrying the water forthe mob was over, and the government
was starting to close in on Marcello. Now, as I said, there
was a book released about the assassinationof Kennedy which would point a figure at
Marcello, although ed read the authorof that book had already given out connections

(01:26:43):
that he was involved. By nineteenseventy six, the ninety fourth Congress established
the House Select Committee on Assassinations todo and establish investigations on all these murders.
And as I said, Robert Blakely, who would ultimately create the Rico
Statute down the road, was veryconnected and involved in all this stuff.
One of the lead objectives in thiscase was for Robert Tannenbaum. The Staff

(01:27:09):
Council was to investigate the connection betweenMarcello and the assassination of Kennedy, and
his name would quickly be raised asthe chief suspect. In nineteen seventy eight,
Corlus would appear as a witness forthe House Committee, and he had
not been called as a suspect inthis warm testimony was given under grant of
immunity. He, however, though, would not say anything. In fact,

(01:27:30):
not only he but Santa Trafficante,and being interrogated, would take the
fifth. On every question, Carloswould say, quote if he had any
involvement in organized crime, speaking inhis typical draw again, he would say
no, I don't know nothing aboutthat. He denied the existence of Churchill

(01:27:51):
Farms and lied and bluffed his waythrough the session which remember what we talked
about before where he went on thatdie tribe about how he is going to
kill Kennedy. He would also atone point lose is cool when he was
questioned about his illegal deportation, saying, quote, everybody in the United States
knowing I was kidnapped, I toldthe whole world it was unfair. And

(01:28:15):
he grew read with rage. Sohe continued to be hassled by the government.
He would be very much involved withJimmy Hoffa. There was all sorts
of people that were, you know, kind of connected him. He knew
everybody, but in the end,the government could never properly bring Carlos Marcello

(01:28:38):
to any sort of justice. Thatwould be until the late seventies early eighties.
Carlos Marchello would be introduced to aman called Joseph Hauser. Now,
Hauser was a Los Angeles based insuranceoperator. He was also though a convict

(01:29:00):
and swindler, and he was anxiousto kind of expand his business interest as
far as insurance into Louisiana, andCarlos was paid for a fee. He
would make a few calls which wouldresult in pretty much getting Hauser access into
different insurance businesses from the building tradeunion to the team stirs to the longshoreman,

(01:29:23):
and Hawser would leverage his business throughan insurance company he purchased in New
Orleans using Carlos Marchell's the go Beteam. So there's the conspiracy right there.
By the end of seventy eight,mister Hauser was in trouble. The Security
Exchange Commission would place his company underreceivership because of the irregularities that he had
discovered in the way his business wasset up. He would be hit with

(01:29:48):
a hefty fine and in be indictedon racketeering charges. He would plead guilty
and set up prison time. Andbasically at that point he was approached by
the FBI and they said to him, look, we can get out of
this. We want you to includeMarcello and all this. So they set
up this thing operation and it wouldbe known as Operation pre Lab, which

(01:30:12):
would be involved with bribery and laborand that little stunt that throned Marcello in
April tewod nineteen and seventy nine.Now there was a lot going off from
Marcello and it was starting to becomebad. He'd finally things that caught up
to him, his longtime lawyer actuallywould die and that over the years Marcella

(01:30:34):
had paid him a lot of money, not only in his different legal fights,
especially his deportation case. They originallyentered a deportation case against Marchello way
back in nineteen fifty six, andhe had been in the United States for
a long time. It was thelongest and costliest in the United State history
as far as deportation. In nineteenseventy nine, Collegs would admit for the

(01:30:58):
first time ever that he blow tothe mafia. The FBI launched two operations
against him which will ultimately result inlengthy prison sentences and destroying him and his
criminal enterprise. Remember by this pointhe was pretty old now. Houser,
the man who was aided by theFBI, set themselves up as repetition representatives
for this insurance company, and Marcellofed right into it pretty much. Now.

(01:31:26):
They used kind of different mobsters tokind of make all this happen,
and they wanted Marcello band. Theyset him up. They convinced him that
he could be set up to judgeand everything could be dealt with in time,
because again he was Marcello and thathe could do what he had to
do. Now, Hawser would alsosay he could guarantee Marcello that if he
were to get arrested, that onehundred and twenty five thousand would have to

(01:31:48):
be paid, and he could bribethe district court judge. Now. In
June seventeenth, nineteen eighty, Marchell, along with three other men, were
indicted also on multiple counts of racketeeringin a federal grand jury. In this
bribery case, the trial would beset for summer nineteen eighty one, and

(01:32:11):
in August of nineteen eighty one,Corlis would again be indicted by a Los
Angeles federal judge for conspiring to bribea district judge. He was set up
on that as well. Now,Carlos would maintain that he was not worried
about anything. He would tell areporter quote, They're not going to get
me man, no way. Man. These are my people here. But
remember he was in Los Angeles.It was a different area. He wasn't

(01:32:34):
in New Orleans. He wasn't inyou know, any New Orleans suburb.
It was a different place. Theproblem was he really had nothing to stand
on here. They had him deadto rights. The FBI had amassed fourteen
hundred reels of recorded tape that hadMarcello and his co conspirators. There was

(01:33:00):
racketeering, there was conspiracy. Therewas mail and wire fraud, There was
racketeering issues. Everything was on tape. Here the FBI agents Larry Montague and
Michael Wax had turned the witness againstthem. This was it for Marcello.
Was that simple. There was noother ways to go. He couldn't bribe
anybody else and his luck had ranout. On August fourth, nineteen eighty

(01:33:28):
one, a jury would return itsverdict. Carlos Marcello would be found guilty
on the charge of violating the RicoStatute, which would carry ultimately a penalty
of twelve years imprisonment. He wouldalso be indicted and found guilty on bribing
a federal judge as well. Now, the American mafia was kind of shocked

(01:33:51):
in a way. I think everyonefelt Marcello was untouchable. That keep in
mind mentioning those tapes. Joe Ayupaof Chicago said, the traffic Canty,
Joseph Vello, they were involved aspresented evidence. Now, no way would

(01:34:13):
Carlos take a deal or anything,but I'm sure they were worried for a
little bit. Well. November thirtieth, nineteen eighty one, Carlos Marcello would
go on trial and they'd find himguilty on all counts. Judge Morey Seekin
would hand out a sentence of sevenyears in prison at a fine. Now,

(01:34:36):
Carlos would wait until eighty two tofind out what his fate would be
in Los Angeles. At that point, at seventy two, seven years could
be a life sentence from Marcello.He was in pretty poor health. Now
in Los Angeles he would get anadditional ten years. The judge in that
case would say to Marcello, quote, you've led a life of crime.

(01:34:57):
By any evaluation, it's fair tosay you're a very bad man. On
April fifteenth, nineteen eighty three,all of his appeals would fail college would
be remanded to federal prison. He'dreport to the US Medical Center for Federal
Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri to beginhis sentence. Now, two months later,

(01:35:19):
he would learn his appeal against theconviction of bribing a judge would also
be denied. He would now facethe prospect that he would have to go
to prison for the next seventeen years. Now, remember he is seventy two
years old, So if we didthe math, let's say he did fifteen
years, he would get out ateighty seven. If he lived that long,

(01:35:42):
he would be incarcerated at Springfield forabout a year. In nineteen eighty
four, he would be transferred toa federal prison in Texas, Canada,
Texas near the Texas Arkansas state line. He would stay there for the next
two years. In nineteen eighty six, he would she transferred to a minimum
security prison in Seguville and Texas.Now, this would be a prison that

(01:36:04):
was very low at It was forkind of fed summer camp people, your
white collar criminals, doctors, accountants, you know, embezzmen, that kind
of stuff. Now, Carlos wouldbe there for a short time and he
would be moved again in June ofnineteen eighty six to a federal prison in

(01:36:24):
Fort Worth, Texas. The Justicepart would never disclose why Callus was moved
so much in three years. Now, it would be possible that they just
wanted to move him and kind ofuproot him a little bit. Now,
the federal prison in Fort Worth was, according to many people that know federal
prisons more like arrest to him thana federal prison facility. Carlos can meet

(01:36:46):
visitors at a picnic table, awayfrom prying eyes and microphones. Now,
two of the people that would allegedlycome to see him regularly were his brothers,
Joe and Sammy, and they wouldcontinue to carry on his his interests,
both legitimate and illegal. Now,interestingly enough, one thing that Martella

(01:37:09):
did that was a note that Iwant to talk about is in nineteen seventy
nine, even though he was worthhundreds of millions of dollars, likely Carlos
Marchell would actually apply for Social Securitybenefits. Now, for the last eleven
years, he had fought that forhim it was his constitutional right to do
so, and they had argued thathis deportation to guatemal was an illegal act.

(01:37:31):
Now, although Social Security had receivednotification of his deportation, they claimed
that he had never filed with thema lawful re entry after his deportation.
A hearing in nineteen eighty four woulddetermined that he was not entitled to benefits,
and in nineteen eighty six, theDistrict Court of Louisiana green So you
gotta admit Carlos Marchell was an absolutetreasure, wasn't he The government had granted

(01:37:57):
Carlo's retirement benefits and that it wouldbe tantamount too recognizing him as an American
citizen. Still, though as anillegal citizen, he would always be under
the threat of deportation and that thegovernment could kick him out of the country
once again. Now he would ultimatelylive in Fort Worth till about nineteen eighty
seven, and he would then bemoved back to Texarkana prison. He'd be

(01:38:24):
there till nineteen eighty nine, andfor the final time he'd be transferred to
a prison hospital at fmc Rochester inMinnesota. By this point, Carlos Marchello
was pretty pretty sick. He waspretty disabled. He had Alzheimer's and he
had been diagnosed with several different healthproblems. All his appeals were exhausted in

(01:38:48):
in October of nineteen eighty nine,after serving six years and six months of
his sentence, the old Carlos Marchellowould be released into his family's care.
Upon his release, he would tellreporters quote, I'm retired. I'm happy.

(01:39:08):
Everybody's been nice to me. Hewould return to his beautiful mansion in
Metier, overlooking a golf course.Now he would ultimately live out the rest
of his life at five seven sevenWoodvine Avenue, and you can look that
place up, very beautiful home tocross the street from the Metier Country Club.

(01:39:29):
Now, at one point he wouldactually not be able to speak and
would ultimately kind of just regress intopoorer and poorer health. He would never
be seen in public again and woulddie on March third, nineteen ninety three.
Now, his wife Jackie would actuallylive until twenty fourteen, and she

(01:39:50):
would die at the age of nineteenninety six. Interestingly enough, the year
after COLLS. Mitchell died to thethe widow of John Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy,
would actually die as well. Sokind of an interesting connection now for
the New Orleans Mafia. Upon reallythe incarceration of Carlos Marcello, the family

(01:40:15):
would actually come under the control innineteen eighty three of Joe Marcello Junior,
who was the brother of Carlos Marcello. He would ultimately step down in nineteen
ninety and for finally, Anthony Carollowould become the boss of the New Orleans
Mafia, the guy that all theway back in nineteen forty seven was spurned

(01:40:39):
and not given the job. Heended up becoming the boss the family.
Now in nineteen ninety four, aftera sting involving the FBI, Anthony Carollo
would actually be arrested after he triedto infiltrate the Louisiana video poker industry.
In September of nineteen ninety five,he would plead guilty to his account of

(01:41:00):
racketeering alongside some of his associates.You know, two thousand and seven,
Anthony Carolla would die in slide ofLouisiana of natural causes at the age of
eighty three. Today, the NewOrleans mafia is defunct, and really since
two thousand and seven, there's reallybeen no mention of the New Orleans crime

(01:41:25):
family. It is really just adistant memory. All the people that were
originally involved are now dead and it'sreally just a memory now in Louisiana.
It's interesting because when we think backin the American mafia, the families of
New York and Chicago and Philly andall these different places will always get all

(01:41:48):
the talk. But the truth is, the mafia in this country started in
New Orleans way back in like eighteensixty, but until two thousand and seven.
Really about fifteen years later, there'sno more mafia in New Orleans.
It's completely gone. But when welook back, it was really the antithesis

(01:42:11):
of the mafia. It would house, in my opinion, the most powerful
individual in the history of the mafiain this country, the most dialed in
person who literally controlled the state ofLouisiana. He had connections everywhere. He
was the godfather of New Orleans criminality. He had been involved with possibly assassinating

(01:42:35):
the president, his brother, civilrights activists. The Committee would once call
the Senate Committee Corls Marcello the worstcriminal in this country. When we look
back on the American mafia, wehave to start giving and again, just
in mafia terms, Colls Marcello therespect he deserved. He may have been

(01:42:59):
little on the surface, but hewas one of the biggest to ever do
it. I know this was along show today, but I hope you
enjoyed it. I hope I didthe justice of Carlos Marcello. Before we
go, I find it important totalk about some of the sources of the
information that I got some of thisfrom. Some of it would come from

(01:43:23):
the terrific website Gangstersinc. Dot Org. I want to give a shout out
to the man Tom Jones, whowrote the article. Now, I know
Tom took a lot of this informationfrom different books about Carlos Marchello, but
I wanted to give that website credit. It's a terrific website that I urge
all of our listeners to go takea look at. Gangster's Inc. Does

(01:43:45):
a great job of really talking aboutthe American Mafia from a historical perspective and
a present perspective. As always,please check out our show on Twitter at
the sit Down seven, and aswe wrap up the episode today, I
do want to tell everybody to makesure you go check us out on YouTube.
We are up over eighteen thousand subscribersover two million views, and I

(01:44:10):
urge you if you enjoy the show, I think you'll enjoy us on YouTube
as well. All you have todo is search The sit Down, a
Mafia history podcast. As always,we'll talk to you next week we'll go
into another great mafia topic. Ihope you're enjoying the show. I know
I am. This has been oneof my favorite shows to do and I
hope you enjoyed it. We'll seeyou next week here on the sitdown

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