The Carlos Marcello Family of New Orleans, LA

With their thick southern drawl and traditions 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 and 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.

The City of New Orleans, Louisiana

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 through information they gathered by wiretaps and intel provided through 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 down to nothing. It hadn’t inducted any members for many years and had dwindled down to a paltry 4 or 5 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 within the overall national scope of Cosa Nostra as well.

Carlos Marcello with his infamous cigar.

In fact, of all the original Mafia leaders who headed families at the height of Cosa Nostra’s power within the country during the 1950s-1970s era, Marcello could have arguably been described as the one who had achieved the deepest penetration into local and state government and had a near ironclad control over numerous important politicians of both parties.

He operated through a small network of formally inducted ‘made’ men who actually constituted the Marcello Family. But they were allied with hundreds of other lesser underworld ’associates’ of various ethnicities, as well as a wide swath of corrupt public officials and politicians.

This deep ‘penetration’ of government and politics ran to the highest reaches in the state and included some of the most powerful men in both business and politics. With their later elevation into the federal government several of these early ‘connections’ allowed Marcello’s reach and influence to expand accordingly.

It enabled Marcello to virtually control the state as its master ‘puppeteer’ and political fixer. Much of his power was derived from his ability to gain control over the awarding of public work contracts, his ability to change local public ordinances and laws on the books so as to better accommodate his crime Family’s needs.

The earliest history of this mafia network dates to the late 1800s. Several Sicilian immigrant families came to power along the docks the most influential of which was said to have been the Macheca, Provenzano, and Matranga broods. Infighting and competition among these factions for control of the docks and wharf area led to bloodshed.

Carlos Marcello - mugshot at age 19.

It also led to a crackdown by the local police and the eventual execution-style assassination of David C. Hennessy in 1890, who at that time was the police chief of New Orleans. He had become the Mafia’s nemesis and was viewed as an impediment to their future operations and well-being.

Hennessy’s killing led to the arrest, sensational jury trial, and the subsequent mistrials or acquittals of nineteen suspected mafiosi for his murder. Their acquittals led to a public outcry for justice. A wild mob of local residents formed outside the jail where the men were being held. They soon stormed the prison where they seized the men and ended up lynching eleven of the nineteen suspects.

This incident stands alone even today as the largest mass lynching in United States history. The reverberations of this unconscionable act of vigilantism had worldwide implications. The consulate in Italy and other prominent Italian citizens were horrified, screamed prejudice against Italian immigrants, and demanded justice from Washington.

For a while, this incident even damaged international relations between Italy and America.

By 1949, mafioso Sylvestro (Sliver Dollar Sam) Carollo was widely acknowledged to have become the boss of Louisiana. The former boss was thought to have been the iconic Francesco Paolo Coppola, who was thought to have led the borgata until the U.S. Government sought his deportation back to Sicily in 1947, at which time power was turned over to Carollo.

Sylvestro (Silver Sam) Carollo

At around this same period of time member Giuseppe (Joe) Gagliano was thought to have been placed in the underboss role. But within a few years' time, the government targeted Carollo as well. They quickly started deportation proceedings against the mafioso and before long, in 1950, he too was put on a boat sailing back to his native Sicily.

Side Note: Once settled back into his ancestral homeland, Coppola quickly reacquainted himself with the Palermo-based mafia and its resident powers in other territories and provinces. Coppola was said to have hardly skipped a beat in the rackets. He quickly reaffirmed his lofty underworld status and resumed mafia activities with his former associates from back home.

In fact, it was alleged by the FBN, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, that Coppola had become one of the most important international narcotics smugglers and distributors both in Sicily and the United States, supplying top traffickers in various borgatas throughout the U.S. such as the Detroit and New Orleans Families, among others.

In March of 1968, Coppola found himself on trial in Italy with sixteen other top mafiosi for heading a massive heroin smuggling network. One of his more noted co-defendants was the notorious Sicily boss, Giuseppe Genco Russo.

Francesco Coppola

With the loss of those two underworld powerhouses, the leadership of the Family was next bestowed upon Carlos Marcello. With his ascension to power Marcello was believed to have elevated his brother Joe Marcello to serve as his number two man, and Vincenzo (Jimmy) Campo to serve the general membership as its resident family counselor and troubleshooter.

Aside from allegedly serving as his brother’s driver and bodyguard, Carlos’ younger brother Salvatore (Sammy) Marcello was said to also head a large bookmaking operation for the borgata, with Carlos providing the financial backing and required bankroll.

Subsequent to his elevation as boss, the United States Government reached back into their federal playbook and almost immediately attempted the same deportation tactics with Marcello that had worked so well against the family’s previous leaders. But through his attorney’s Marcello fought them tooth and nail at every turn.

A very frustrated then-Attorney General Bobby Kennedy, who at that time headed the justice department, had his agents and operatives actually kidnap Marcello one day in 1961, then placed him on an airplane and unceremoniously dropped him off in the middle of the jungles of Guatemala. The U.S. Government claimed that Marcello had forged his citizenship papers.

Legend has it that a disheveled Marcello walked through that dangerous jungle and after several weeks eventually made his way back across the borders into the United States. But from that point forward Marcello held an immense grudge against the young prosecutor and his older brother John.

Marcello before a U.S. Senate Hearing

This heavy handed (and illegal) unprecedented law enforcement tactic enraged the wily Cosa Nostra boss to no end. And its is said that from that moment on Carlos Marcello had blood in his eyes for the Kennedys. Some conspiracy theorists even say that this particular incident is what helped to form the foundation for President Kennedy’s assassination in 1963.

These same sources say that the Mafia, elements of the FBI and CIA, and rogue politicians conspired to remove President Kennedy from office by bloodshed, and later also plotted to kill then-Attorney General Bobby Kennedy. Is it true? Is it false? These things are lost to history and we will never know for sure if in fact there was any truth to the rumors, or if they were just put out there as a smokescreen to hide the true killers and motives.

During Marcello’s tenure, he greatly expanded the operations and the reach of the family. Carlos was a major corruptor and infiltrator of government and legitimate business. A great example of his efforts and the all-pervasive corrupting influence he wielded was his partnership with New York mob boss Frank Costello and Frank’s junior partner, Philip (Dandy Phil) Kastel.

Philip (Dandy Phil) Kastel

Marcello used his control of Louisiana Senator Huey Long to forge a very lucrative alliance that allowed Costello to relocate thousands of his slot machines (one-armed bandits) from New York City down to New Orleans. Then NYC Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia had started a campaign to drive the city’s racketeers, “Tin Horns,” and gamblers from the city.

His primary “poster-boy” target became Costello and his slot-machine rackets. In a profit-sharing agreement, Senator Long turned a blind eye to the gambling machines and ordered his law enforcement subordinates to do the same.

Iconic NYC boss Frank Costello

Marcello, Costello, Kastel, Long, and other lesser government officials all allegedly shared in the illicit profits generated for years to come. Kastel was said to have been the on-site ‘manager’ and overseer of these operations.

Through the years Carlos Marcello continued to be a primary target of the federal government. He was repeatedly arrested or indicted for crimes ranging from extortion, conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Government, conspiracy to obstruct justice, juror bribery, assaulting a federal agent (FBI), consorting with known criminals for his attendance at the infamous La Stella Restaurant “Commission Meeting” in 1966 with 13 other mob bosses.

1966 La Stella seating arrangements

1966 - back at La Stella Restaurant for lunch with the lawyers: Marcello, Trafficante, Frank Gagliano, and Anthony Carollo

But his Achilles heel turned out to be a major federal RICO indictment in 1981 for conspiracy, racketeering, mail and wire fraud, for a scheme to bribe state officials in order to secure a multimillion-dollar government insurance contracts with the state. He was charged along with several top government officials and it became a major scandal.

Marcello was subsequently tried and convicted in federal court on RICO. He was sentenced to serve a prison term at the Federal Correctional Facility at Seagoville, Texas.

By this point in his life, Marcello was aging and had fallen into the throes of dementia. It is said that there were days in prison where he would become disoriented and feeble-minded. After several appeals, he was eventually released from custody after having served over six years behind bars. He died on March 2, 1993.

As I stated above, although pound for pound the New Orleans borgata was always a very small clan by comparison to their brethren in other cities across America, Carlos Marcello ruled his fiefdom with an iron fist and commanded one of the most influential Mafia networks.

Even before Marcello’s death from natural causes in 1993, the New Orleans Family was slowly fading into oblivion, with Marcello refusing to induct fresh blood into the family ranks.

Carlos exiting the federal courthouse.

By the time of his death, this once small borgata had literally only a handful of remaining members. Today, what was once viewed as a founding pillar of Cosa Nostra in this country and stood as a model borgata is extinct….but they had a great run while it lasted.

Back in 1966, the New Orleans division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation compiled several lists of the known and/or suspected membership of the New Orleans Family. The FBI originally listed 27 men as being affiliated so closely with Marcello, and with one other for that matter, as to be considered part of the formal mafia membership for that city.

The following names are drawn from those original federal 302 reports, as well as other documents and information known about this mafia network. The individuals were listed in an A to Z order and were not labeled in any particular hierarchical structure or format.

Subsequent investigations allow us to hypothesize about who some of their crew leaders and other members may have been. Additionally, several names on this list may have actually been non-member associates of the group such as Marcello’s own brothers Pascal and Anthony.

Here is the suspected formal structure of this borgata.

The Carlos Marcello Family of New Orleans, LA

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The Carlos Marcello Family of New Orleans, LA

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