December 8, 2025 • 45 mins
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's said that people in Louisiana know tolerate corruption.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
He demanded.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
New Orleans was the first American city that the Sicilian
mafia began to inhabit.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
And I think anybody, anybody who has the connection to
the money can have somebody heard.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Within the American Italian mafia families, the individual with the
most power influence in wealth is known as the boss.
Some bosses rule their dynasties from behind the scenes and
the shadows, always maintaining a low profile. Others are highly visible,
larger than life characters with national reputations. Such was a
long time supreme ruler of the mafia of New Orleans,
(01:12):
Carlos Marcello. After centuries of changing owners, the Louisiana, purchased
by Thomas Jefferson, finally placed the city of New Orleans
under US control in the eighteen hundreds. It became a
thriving city and the most attractive American destination for Italian immigrants.
Speaker 5 (01:32):
It's very unique in that it's ninety percent Scitian. Out
of every thousand, nine hundred people are from Sicily, and
it was the first group of immigrants in this country.
A contract to what a lot of people think in
the eighteen fifty there were more Italians here than in
New York. There was a one two punch for about
(01:54):
thirty years, and then New York finally overwhelmeders. But for
the longest time the Warlengs was the main headquarters for
the Italian immigration.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
The migration to America by Sicilians was precipitated by the
unification of Italy in eighteen sixty. This unification plunged Sicily
into an economic depression, and the poverty stricken Sicilians fled
to North Africa, Northern Italy and the United States.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
It starts back with Garibaldi when he went there in
eighteen sixty and captured Sicily and then the southern part
and turned it over to King Victor Emmanuel to become
the initial impact of uniting the nations. Italy became a
country for the first time in eighteen seventy since the
Roman days, and they were promised the southern part of
(02:41):
Italy was promised all kinds of things. And when those
promises weren't fulfilled, while they were looking for opportunities elsewhere
and the mess, immigration started and they took off.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
The migrating Sicilians were drawn to New Ork was because
of his temperate weather and the opportunities afforded them there
which were different than what New York had to offer.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
In New York, they went there and they started digging tunnels,
or they went to work in factories. That was not
the case here.
Speaker 6 (03:15):
Even in New Orleans.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
They didn't have to live in an eight story of
a tenement building without hopton or even water, forget hot water.
There was a different life. It was closer to the
European life. So when they arrived they almost fit right in.
It was almost like being home. There was a natural transfer.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Another natural transfer to New Orleans, albeit a less desirable one,
was a small but notorious segment of the Sicilian population.
The secret criminal organization known as a mafia had been
a part of Sicily for years, first established as a
reaction to oppressive rulers in Italy.
Speaker 6 (03:55):
John H.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
Davis, author of Mafia Kingfish, explains why.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
New Orleans was the first UH American city that the
Sicilian mafia began to UH inhabit, and long before New
York or Chicago or any other They UH were attracted
to New Orleans and to the state of Louisiana because
it resembled somewhat Sicily, and so they came here in droves,
(04:26):
and that by the turn of the century they're talking about.
By by nineteen hundred, there were about uh one hundred
uh mafiosi in New Orleans.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
The promissive attitudes in New Orleans made the city a
haven for vice and corruption.
Speaker 7 (04:41):
The corruption in the New Orleans area is probably going
back a hundred years to late eighteen nineties that I
would know about. In the past law enforcement has closed
uplond eye to it, not saying the police were corrupt,
but thing thans who are tolerated in the French Quarter
(05:03):
that would not be tolerated anywhere else in the country.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
When the Sicilian immigrants arrived in New Orleans, many became
labourers on the docks and on plantations. It was in
these very areas that the mafia began to dominate. By
the early eighteen seventies, the mafia had made inroads in
controlling the waterfront and markets, and eventually the hauling of
freight in the ports. Their means of gaining this control
(05:27):
was through their standard way violence. Between eighteen sixty nine
and eighteen eighty nine, the New Orleans Police attributed over
one hundred murders to the infamous Sicilian mafia. The tactic
of gaining control through violence, which had worked so well
in Sicily, became standard procedure in Louisiana as well. The
(05:48):
violence in New Orleans, mafia controlled docks and markets erupted
as rival families fought for dominance. In the ongoing confrontation,
the supposedly corrupt chief of Police, David Hennessy, was assassinated,
presumably by members of the warring families. Enraged citizens, fueled
by anti Italian sentiment, took revenge and lynched several Italian
(06:09):
suspects in custody in the local jail. This resulted in
protest by outraged Italians both in the U S and Italy.
While the local press rejoice at the cities mafia been
wiped out, they were wrong. After a couple of years,
the gangsters regrouped, and by the early nineteen twenties, one
family had firmly established as dominance in New Orleans. It
(06:32):
would eventually bear the name of a literate Italian emigrant
who became one of America's most powerful mafia bosses. Carlus
Marcello's parents and regrated to North Africa, where Carlus was born.
In nineteen ten. Carlos's father, Joseph Marcello, went on to Louisiana,
and when Carlos was eight months old, he and his
mother rejoined Joseph in what would be their new homeland.
(06:54):
As their small family expanded and Marcellos took to farming
a plot of land outside New Orleans. When Carlos was
old enough, he was given the job of transporting the
produce his family grew to the markets in the city.
Coming in daily contact with the rough world of the
Sicilian dominated markets, young Marcello got his first exposure to
(07:15):
the mafia. It was then he realized the farming life
was not going to be his calling her.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Carlos Marcella was an extraordinarily capable and intelligent young man
who left his family's farm in the bios and the
stars committing crimes in the city.
Speaker 6 (07:37):
Of New Orleans.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Marcello's early criminal career consisted mostly of small time theft.
A botch bank job eventually landed Carlos behind bars with
a nine to twelve year prison sentence. At the time
of his conviction, he was just twenty years old. Through
a mafia connection, Marcello's father was able to gain a
pardon for his son from Louisiana's governor, Kay Allen. Young
(08:02):
Carlos learned firsthand the benefits of having friends and high places,
and the extent of which mafia influence could reach.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
By nineteen thirty, there were mafiosi at every level of
government in New Worleocks.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
Right after his abbreviated prison term, Carlos returned to the
city and opened a bar called the Brown Bomber, named
after the fighter Joe Louis. Soon he brushed out and
began distributing jukeboxes and pinball machines and restaurants around Algiers
and Gretna. The bar owners who declined doing business with
Marcello or his brothers were soon persuaded to change their minds.
Speaker 6 (08:40):
So have you thought about our offer?
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Yeah, but like I told you, I already have a juke.
Speaker 5 (08:49):
Box one of ours.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Gonna have one of our machines.
Speaker 6 (08:52):
If you got a piece of.
Speaker 8 (08:53):
Junk, look at the bar and the parish is putting
in our machines.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Sure you don't want to be the only one left
with a piece of jump.
Speaker 9 (09:03):
Could be bad for business, very bad.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
I think he was feared.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
I don't know how realistic that fear was or how
realistic his ability to carry it out, but obviously there
were many people who thought he could. And I think anybody,
anybody who has the connections and the money, can have somebody.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Hurt if they want that done.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
Marcello's reputation reached New York mafia boss Frank Costello under
attacked by officials up north. Costello was planning to move
his slot machines to the New Orleans area.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
You're gonna start into the mafia, basically after Costello brought
down all the slot machines and he then successfully placed
them in all the bars and restaurants and began getting
rich because he was getting a cut, you know, from
from every slot machine that he installed.
Speaker 6 (10:12):
He was split it with Carsello.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
The fact that gambling was illegal in Louisiana didn't deter anyone.
Louisiana Senator Huey Long, agreeing to a ten percent cut
of the take, made sure the police looked the other way.
Marcella wielded his power with an iron hand. He allegedly
took people to his property on the Bayou and had
them disposed of and.
Speaker 6 (10:33):
He had a bathtub.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
In the back of the property and he'd fill it
with a lye and the unfortunate victim would be would
be decomposed in the bathtub full of lye, and then
the tub would be poured into the bayou.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Not everyone buys the violent reputation.
Speaker 10 (10:57):
As far as I knew, Marcello did not have a
reputation for violence. There were allegations years ago that he
might have been involved in a Ganglands style hit on
(11:19):
the Mississippi Gulf coast. There was nothing but room. It
never went beyond rumor. In my opinion, he never had
to resort to that type of strong arm techniques.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
New York boss Frank Costello was so pleased with how
Marcella ran the slut machine business in New Orleans that
when he opened the Las Vegas style gambling house in
Jefferson Parish, Carlos was counted in as a twelve and
a half percent partner. By the time he was thirty
seven years old, Marcello had amassed a small fortune from
his illegal dealings. In nineteen forty seven, he became the
(11:53):
boss of the entire New Orleans mafia. He also became
one of the wealthiest men in Louisiana, dozens of illegal
and legitimate enterprises. Although only five feet two inches tall,
a nickname the Little Man, Marcella became the biggest leader
in the New Orleans mafia and one of Louisiana's wealthiest men.
(12:14):
His total worth was estimated at four hundred and fifty
million dollars.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Drugs that was his big staple, heroin and were coming
from Sicily into the Port of New Orleans, and then
Carlos would distribute it in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, Alabama,
the whole Southern group of states.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
Marcello's territory extended from the Mississippi River Delta throughout much
of the Gulf States. He became a master, paying off
anyone necessary to ensure his operations ran smoothly.
Speaker 6 (12:54):
He was able to.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Keep his activities relatively free of legal interference until concerned
citizens and vited a former FBI agent to investigate the
New Orleans Police Department. Aaron Cohne, began to expose the
goings on in Louisiana, which eventually came to the attention
of Robert Kennedy and a Senate committee investigating corruption. Since
(13:17):
his rise at the top of the New Orleans mafia
in nineteen forty seven. Carlos Marcella's wealth and power continued
to grow. Although the federal government repeatedly tried to put
Marcello out of business, he seemed impossible to convict. For years,
he and his mafia family seemed to be able to
operate with virtual impunity. That began to change, however, with
(13:40):
the vigorous anti racketeering and corruption efforts of individuals such
as State Police Superintendent Francis Grevenburg and former FBI agent
Aaron Cohne, brought to New Orleans in nineteen fifty three
to investigate corruption in the police department. Cohane eventually headed
up the privately funded Metropolitan Crime Commission. Rebenberg was appointed
(14:01):
in nineteen fifty two as superintendent of State Police, which
he says also had a long history of corruption.
Speaker 11 (14:08):
Buy long had them. Originally organized it in nineteen thirty five,
and he used it like his little private army. But
they were all politicians. People at the politicians asked him
to hire and that's the way they did it. So
I cut that out right away, and I fired a few.
I wish that had fired more, because these guys were
(14:30):
so used to taking kickbacks, and I had a terrible
time with it.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Now aged eighty five, Rebenberg recaused numerous incidents of police
corruption when he was in office.
Speaker 11 (14:41):
I raided a place called the Four Leaf Clover Club.
I rated it seven times, and the fourth time I
rated it, of course I saw these young girls in there.
We booked these prostitutes with the sheriff's office, but they
would never try them. The sheriff I was half owner
of the house prostitution. We finally put the owner of
(15:04):
the man who was half owner of it with him
in jail for ten years on a mandatory narcotics law
that I had passed at Liberal judges canceled annulled two
years later.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
The extent of Corlins Martello's criminal activities went well beyond
the mere control of police. Former Federal Prosecutor Eve's Hoage
saw how far that influence went.
Speaker 10 (15:30):
He controlled the traditional rackets along the southern Gulf Coast,
primarily in Louisiana, to some degree in Mississippi. There were
allegations that he had influenced even in Texas and by
traditional rackets, rackets like organized prostitution, illegal gambling, loan sharking
(15:58):
and things of that nature.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
He was involved in so many businesses, in gambling and
running restaurants in oil.
Speaker 6 (16:11):
He ran a.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Vast conglomer maybe of fifty different businesses.
Speaker 6 (16:16):
On his umbre.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
In his investigations, Aaron Cohne learned that all trails led
to the Marchello organization. Marcello seemed to have both the
New Orleans and Jefferson Parish police departments and municipal administrations
in his pocket. Cohn also discovered that Marchella could be
connected to at least three murders, none of which Marchella
was ever charged with. In nineteen fifty nine, Cohan was
(16:43):
able to bring his findings to the attention of the
McClellan Committee, and, as chief counsel Robert Kennedy, the committee
was already waging war against the mafia in New York
and Chicago.
Speaker 12 (16:55):
The top mobsters of Louisiana maintained contact with and joined
common objectives with their counterpart elsewhere. Freely and expensively. They
move around the country and are visited in turn four years.
Unlike their mafia predecessors, the Marcella mob has found little
need to fight against officials charge with exercising police powers.
(17:17):
The Carlos Marcellos of today do not battle the long
line of the law, where they find that the last
hogger row ridger and look more respectable by linking arms
with william officers of the law.
Speaker 10 (17:32):
Through Robert Kennedy's efforts in the Justice Department, our Organized
Crime and Racketeering Section really was established. That was a
Robert Kennedy brainchild to concentrate a group of prosecutors who
especially trained to engage in traditional organized crime investigations.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
Marcello and other mobsters who appeared before the committee refused
to acknowledge the existons of the mafia. Even FBHI director
j Edgar Hoover seemed to concur Hoover had long maintained
that the mafia was a myth. In nineteen fifty seven, however,
sixty mafia leaders were rounded up at a house in
upstate New York. This seemed to confirm once and for
(18:17):
all the existence of a national crime syndicate. Absent from
this meeting, though, was Carlos Marcello.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
He had such special privileges within the mafia that he
didn't have to attend any of those big conclaves.
Speaker 6 (18:33):
You know that there was.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
One an appellachian where the heads of all the families
gathered that was broken up by the police, but Marcello
would have to.
Speaker 6 (18:47):
Attend us.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
Whatever the reason for Marcello's absence, he was still subpoena
to appear before the McClellan Committee. Marcello defiantly peted the
Fifth Amendment to sixty six questions that Robert Kennedy directed
toward him. His arrogance and contempt for the proceedings provided
even more incentive for Robert Kennedy to attack the mafia.
Marcello even refused to answer the question of where he
(19:10):
was born. This very withholding of information became the weapon
that Robert Kennedy would use to go after Marcello. Kennedy
learned that Marcello had obtained an illegal Guatemalan birth certificate
and an entry described him as a citizen of Guatemala.
Kennedy turned to the one agency Marcello did not have
his hands in, the Immigration and Naturalization Service. He ordered
(19:34):
the ions to expel Marcello from the United States without delay.
On April fourteenth, nineteen sixty one, Marcello made a routine
check in with Immigration. He was told to sit down.
The immigration agent then read a letter to Marcello.
Speaker 13 (19:50):
To Carlos Marcello, it has come to the attention of
this office that your place of birth is listed as
the country of Guatemala, and as such you were officially
a citizen of that country. You are herewith ordered return
to your country of origin immediately.
Speaker 8 (20:04):
What is this all about?
Speaker 9 (20:05):
Him?
Speaker 6 (20:06):
That you are overdue on your visa? Why are you
doing this to me? What's happening all the hell?
Speaker 4 (20:10):
Child was taken to a weeding car and whis to
the airport in fluent of Latemala City. The leganity of
the deportation has always been in question.
Speaker 10 (20:20):
I reviewed all the i INS files on that case,
and let me say this, I'm not certain at all
that fundamental notions of due process were followed in connection
without arrest. He got no hearing, He got no opportunity
to consult counsel. As I understand it, his counsel were
(20:41):
not able to consult anybody connected with the Justice Department.
This guy was just swept up, taken in a car,
put on an airplane flowing out of the country.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
Marcello spent two agonizing months in exile after making his
way through the rugged Central American jungle, Marcello somehow got
back to Louisiana. How exactly Marcello was able to re
enter the US is uncertain. Investigator at Becker believes Marcello
used his connections to sneak back into the country.
Speaker 9 (21:26):
New Orleans fishing boats were down there for the crab
and all that, you know, which they did periodically, like
once a week at least. What he did have to
do make one phone call and says, I want to
boat here tomorrow at eight pm and give it to
Joe and whoever, you know, somebody trusted.
Speaker 6 (21:47):
That's it.
Speaker 9 (21:49):
When he couldn't take like an aeroplane pack or drive
back to getting stopped at the border, or you know,
driving and the flight, he naturally wouldn't do that because
you remember, there's always guards, always that FBI at this
at the airport. They LA and New Orleans always photographed
(22:10):
the mob when they came off the planes.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
The government backed deportation effort seemed to have backfired.
Speaker 9 (22:17):
The fact that he sneaked back in made him an
even more of a hero to the mob than he
was before he gone was deported, so well, everybody knew
he was really the godfather of the United States.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
For Marcello, the deportation episode was something he wasn't going
to forget. His fury toward Kennedy reportedly became an obsession.
Kennedy also was enraged on hearing that Marcello was able
to re enter the country. He acted quickly and that
Marcello indicted for illegal entry. The ions ruled Marcello was
an undesirable alien and once again ordered him deported, a
(22:56):
ruling that Marcello's attorneys appealed.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
They never stopped trying. Washington, DC now stopped trying to
deport myself. We did not get directly involved.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
In that, other than whatever they asked us to do.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
But Washington really never gave up one deporting him.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
Marcello never forgot the harrowing and humiliating experience that has
forced deportation at the hands of Robert Kennedy. In the
early nineteen sixties, Carlos Marchello was facing the severest challenge
to his empire yet and the form of the newly
elected Kennedy administration. President John F. Kennedy took office and
appointed his brother Robert to the post of Attorney General,
(23:37):
Now with greater power and authority. Robert Kennedy and the
President continued their campaign to bring down Marcello, but Marcello
needed was for that threat to go away. On November
twenty second, nineteen sixty three, that's exactly what happened. President
Kennedy was visiting Dallas as part of a Democratic Party
(23:57):
campaign tour. As a president motorcade made his way through
Dealey Plaza, gun shot suddenly rang out. The President was
shot and rushed to nearby Parkland Hospital. Within an hour,
(24:18):
John F. Kennedy was pronounced dead. A short time later,
Dallas police apprehended a young man by the name of
Lee Harvey Oswald. Though quickly fingered as a President's assassin,
Oswald denied involvement.
Speaker 11 (24:35):
Already down our record the situations by nobody has told.
Speaker 5 (24:38):
Me anything except that I'm accused of murder.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
Policeman before anyone could thoroughly interrogate Oswald, though, a Dallas
knight club owner by the name of Jack Ruby slipped
through police barricades. Amidst the confusion resulting from the killing
(25:05):
of President Kennedy and then Oswald, numerous conspiracy theories began
to emerge. The list of possible co conspirators included the Soviets,
who had recently backed down in the Cuban Missile crisis,
Cuba still angry over the Bay of Pigs invasion, the CIA,
(25:26):
whom Kennedy had threatened a disband, supported a slain South
Vietnamese president Yem, who held the Kennedy administration responsible for
Jim's death, and of course, the mafia, who had more
than their share of gripes with the Kennedys. The government
in the media began taking a closer look at the
alleged assassin. Oswell often visited New Orleans, where he apparently
(25:49):
volunteered in a procaster organization called the Fair Play for
Cuba Committee. Oswald was seen passing out pamphlets for the
group on New Orleans streets. Oswall's affiliation of this movement
was one thing that led many people to speculate on
Fidel Castro's involvement in the assassination. Another theory linked the
assassination to a joint effort between the CIA and mafia,
(26:12):
who were both anti Castro, albeit for different reasons. The
CIA viewed Castro's Cuba as a satellite of the Soviet
Union and a threat to national security, as for the mafia,
Castro was directly responsible for shutting down their lucrative Cuban
gambling operations after the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion. Both
(26:33):
the CIA and the Mafia blamed President Kennedy for the
failure of the invasion and for Castro remaining in power.
Without any concrete evidence to support any of these various theories,
the controversial Warren Commission concluded that Oswald acted alone. Nearly
fifteen years later, however, in nineteen seventy nine, the House
(26:54):
Assassinations Committee decided to reopen the investigation. New evidence surfaced
to suggest the possibility that Oswald shot the President on
behalf of Carlos Marcello. By the summer of nineteen sixty two,
Robert Kennedy had tightened his grip on the mafia and
brought new charges against Marcello, with two federal indictments and
(27:15):
a standing deportation order. Marcello was living each day under
a cloud of uncertainty, though.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
I did not expect.
Speaker 12 (27:24):
We had had no indication though anything like this was
going to happen.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
New information revealed possible links between Oswald and Marcello. While
in New Orleans, Oswell lived with his uncle dut S Murrett,
who was affiliated with members of Marcello's gambling racket. Oswald
was also possibly connected to David Ferry, who was ironically
a member of the violently anti Castro Cuban Revolutionary Front,
(27:50):
an organization heavily financed by Carlos Marcello. Around the time
that Kennedy announced his trip to Dallas, Carlos Marcello and
David Ferry were planning marcello defense in a legal case
scheduled or go to trial in New Orleans in early November.
In addition to meeting with Marcello at the Town and
Country Motel, Ferry also allegedly met with Oswald in the
(28:12):
French Quarter. Spiracy. Theorists speculated that Marcello was looking for
someone outside his organization to take care of Kennedy and
then learned of Dutch Murrat's oddbonn nephew, Lee Harvey Oswald.
A connection between Oswald's killer Jack Ruby, and Carlos Marcello
was also discovered. In nineteen forty six, a year before
(28:33):
Carlus Marcello assumed power in Louisiana, the Chicago Mob launched
a campaign to take over the rackets in the Dallas
area and gain control of the Dallas police force. Assisting
in the effort was Jack Ruby. Ruby stayed on in Dallas,
opening up a night club and acting as a middleman
between the mafia and the police department. Jack Ruby swore
(28:54):
he shot Lee Harvey Oswald to vindicate the president. It
has been proposed, however, that Marcello needed someone with access
to the Dallas police to silence Oswald, and Ruby was
a perfect candidate. Whether it will be ever definitively determined
if Marcello or any other mobster had anything to do
with the assassination of John F. Kennedy, it is fairly
(29:16):
safe to say that many of Carlos Marcello's worst headaches
went away. On November twenty two, nineteen sixty three, long
before John Gotti became known as a teflon don, the
(29:37):
head of the New Orleans Mafia was proving to be
virtually immune to government enforcement efforts. Since in nineteen thirties,
Carlos Marcello had managed to dodge federal probes linking him
to organized crime. When asked by reporters of his involvement
with the rackets, Marcello had a standard response, and.
Speaker 12 (29:54):
Rackets still what was your answer to that?
Speaker 6 (29:57):
Absolutely not.
Speaker 4 (29:58):
How long ago his business venturels Marcello had a stock answer.
Speaker 6 (30:04):
Plan investment in motel.
Speaker 10 (30:07):
What's your opinion of all the talk about still your
involvements in the rackets and you're being labeled a mafia
boss with the Little Man of Rackets and Louisiana.
Speaker 5 (30:19):
Just a lot of lies and bad statement from maren
Can people like that.
Speaker 6 (30:26):
That's making a living out of it.
Speaker 4 (30:28):
In nineteen sixty six, however, the allegations became impossible to refute.
Marcello was picked up by New York City Police at
a restaurant in Queens along with some of the biggest
names in organized crime. Upon his released under rival to
New Orleans, Marcello found himself besieged by reporters and cameras.
He also placed himself in more legal turmoil after an
(30:50):
encounter with FBI agent Patrick Collins.
Speaker 6 (30:53):
He returned to New Orleans.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
In the airport, he made one big, big mistake. In
the airport, he spotted an FBI official, and the FBI
official came up to him and said, hey, Carlos, well
we understand you guys got caught up there in La
(31:16):
Cellar restaurant. Went found Marcello hold off and and and
Patley broke the guy at the FBI guy's skull.
Speaker 6 (31:26):
They're not planting him in prison for six months.
Speaker 4 (31:29):
Marcello and his lawyers had their own take on the incident.
Speaker 8 (31:32):
He positive did not know that mister pat Collins was
an FBI agent, and the evidence plainly shows and mister
pack Collins was a very belligerent young man at that
particular moment, and he is courted Marcella saying are you
looking for trouble or do you want trouble? Instead of
trying to explain himself, mister pack Collins says I can
(31:54):
handle trouble in the man at to show that he
wanted to fight.
Speaker 4 (31:58):
A judge convicted and sent Marchello to two years, but
as he had in the past, Marchella used political clout
to have his sentence reduced to a mere six months.
However powerful he was nationally, Marchella continually wielded political influence
or personal gain on his own turf. In an expos
about corruption in Louisiana, a Life magazine looked at Marchella's
(32:20):
outrageous exercise of power over state officials. The article claimed
Marcella persuaded the Louisiana state government to spend taxpayers money
to improve his personal sixty four hundred acres swamp land property,
Churchill Farms. If fully diked and drained, the property could
be worth a reputed sixty million dollars in prime real estate.
(32:41):
It took four years and over one million dollars to
build a levee, which benefited no one in the entire
state except Carlos Marcello. Just even before the days of
Louisiana's notorious Senator Huey Long, corruption had been an integral
part of the state's political system. Nobody understands a relationship
between Pol Dickson corruption in Louisiana better than Attorney John Votes.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Just how far other drug lords and go to get it.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
Was unwillingness to play along. We have cost him two
campaigns for sheriff a district attorney of Saint Germany Parish.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
They give us no break at all.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
I characterize Louisiana as a place that is known for corruption.
It's known for corruption, and why because there's so many
corrupt public officials in this state, not all of them,
but a lot of them, too many of them. And
you know, it's said that people in Louisiana don't tolerate corruption,
(33:37):
he demanded, And so they find people who do illegal things,
but who are glib. They find that funny, they find
it amusing.
Speaker 6 (33:52):
It's entertainment.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Not all people are like that, not all the people.
I'm not indicting in the general sense of the word
all assistants of the state, because there are some fine
people here that don't want to see this, but there
are too many politicians with their hands out.
Speaker 4 (34:09):
After both the kiffav Committee in nineteen fifty one and
the McConn hearing ten years later, Arcella walked away with
his empire and reputation intact. In nineteen seventy nine, though,
Arcella faced a new challenge when the House Select Committee
on Assassinations reopened the investigation into President Kennedy's assassination based
on new evidence and new witnesses. Ed Becker, las Vegas
(34:32):
casino investigator who moved in and out of mafia's circles,
was one of those witnesses. He had occasion to meet
with Marcello in nineteen sixty two as part of a
business venture. He was able to gain the mobster's trust
by dropping names.
Speaker 9 (34:46):
We were drinking, and I said, boy, I told you,
Bobby is you're not happy anymore that you got back
in the country. I said, everybody in Las Vegas talking
about it, which of course stimulated as ego. And now
he's starting to mutter to me about Bobby Kennedy and
the Kennedy family, and he keeps it up and keeps
(35:07):
it up, and now I'm keep prodding him, you know,
you know, saying, well, he's not gonna be in office,
you know the uh that much longer I didn't know.
I mean, Kennedy just said what been reelected or and uh,
Bobby was gonna, I guess go on with him. And
this infuriated Carlos think just even thinking about it. And
(35:29):
that's when he spat out this Sicilian phrase, which I
had to do my memory. I mean, I don't speak Italian,
so I you know, I wouldever uh and uh and
phonetically I could unders I could grasp it. I had
I have a good memory, and so I was able
to call it Italian uh consulate at one time and
(35:51):
find out would have meant and I found out would
have met it meant, you know, he cut off the tail,
d the head and the tail dies, Mm, well, that
means instead of killing the President United States, assassinating him,
which would been the first obvious thought. I mean that first, obviously,
(36:11):
I killed Bobby.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
In the end, the House Select Committee and assassinations came
short of indicting him. Marcello, like so many times before,
had managed to avoid prosecution. In nineteen seventy nine, however,
the wheels of justice would catch up with Marchello as
the FBI launched an elaborate undercover sting operation called BRYLAMB,
(36:35):
an acronym for bribery and labor. The FBI was able
to infiltrate Marcello's inner sanctum through the use of an informer.
Speaker 10 (36:44):
One particular fellow that cooperated was a gentleman by the
name of Joe Houser. As a result of that, we
began a series of electronic surveillance activities involving phone tap
on Marcello's office phones.
Speaker 6 (37:04):
At one point, the court.
Speaker 10 (37:06):
Authorized a electronic surveillance by way of a microphone in
his office here in the New Orleans area. At one time,
as I think I remember correctly, weave and tapped his
home phone.
Speaker 4 (37:19):
The FBI recruited Hauser, a notorious swindler who at the
time was facing a ten count conviction charge for bribery
and racketeering.
Speaker 6 (37:27):
What's in it for me?
Speaker 4 (37:29):
In a deal with a Justice department, Houser would receive
a reduced sentence in exchange for turning government informer.
Speaker 10 (37:35):
The strategy was to present Marcello with an opportunity to
assist Hawser in obtaining state insurance contracts. And he was
presented with an opportunity, and he took it. Not only
did he take it, but Marcello had his own ideas
about how to proceed and who to approach.
Speaker 6 (37:57):
We do the whole damned state, if necessary.
Speaker 10 (38:00):
Securing these insurance contracts on state employees.
Speaker 4 (38:03):
What Marcello didn't know was that their conversations were being
taped by a recorder hidden in Houser's briefcase.
Speaker 10 (38:12):
Once those approaches were made, we were off to the races,
and Marcello became a dominant figure in directing Houser and
undercover FBI agents who were masquerading as agents who had
connections with the Prudential Life Insurance County.
Speaker 4 (38:44):
In exchange for his influential connections, Marcello would receive cash
and a cut in profits from any insurance contracts he
steered to Fidelity Prudential.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
The FBI agents, the undercover agents were introduced to then
Commissioner of Administration, which is like second to the governor,
mister Charles Romer, who we alleged and obviously proved that
he had taken money. I think it was twenty five
thousand dollars to steer the state's employees insurance insurance business
(39:17):
to these particular agents, and in the process the FBI
listened to his conversations for about nineteen months.
Speaker 4 (39:28):
In addition to the twenty five thousand dollars, Marcello promised
Romer monthly payments of forty three thousand dollars for the
life of the contracts.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
I think the significance of the case is not only
the prosecution and conviction of a person who was reputed
to be way up in the organized crime scale in
this area, but also the fact that you could see
the tentacles of organized crime moving into corrupting state officials.
Speaker 4 (40:04):
Marcello became concerned there was a chance at Romer could
lose his position after the Republican gubernatorial primary. He decided
to hedge his bed on Romer and offer a bribe
to then Democratic Lieutenant Governor James Fitzmorris. Marceello believed Fitzmorris
could direct certain contracts his way, especially if Romer was
removed from his position. Fitz Morris took the bait and
(40:27):
accepted Marcello's bribe for ten thousand dollars. Carlos Marcello's reign
as the untouchable godfather of Louisiana ended in August of
nineteen eighty when a grand jury found a seventy year
old on guilty of numerous racketeering charges. Indicted alongside Marcello
were Roamer Irving Davidson, a longtime friend of Marcello's and
(40:48):
an influential Washington lobbyist who had originally introduced Hawser to Marcello.
Vincent Marinello, a lawyer from Marcello. Davidson and Marinello were
acquitted of all charges, while Romer would be found guilty
and sentenced to serve a prison term. On June first,
nineteen eighty two, due to his poor health, Marcella was
taken to the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners
(41:10):
in Springfield, Missouri, to begin serving his sentence. After Carlos
Marcello's conviction. The family's influence in New Orleans political circles
in the underworld declined. In nineteen eighty eight, Carlos's brother,
Sammy Marcello, was indicted for money laundering, and several Marchella
owned restaurants, like the Louisiana, fell into bankruptcy.
Speaker 7 (41:31):
Carlos marcel died proximately four or five years ago. He
was succeeded by Anthony Corolla. Anthony Corolla was involved in
gaming gambling activity and they were meeting at a restaurant
in the French Court in City in New Orleans, and
unbeknowing to them, they were being watched and monitored by
(41:53):
the FBI, and the FBI actually caught them plotting to
take over worldwide gaming in Louisiana rod operators. One of
the people that came from out of town was a
gentleman by named Tanfield who had connections to the Genoese
in a Gambino family.
Speaker 4 (42:13):
FBI wiretaps indicate the Gambino and Bruno Scarfield crime families
were laying the groundwork for making New Orleans a major
port of entry for cocaine smuggling.
Speaker 14 (42:24):
In the early nineties, the FBI conducted a actually a
five year investigation that began in nineteen ninety and ended
in the result of the convictions of twenty LCN members
and associates. Then in New Orleans, we believe is pretty
much kind of looking at an open city right now.
(42:45):
What I mean by open city there is not any
specifically defined one family that is concentrating on establishing itself
in criminal activity.
Speaker 4 (43:07):
In New Orleans. A history of affiliation between organized crime
and public institution seems destined to repeat itself.
Speaker 10 (43:14):
I would venture, I guess there's corruption here, and yes,
there's corruption in America, and I think there always will be.
But law enforcement should be vigilant and continue to investigate
and prosecute corruption. It's the only tool available to combat it.
(43:38):
It will never eradicate it, never as long as human
beings continue to be human beings. But it must be
done because I think it tempes and restrains.
Speaker 6 (43:51):
Excesses.
Speaker 10 (43:52):
On the other hand, the government needs to operate within
the law and it should always being mindful of that.
Speaker 4 (44:03):
Despite his checkered past, the future of New Orleans is
looking brighter.
Speaker 7 (44:08):
Over the last four years. With the new police chief
we do have here, We're seeing things turn around. The
quality of life in New Orleans has improved tremendously. Crime
has dropped, The homici ope ate has dropped tremendously. We
were averaging four hundred, four hundred and thirty merders a year.
It's down probably forty percent. To across the board. The
(44:32):
quality of life is improved.
Speaker 4 (44:35):
By spotting a political system rife with corruption. By wielding
fear and bribery like precision instruments, Marcello was able to
amass an empire only through diligence or honest law enforcement
and political officials finally able to bring down the godfather
of New Orleans and his dynasty. I'm Robert Styck. Thanks
for joining us. Yeah. They
It's said that people in Louisiana know tolerate corruption.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
He demanded.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
New Orleans was the first American city that the Sicilian
mafia began to inhabit.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
And I think anybody, anybody who has the connection to
the money can have somebody heard.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Within the American Italian mafia families, the individual with the
most power influence in wealth is known as the boss.
Some bosses rule their dynasties from behind the scenes and
the shadows, always maintaining a low profile. Others are highly visible,
larger than life characters with national reputations. Such was a
long time supreme ruler of the mafia of New Orleans,
(01:12):
Carlos Marcello. After centuries of changing owners, the Louisiana, purchased
by Thomas Jefferson, finally placed the city of New Orleans
under US control in the eighteen hundreds. It became a
thriving city and the most attractive American destination for Italian immigrants.
Speaker 5 (01:32):
It's very unique in that it's ninety percent Scitian. Out
of every thousand, nine hundred people are from Sicily, and
it was the first group of immigrants in this country.
A contract to what a lot of people think in
the eighteen fifty there were more Italians here than in
New York. There was a one two punch for about
(01:54):
thirty years, and then New York finally overwhelmeders. But for
the longest time the Warlengs was the main headquarters for
the Italian immigration.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
The migration to America by Sicilians was precipitated by the
unification of Italy in eighteen sixty. This unification plunged Sicily
into an economic depression, and the poverty stricken Sicilians fled
to North Africa, Northern Italy and the United States.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
It starts back with Garibaldi when he went there in
eighteen sixty and captured Sicily and then the southern part
and turned it over to King Victor Emmanuel to become
the initial impact of uniting the nations. Italy became a
country for the first time in eighteen seventy since the
Roman days, and they were promised the southern part of
(02:41):
Italy was promised all kinds of things. And when those
promises weren't fulfilled, while they were looking for opportunities elsewhere
and the mess, immigration started and they took off.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
The migrating Sicilians were drawn to New Ork was because
of his temperate weather and the opportunities afforded them there
which were different than what New York had to offer.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
In New York, they went there and they started digging tunnels,
or they went to work in factories. That was not
the case here.
Speaker 6 (03:15):
Even in New Orleans.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
They didn't have to live in an eight story of
a tenement building without hopton or even water, forget hot water.
There was a different life. It was closer to the
European life. So when they arrived they almost fit right in.
It was almost like being home. There was a natural transfer.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Another natural transfer to New Orleans, albeit a less desirable one,
was a small but notorious segment of the Sicilian population.
The secret criminal organization known as a mafia had been
a part of Sicily for years, first established as a
reaction to oppressive rulers in Italy.
Speaker 6 (03:55):
John H.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
Davis, author of Mafia Kingfish, explains why.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
New Orleans was the first UH American city that the
Sicilian mafia began to UH inhabit, and long before New
York or Chicago or any other They UH were attracted
to New Orleans and to the state of Louisiana because
it resembled somewhat Sicily, and so they came here in droves,
(04:26):
and that by the turn of the century they're talking about.
By by nineteen hundred, there were about uh one hundred
uh mafiosi in New Orleans.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
The promissive attitudes in New Orleans made the city a
haven for vice and corruption.
Speaker 7 (04:41):
The corruption in the New Orleans area is probably going
back a hundred years to late eighteen nineties that I
would know about. In the past law enforcement has closed
uplond eye to it, not saying the police were corrupt,
but thing thans who are tolerated in the French Quarter
(05:03):
that would not be tolerated anywhere else in the country.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
When the Sicilian immigrants arrived in New Orleans, many became
labourers on the docks and on plantations. It was in
these very areas that the mafia began to dominate. By
the early eighteen seventies, the mafia had made inroads in
controlling the waterfront and markets, and eventually the hauling of
freight in the ports. Their means of gaining this control
(05:27):
was through their standard way violence. Between eighteen sixty nine
and eighteen eighty nine, the New Orleans Police attributed over
one hundred murders to the infamous Sicilian mafia. The tactic
of gaining control through violence, which had worked so well
in Sicily, became standard procedure in Louisiana as well. The
(05:48):
violence in New Orleans, mafia controlled docks and markets erupted
as rival families fought for dominance. In the ongoing confrontation,
the supposedly corrupt chief of Police, David Hennessy, was assassinated,
presumably by members of the warring families. Enraged citizens, fueled
by anti Italian sentiment, took revenge and lynched several Italian
(06:09):
suspects in custody in the local jail. This resulted in
protest by outraged Italians both in the U S and Italy.
While the local press rejoice at the cities mafia been
wiped out, they were wrong. After a couple of years,
the gangsters regrouped, and by the early nineteen twenties, one
family had firmly established as dominance in New Orleans. It
(06:32):
would eventually bear the name of a literate Italian emigrant
who became one of America's most powerful mafia bosses. Carlus
Marcello's parents and regrated to North Africa, where Carlus was born.
In nineteen ten. Carlos's father, Joseph Marcello, went on to Louisiana,
and when Carlos was eight months old, he and his
mother rejoined Joseph in what would be their new homeland.
(06:54):
As their small family expanded and Marcellos took to farming
a plot of land outside New Orleans. When Carlos was
old enough, he was given the job of transporting the
produce his family grew to the markets in the city.
Coming in daily contact with the rough world of the
Sicilian dominated markets, young Marcello got his first exposure to
(07:15):
the mafia. It was then he realized the farming life
was not going to be his calling her.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Carlos Marcella was an extraordinarily capable and intelligent young man
who left his family's farm in the bios and the
stars committing crimes in the city.
Speaker 6 (07:37):
Of New Orleans.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Marcello's early criminal career consisted mostly of small time theft.
A botch bank job eventually landed Carlos behind bars with
a nine to twelve year prison sentence. At the time
of his conviction, he was just twenty years old. Through
a mafia connection, Marcello's father was able to gain a
pardon for his son from Louisiana's governor, Kay Allen. Young
(08:02):
Carlos learned firsthand the benefits of having friends and high places,
and the extent of which mafia influence could reach.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
By nineteen thirty, there were mafiosi at every level of
government in New Worleocks.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
Right after his abbreviated prison term, Carlos returned to the
city and opened a bar called the Brown Bomber, named
after the fighter Joe Louis. Soon he brushed out and
began distributing jukeboxes and pinball machines and restaurants around Algiers
and Gretna. The bar owners who declined doing business with
Marcello or his brothers were soon persuaded to change their minds.
Speaker 6 (08:40):
So have you thought about our offer?
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Yeah, but like I told you, I already have a juke.
Speaker 5 (08:49):
Box one of ours.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Gonna have one of our machines.
Speaker 6 (08:52):
If you got a piece of.
Speaker 8 (08:53):
Junk, look at the bar and the parish is putting
in our machines.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Sure you don't want to be the only one left
with a piece of jump.
Speaker 9 (09:03):
Could be bad for business, very bad.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
I think he was feared.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
I don't know how realistic that fear was or how
realistic his ability to carry it out, but obviously there
were many people who thought he could. And I think anybody,
anybody who has the connections and the money, can have somebody.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Hurt if they want that done.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
Marcello's reputation reached New York mafia boss Frank Costello under
attacked by officials up north. Costello was planning to move
his slot machines to the New Orleans area.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
You're gonna start into the mafia, basically after Costello brought
down all the slot machines and he then successfully placed
them in all the bars and restaurants and began getting
rich because he was getting a cut, you know, from
from every slot machine that he installed.
Speaker 6 (10:12):
He was split it with Carsello.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
The fact that gambling was illegal in Louisiana didn't deter anyone.
Louisiana Senator Huey Long, agreeing to a ten percent cut
of the take, made sure the police looked the other way.
Marcella wielded his power with an iron hand. He allegedly
took people to his property on the Bayou and had
them disposed of and.
Speaker 6 (10:33):
He had a bathtub.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
In the back of the property and he'd fill it
with a lye and the unfortunate victim would be would
be decomposed in the bathtub full of lye, and then
the tub would be poured into the bayou.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Not everyone buys the violent reputation.
Speaker 10 (10:57):
As far as I knew, Marcello did not have a
reputation for violence. There were allegations years ago that he
might have been involved in a Ganglands style hit on
(11:19):
the Mississippi Gulf coast. There was nothing but room. It
never went beyond rumor. In my opinion, he never had
to resort to that type of strong arm techniques.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
New York boss Frank Costello was so pleased with how
Marcella ran the slut machine business in New Orleans that
when he opened the Las Vegas style gambling house in
Jefferson Parish, Carlos was counted in as a twelve and
a half percent partner. By the time he was thirty
seven years old, Marcello had amassed a small fortune from
his illegal dealings. In nineteen forty seven, he became the
(11:53):
boss of the entire New Orleans mafia. He also became
one of the wealthiest men in Louisiana, dozens of illegal
and legitimate enterprises. Although only five feet two inches tall,
a nickname the Little Man, Marcella became the biggest leader
in the New Orleans mafia and one of Louisiana's wealthiest men.
(12:14):
His total worth was estimated at four hundred and fifty
million dollars.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Drugs that was his big staple, heroin and were coming
from Sicily into the Port of New Orleans, and then
Carlos would distribute it in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, Alabama,
the whole Southern group of states.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
Marcello's territory extended from the Mississippi River Delta throughout much
of the Gulf States. He became a master, paying off
anyone necessary to ensure his operations ran smoothly.
Speaker 6 (12:54):
He was able to.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Keep his activities relatively free of legal interference until concerned
citizens and vited a former FBI agent to investigate the
New Orleans Police Department. Aaron Cohne, began to expose the
goings on in Louisiana, which eventually came to the attention
of Robert Kennedy and a Senate committee investigating corruption. Since
(13:17):
his rise at the top of the New Orleans mafia
in nineteen forty seven. Carlos Marcella's wealth and power continued
to grow. Although the federal government repeatedly tried to put
Marcello out of business, he seemed impossible to convict. For years,
he and his mafia family seemed to be able to
operate with virtual impunity. That began to change, however, with
(13:40):
the vigorous anti racketeering and corruption efforts of individuals such
as State Police Superintendent Francis Grevenburg and former FBI agent
Aaron Cohne, brought to New Orleans in nineteen fifty three
to investigate corruption in the police department. Cohane eventually headed
up the privately funded Metropolitan Crime Commission. Rebenberg was appointed
(14:01):
in nineteen fifty two as superintendent of State Police, which
he says also had a long history of corruption.
Speaker 11 (14:08):
Buy long had them. Originally organized it in nineteen thirty five,
and he used it like his little private army. But
they were all politicians. People at the politicians asked him
to hire and that's the way they did it. So
I cut that out right away, and I fired a few.
I wish that had fired more, because these guys were
(14:30):
so used to taking kickbacks, and I had a terrible
time with it.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Now aged eighty five, Rebenberg recaused numerous incidents of police
corruption when he was in office.
Speaker 11 (14:41):
I raided a place called the Four Leaf Clover Club.
I rated it seven times, and the fourth time I
rated it, of course I saw these young girls in there.
We booked these prostitutes with the sheriff's office, but they
would never try them. The sheriff I was half owner
of the house prostitution. We finally put the owner of
(15:04):
the man who was half owner of it with him
in jail for ten years on a mandatory narcotics law
that I had passed at Liberal judges canceled annulled two
years later.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
The extent of Corlins Martello's criminal activities went well beyond
the mere control of police. Former Federal Prosecutor Eve's Hoage
saw how far that influence went.
Speaker 10 (15:30):
He controlled the traditional rackets along the southern Gulf Coast,
primarily in Louisiana, to some degree in Mississippi. There were
allegations that he had influenced even in Texas and by
traditional rackets, rackets like organized prostitution, illegal gambling, loan sharking
(15:58):
and things of that nature.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
He was involved in so many businesses, in gambling and
running restaurants in oil.
Speaker 6 (16:11):
He ran a.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Vast conglomer maybe of fifty different businesses.
Speaker 6 (16:16):
On his umbre.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
In his investigations, Aaron Cohne learned that all trails led
to the Marchello organization. Marcello seemed to have both the
New Orleans and Jefferson Parish police departments and municipal administrations
in his pocket. Cohn also discovered that Marchella could be
connected to at least three murders, none of which Marchella
was ever charged with. In nineteen fifty nine, Cohan was
(16:43):
able to bring his findings to the attention of the
McClellan Committee, and, as chief counsel Robert Kennedy, the committee
was already waging war against the mafia in New York
and Chicago.
Speaker 12 (16:55):
The top mobsters of Louisiana maintained contact with and joined
common objectives with their counterpart elsewhere. Freely and expensively. They
move around the country and are visited in turn four years.
Unlike their mafia predecessors, the Marcella mob has found little
need to fight against officials charge with exercising police powers.
(17:17):
The Carlos Marcellos of today do not battle the long
line of the law, where they find that the last
hogger row ridger and look more respectable by linking arms
with william officers of the law.
Speaker 10 (17:32):
Through Robert Kennedy's efforts in the Justice Department, our Organized
Crime and Racketeering Section really was established. That was a
Robert Kennedy brainchild to concentrate a group of prosecutors who
especially trained to engage in traditional organized crime investigations.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
Marcello and other mobsters who appeared before the committee refused
to acknowledge the existons of the mafia. Even FBHI director
j Edgar Hoover seemed to concur Hoover had long maintained
that the mafia was a myth. In nineteen fifty seven, however,
sixty mafia leaders were rounded up at a house in
upstate New York. This seemed to confirm once and for
(18:17):
all the existence of a national crime syndicate. Absent from
this meeting, though, was Carlos Marcello.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
He had such special privileges within the mafia that he
didn't have to attend any of those big conclaves.
Speaker 6 (18:33):
You know that there was.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
One an appellachian where the heads of all the families
gathered that was broken up by the police, but Marcello
would have to.
Speaker 6 (18:47):
Attend us.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
Whatever the reason for Marcello's absence, he was still subpoena
to appear before the McClellan Committee. Marcello defiantly peted the
Fifth Amendment to sixty six questions that Robert Kennedy directed
toward him. His arrogance and contempt for the proceedings provided
even more incentive for Robert Kennedy to attack the mafia.
Marcello even refused to answer the question of where he
(19:10):
was born. This very withholding of information became the weapon
that Robert Kennedy would use to go after Marcello. Kennedy
learned that Marcello had obtained an illegal Guatemalan birth certificate
and an entry described him as a citizen of Guatemala.
Kennedy turned to the one agency Marcello did not have
his hands in, the Immigration and Naturalization Service. He ordered
(19:34):
the ions to expel Marcello from the United States without delay.
On April fourteenth, nineteen sixty one, Marcello made a routine
check in with Immigration. He was told to sit down.
The immigration agent then read a letter to Marcello.
Speaker 13 (19:50):
To Carlos Marcello, it has come to the attention of
this office that your place of birth is listed as
the country of Guatemala, and as such you were officially
a citizen of that country. You are herewith ordered return
to your country of origin immediately.
Speaker 8 (20:04):
What is this all about?
Speaker 9 (20:05):
Him?
Speaker 6 (20:06):
That you are overdue on your visa? Why are you
doing this to me? What's happening all the hell?
Speaker 4 (20:10):
Child was taken to a weeding car and whis to
the airport in fluent of Latemala City. The leganity of
the deportation has always been in question.
Speaker 10 (20:20):
I reviewed all the i INS files on that case,
and let me say this, I'm not certain at all
that fundamental notions of due process were followed in connection
without arrest. He got no hearing, He got no opportunity
to consult counsel. As I understand it, his counsel were
(20:41):
not able to consult anybody connected with the Justice Department.
This guy was just swept up, taken in a car,
put on an airplane flowing out of the country.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
Marcello spent two agonizing months in exile after making his
way through the rugged Central American jungle, Marcello somehow got
back to Louisiana. How exactly Marcello was able to re
enter the US is uncertain. Investigator at Becker believes Marcello
used his connections to sneak back into the country.
Speaker 9 (21:26):
New Orleans fishing boats were down there for the crab
and all that, you know, which they did periodically, like
once a week at least. What he did have to
do make one phone call and says, I want to
boat here tomorrow at eight pm and give it to
Joe and whoever, you know, somebody trusted.
Speaker 6 (21:47):
That's it.
Speaker 9 (21:49):
When he couldn't take like an aeroplane pack or drive
back to getting stopped at the border, or you know,
driving and the flight, he naturally wouldn't do that because
you remember, there's always guards, always that FBI at this
at the airport. They LA and New Orleans always photographed
(22:10):
the mob when they came off the planes.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
The government backed deportation effort seemed to have backfired.
Speaker 9 (22:17):
The fact that he sneaked back in made him an
even more of a hero to the mob than he
was before he gone was deported, so well, everybody knew
he was really the godfather of the United States.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
For Marcello, the deportation episode was something he wasn't going
to forget. His fury toward Kennedy reportedly became an obsession.
Kennedy also was enraged on hearing that Marcello was able
to re enter the country. He acted quickly and that
Marcello indicted for illegal entry. The ions ruled Marcello was
an undesirable alien and once again ordered him deported, a
(22:56):
ruling that Marcello's attorneys appealed.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
They never stopped trying. Washington, DC now stopped trying to
deport myself. We did not get directly involved.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
In that, other than whatever they asked us to do.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
But Washington really never gave up one deporting him.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
Marcello never forgot the harrowing and humiliating experience that has
forced deportation at the hands of Robert Kennedy. In the
early nineteen sixties, Carlos Marchello was facing the severest challenge
to his empire yet and the form of the newly
elected Kennedy administration. President John F. Kennedy took office and
appointed his brother Robert to the post of Attorney General,
(23:37):
Now with greater power and authority. Robert Kennedy and the
President continued their campaign to bring down Marcello, but Marcello
needed was for that threat to go away. On November
twenty second, nineteen sixty three, that's exactly what happened. President
Kennedy was visiting Dallas as part of a Democratic Party
(23:57):
campaign tour. As a president motorcade made his way through
Dealey Plaza, gun shot suddenly rang out. The President was
shot and rushed to nearby Parkland Hospital. Within an hour,
(24:18):
John F. Kennedy was pronounced dead. A short time later,
Dallas police apprehended a young man by the name of
Lee Harvey Oswald. Though quickly fingered as a President's assassin,
Oswald denied involvement.
Speaker 11 (24:35):
Already down our record the situations by nobody has told.
Speaker 5 (24:38):
Me anything except that I'm accused of murder.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
Policeman before anyone could thoroughly interrogate Oswald, though, a Dallas
knight club owner by the name of Jack Ruby slipped
through police barricades. Amidst the confusion resulting from the killing
(25:05):
of President Kennedy and then Oswald, numerous conspiracy theories began
to emerge. The list of possible co conspirators included the Soviets,
who had recently backed down in the Cuban Missile crisis,
Cuba still angry over the Bay of Pigs invasion, the CIA,
(25:26):
whom Kennedy had threatened a disband, supported a slain South
Vietnamese president Yem, who held the Kennedy administration responsible for
Jim's death, and of course, the mafia, who had more
than their share of gripes with the Kennedys. The government
in the media began taking a closer look at the
alleged assassin. Oswell often visited New Orleans, where he apparently
(25:49):
volunteered in a procaster organization called the Fair Play for
Cuba Committee. Oswald was seen passing out pamphlets for the
group on New Orleans streets. Oswall's affiliation of this movement
was one thing that led many people to speculate on
Fidel Castro's involvement in the assassination. Another theory linked the
assassination to a joint effort between the CIA and mafia,
(26:12):
who were both anti Castro, albeit for different reasons. The
CIA viewed Castro's Cuba as a satellite of the Soviet
Union and a threat to national security, as for the mafia,
Castro was directly responsible for shutting down their lucrative Cuban
gambling operations after the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion. Both
(26:33):
the CIA and the Mafia blamed President Kennedy for the
failure of the invasion and for Castro remaining in power.
Without any concrete evidence to support any of these various theories,
the controversial Warren Commission concluded that Oswald acted alone. Nearly
fifteen years later, however, in nineteen seventy nine, the House
(26:54):
Assassinations Committee decided to reopen the investigation. New evidence surfaced
to suggest the possibility that Oswald shot the President on
behalf of Carlos Marcello. By the summer of nineteen sixty two,
Robert Kennedy had tightened his grip on the mafia and
brought new charges against Marcello, with two federal indictments and
(27:15):
a standing deportation order. Marcello was living each day under
a cloud of uncertainty, though.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
I did not expect.
Speaker 12 (27:24):
We had had no indication though anything like this was
going to happen.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
New information revealed possible links between Oswald and Marcello. While
in New Orleans, Oswell lived with his uncle dut S Murrett,
who was affiliated with members of Marcello's gambling racket. Oswald
was also possibly connected to David Ferry, who was ironically
a member of the violently anti Castro Cuban Revolutionary Front,
(27:50):
an organization heavily financed by Carlos Marcello. Around the time
that Kennedy announced his trip to Dallas, Carlos Marcello and
David Ferry were planning marcello defense in a legal case
scheduled or go to trial in New Orleans in early November.
In addition to meeting with Marcello at the Town and
Country Motel, Ferry also allegedly met with Oswald in the
(28:12):
French Quarter. Spiracy. Theorists speculated that Marcello was looking for
someone outside his organization to take care of Kennedy and
then learned of Dutch Murrat's oddbonn nephew, Lee Harvey Oswald.
A connection between Oswald's killer Jack Ruby, and Carlos Marcello
was also discovered. In nineteen forty six, a year before
(28:33):
Carlus Marcello assumed power in Louisiana, the Chicago Mob launched
a campaign to take over the rackets in the Dallas
area and gain control of the Dallas police force. Assisting
in the effort was Jack Ruby. Ruby stayed on in Dallas,
opening up a night club and acting as a middleman
between the mafia and the police department. Jack Ruby swore
(28:54):
he shot Lee Harvey Oswald to vindicate the president. It
has been proposed, however, that Marcello needed someone with access
to the Dallas police to silence Oswald, and Ruby was
a perfect candidate. Whether it will be ever definitively determined
if Marcello or any other mobster had anything to do
with the assassination of John F. Kennedy, it is fairly
(29:16):
safe to say that many of Carlos Marcello's worst headaches
went away. On November twenty two, nineteen sixty three, long
before John Gotti became known as a teflon don, the
(29:37):
head of the New Orleans Mafia was proving to be
virtually immune to government enforcement efforts. Since in nineteen thirties,
Carlos Marcello had managed to dodge federal probes linking him
to organized crime. When asked by reporters of his involvement
with the rackets, Marcello had a standard response, and.
Speaker 12 (29:54):
Rackets still what was your answer to that?
Speaker 6 (29:57):
Absolutely not.
Speaker 4 (29:58):
How long ago his business venturels Marcello had a stock answer.
Speaker 6 (30:04):
Plan investment in motel.
Speaker 10 (30:07):
What's your opinion of all the talk about still your
involvements in the rackets and you're being labeled a mafia
boss with the Little Man of Rackets and Louisiana.
Speaker 5 (30:19):
Just a lot of lies and bad statement from maren
Can people like that.
Speaker 6 (30:26):
That's making a living out of it.
Speaker 4 (30:28):
In nineteen sixty six, however, the allegations became impossible to refute.
Marcello was picked up by New York City Police at
a restaurant in Queens along with some of the biggest
names in organized crime. Upon his released under rival to
New Orleans, Marcello found himself besieged by reporters and cameras.
He also placed himself in more legal turmoil after an
(30:50):
encounter with FBI agent Patrick Collins.
Speaker 6 (30:53):
He returned to New Orleans.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
In the airport, he made one big, big mistake. In
the airport, he spotted an FBI official, and the FBI
official came up to him and said, hey, Carlos, well
we understand you guys got caught up there in La
(31:16):
Cellar restaurant. Went found Marcello hold off and and and
Patley broke the guy at the FBI guy's skull.
Speaker 6 (31:26):
They're not planting him in prison for six months.
Speaker 4 (31:29):
Marcello and his lawyers had their own take on the incident.
Speaker 8 (31:32):
He positive did not know that mister pat Collins was
an FBI agent, and the evidence plainly shows and mister
pack Collins was a very belligerent young man at that
particular moment, and he is courted Marcella saying are you
looking for trouble or do you want trouble? Instead of
trying to explain himself, mister pack Collins says I can
(31:54):
handle trouble in the man at to show that he
wanted to fight.
Speaker 4 (31:58):
A judge convicted and sent Marchello to two years, but
as he had in the past, Marchella used political clout
to have his sentence reduced to a mere six months.
However powerful he was nationally, Marchella continually wielded political influence
or personal gain on his own turf. In an expos
about corruption in Louisiana, a Life magazine looked at Marchella's
(32:20):
outrageous exercise of power over state officials. The article claimed
Marcella persuaded the Louisiana state government to spend taxpayers money
to improve his personal sixty four hundred acres swamp land property,
Churchill Farms. If fully diked and drained, the property could
be worth a reputed sixty million dollars in prime real estate.
(32:41):
It took four years and over one million dollars to
build a levee, which benefited no one in the entire
state except Carlos Marcello. Just even before the days of
Louisiana's notorious Senator Huey Long, corruption had been an integral
part of the state's political system. Nobody understands a relationship
between Pol Dickson corruption in Louisiana better than Attorney John Votes.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Just how far other drug lords and go to get it.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
Was unwillingness to play along. We have cost him two
campaigns for sheriff a district attorney of Saint Germany Parish.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
They give us no break at all.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
I characterize Louisiana as a place that is known for corruption.
It's known for corruption, and why because there's so many
corrupt public officials in this state, not all of them,
but a lot of them, too many of them. And
you know, it's said that people in Louisiana don't tolerate corruption,
(33:37):
he demanded, And so they find people who do illegal things,
but who are glib. They find that funny, they find
it amusing.
Speaker 6 (33:52):
It's entertainment.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Not all people are like that, not all the people.
I'm not indicting in the general sense of the word
all assistants of the state, because there are some fine
people here that don't want to see this, but there
are too many politicians with their hands out.
Speaker 4 (34:09):
After both the kiffav Committee in nineteen fifty one and
the McConn hearing ten years later, Arcella walked away with
his empire and reputation intact. In nineteen seventy nine, though,
Arcella faced a new challenge when the House Select Committee
on Assassinations reopened the investigation into President Kennedy's assassination based
on new evidence and new witnesses. Ed Becker, las Vegas
(34:32):
casino investigator who moved in and out of mafia's circles,
was one of those witnesses. He had occasion to meet
with Marcello in nineteen sixty two as part of a
business venture. He was able to gain the mobster's trust
by dropping names.
Speaker 9 (34:46):
We were drinking, and I said, boy, I told you,
Bobby is you're not happy anymore that you got back
in the country. I said, everybody in Las Vegas talking
about it, which of course stimulated as ego. And now
he's starting to mutter to me about Bobby Kennedy and
the Kennedy family, and he keeps it up and keeps
(35:07):
it up, and now I'm keep prodding him, you know,
you know, saying, well, he's not gonna be in office,
you know the uh that much longer I didn't know.
I mean, Kennedy just said what been reelected or and uh,
Bobby was gonna, I guess go on with him. And
this infuriated Carlos think just even thinking about it. And
(35:29):
that's when he spat out this Sicilian phrase, which I
had to do my memory. I mean, I don't speak Italian,
so I you know, I wouldever uh and uh and
phonetically I could unders I could grasp it. I had
I have a good memory, and so I was able
to call it Italian uh consulate at one time and
(35:51):
find out would have meant and I found out would
have met it meant, you know, he cut off the tail,
d the head and the tail dies, Mm, well, that
means instead of killing the President United States, assassinating him,
which would been the first obvious thought. I mean that first, obviously,
(36:11):
I killed Bobby.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
In the end, the House Select Committee and assassinations came
short of indicting him. Marcello, like so many times before,
had managed to avoid prosecution. In nineteen seventy nine, however,
the wheels of justice would catch up with Marchello as
the FBI launched an elaborate undercover sting operation called BRYLAMB,
(36:35):
an acronym for bribery and labor. The FBI was able
to infiltrate Marcello's inner sanctum through the use of an informer.
Speaker 10 (36:44):
One particular fellow that cooperated was a gentleman by the
name of Joe Houser. As a result of that, we
began a series of electronic surveillance activities involving phone tap
on Marcello's office phones.
Speaker 6 (37:04):
At one point, the court.
Speaker 10 (37:06):
Authorized a electronic surveillance by way of a microphone in
his office here in the New Orleans area. At one time,
as I think I remember correctly, weave and tapped his
home phone.
Speaker 4 (37:19):
The FBI recruited Hauser, a notorious swindler who at the
time was facing a ten count conviction charge for bribery
and racketeering.
Speaker 6 (37:27):
What's in it for me?
Speaker 4 (37:29):
In a deal with a Justice department, Houser would receive
a reduced sentence in exchange for turning government informer.
Speaker 10 (37:35):
The strategy was to present Marcello with an opportunity to
assist Hawser in obtaining state insurance contracts. And he was
presented with an opportunity, and he took it. Not only
did he take it, but Marcello had his own ideas
about how to proceed and who to approach.
Speaker 6 (37:57):
We do the whole damned state, if necessary.
Speaker 10 (38:00):
Securing these insurance contracts on state employees.
Speaker 4 (38:03):
What Marcello didn't know was that their conversations were being
taped by a recorder hidden in Houser's briefcase.
Speaker 10 (38:12):
Once those approaches were made, we were off to the races,
and Marcello became a dominant figure in directing Houser and
undercover FBI agents who were masquerading as agents who had
connections with the Prudential Life Insurance County.
Speaker 4 (38:44):
In exchange for his influential connections, Marcello would receive cash
and a cut in profits from any insurance contracts he
steered to Fidelity Prudential.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
The FBI agents, the undercover agents were introduced to then
Commissioner of Administration, which is like second to the governor,
mister Charles Romer, who we alleged and obviously proved that
he had taken money. I think it was twenty five
thousand dollars to steer the state's employees insurance insurance business
(39:17):
to these particular agents, and in the process the FBI
listened to his conversations for about nineteen months.
Speaker 4 (39:28):
In addition to the twenty five thousand dollars, Marcello promised
Romer monthly payments of forty three thousand dollars for the
life of the contracts.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
I think the significance of the case is not only
the prosecution and conviction of a person who was reputed
to be way up in the organized crime scale in
this area, but also the fact that you could see
the tentacles of organized crime moving into corrupting state officials.
Speaker 4 (40:04):
Marcello became concerned there was a chance at Romer could
lose his position after the Republican gubernatorial primary. He decided
to hedge his bed on Romer and offer a bribe
to then Democratic Lieutenant Governor James Fitzmorris. Marceello believed Fitzmorris
could direct certain contracts his way, especially if Romer was
removed from his position. Fitz Morris took the bait and
(40:27):
accepted Marcello's bribe for ten thousand dollars. Carlos Marcello's reign
as the untouchable godfather of Louisiana ended in August of
nineteen eighty when a grand jury found a seventy year
old on guilty of numerous racketeering charges. Indicted alongside Marcello
were Roamer Irving Davidson, a longtime friend of Marcello's and
(40:48):
an influential Washington lobbyist who had originally introduced Hawser to Marcello.
Vincent Marinello, a lawyer from Marcello. Davidson and Marinello were
acquitted of all charges, while Romer would be found guilty
and sentenced to serve a prison term. On June first,
nineteen eighty two, due to his poor health, Marcella was
taken to the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners
(41:10):
in Springfield, Missouri, to begin serving his sentence. After Carlos
Marcello's conviction. The family's influence in New Orleans political circles
in the underworld declined. In nineteen eighty eight, Carlos's brother,
Sammy Marcello, was indicted for money laundering, and several Marchella
owned restaurants, like the Louisiana, fell into bankruptcy.
Speaker 7 (41:31):
Carlos marcel died proximately four or five years ago. He
was succeeded by Anthony Corolla. Anthony Corolla was involved in
gaming gambling activity and they were meeting at a restaurant
in the French Court in City in New Orleans, and
unbeknowing to them, they were being watched and monitored by
(41:53):
the FBI, and the FBI actually caught them plotting to
take over worldwide gaming in Louisiana rod operators. One of
the people that came from out of town was a
gentleman by named Tanfield who had connections to the Genoese
in a Gambino family.
Speaker 4 (42:13):
FBI wiretaps indicate the Gambino and Bruno Scarfield crime families
were laying the groundwork for making New Orleans a major
port of entry for cocaine smuggling.
Speaker 14 (42:24):
In the early nineties, the FBI conducted a actually a
five year investigation that began in nineteen ninety and ended
in the result of the convictions of twenty LCN members
and associates. Then in New Orleans, we believe is pretty
much kind of looking at an open city right now.
(42:45):
What I mean by open city there is not any
specifically defined one family that is concentrating on establishing itself
in criminal activity.
Speaker 4 (43:07):
In New Orleans. A history of affiliation between organized crime
and public institution seems destined to repeat itself.
Speaker 10 (43:14):
I would venture, I guess there's corruption here, and yes,
there's corruption in America, and I think there always will be.
But law enforcement should be vigilant and continue to investigate
and prosecute corruption. It's the only tool available to combat it.
(43:38):
It will never eradicate it, never as long as human
beings continue to be human beings. But it must be
done because I think it tempes and restrains.
Speaker 6 (43:51):
Excesses.
Speaker 10 (43:52):
On the other hand, the government needs to operate within
the law and it should always being mindful of that.
Speaker 4 (44:03):
Despite his checkered past, the future of New Orleans is
looking brighter.
Speaker 7 (44:08):
Over the last four years. With the new police chief
we do have here, We're seeing things turn around. The
quality of life in New Orleans has improved tremendously. Crime
has dropped, The homici ope ate has dropped tremendously. We
were averaging four hundred, four hundred and thirty merders a year.
It's down probably forty percent. To across the board. The
(44:32):
quality of life is improved.
Speaker 4 (44:35):
By spotting a political system rife with corruption. By wielding
fear and bribery like precision instruments, Marcello was able to
amass an empire only through diligence or honest law enforcement
and political officials finally able to bring down the godfather
of New Orleans and his dynasty. I'm Robert Styck. Thanks
for joining us. Yeah. They
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