At first glance, one would not think the State of Louisiana very conducive for Italian immigrants. But they were drawn to the New Orleans area nonetheless because of its waterfront, where freight ships from overseas docked. Many weary Italian immigrants first reached America’s shores, bringing their foreign traditions and seemingly strange ancient customs along with them.
Louisiana’s alligator-filled swamps and French-Creole flavor, not to mention the prejudice in those days of old that many southern states held against foreign immigrants regardless of their origins, made “The Big Easy” seem a very unlikely place for immigrants in general and Italian immigrants, in particular.
Yet, Louisiana, and specifically the city of New Orleans, played a huge role in the early development of the Mafia in the United States.
There is documented evidence, and it has been argued that New Orleans was, in fact, one of the first landing points for early Sicilian immigrants connected to the Mafia and that they quickly ‘set up shop’ around the waterfronts wharves and docks where they first plied their underworld trade of extortion, robberies, and other such activities.
For this reason, the FBI later alleged, based on information gathered by wiretaps and intel provided by informants, that the small New Orleans “Family” was always afforded the highest respect within Cosa Nostra’s orbit in the United States.
In its later years, this borgata’s membership was allowed to shrink to nothing. It hadn’t inducted any members for many years and had dwindled to a paltry four or five remaining members.
Yet, longtime boss Carlos Marcello still wielded immense power, not only within his acknowledged operating territory of Louisiana and other nearby states such as Texas and Florida but also within the overall national scope of Cosa Nostra.
