Marcello. John Diuguid, who prosecuted Marcello in New
Orleans during much of November 1963, later read the transcript of
44
LEGACY OF SECRECY
the only instance in which Marcello’s conversation was ever bugged
during the 1960s. Since the FBI in New Orleans left Marcello alone, this
single instance involved one visit to Marcello’s headquarters by a very
scared wired informant for the Bureau of Narcotics. Diuguid described
the scene to fellow Mafia prosecutor, Ronald Goldfarb, who wrote that
“the overheard conversation between Marcello and other supplicants
who came to see him and seek his favors sounded like a scene from
The Godfather.” Diuguid confirmed that to us, describing Marcello as a
“godfather” who was “holding court.”
However, Marcello was more powerful than any traditional god-
father, or even a fictional one such as Don Vito Corleone, the character
in The Godfather . Even he had to share New York City with the heads of
other Mafia families, and the real Mafia families of New York sometimes
feuded as they vied for power. In contrast, Marcello reigned supreme in
Louisiana and large portions of the surrounding states, including Texas,
where he controlled rackets in cities like Dallas and Houston. Instead
of feuding with Mafia bosses in adjacent territories, Marcello became
business partners with them, as he did with Florida’s Trafficante.
There was another very important difference between Marcello and
almost every other Mafia chief in America: As the head of America’s
oldest Mafia family, Marcello didn’t need permission from the informal
National Mafia Commission to stage major hits. This made Marcello
more powerful in 1963 than far more famous mob bosses who had held
sway over only a particular city, such as his friend Mickey Cohen (of Los
Angeles) and New York’s Vito Genovese, both of whom had still been
subject to the commission. Unlike most other Mafia families in America,
the Louisiana Mafia had a long tradition of murdering government offi-
cials, beginning with the assassination of a New Orleans Police Chief
in 1890. Marcello himself had attempted to have New Orleans Sheriff
Frank Clancy assassinated in 1955, and was linked to two successful hits
on much higher-ranking government officials.
The Mafia assassinations of an attorney general in 1954 and a presi-
dent in 1957 had a major impact on how Marcello, Trafficante, and
Rosselli assassinated JFK. Marcello had learned in the 1950s that by
working with other Mafia bosses like Trafficante and Rosselli, he could
extend his considerable power even further. While Trafficante had pri-
mary control of corrupt Phenix City, Alabama, in the 1950s, Marcello
also had vice interests in the town. Across the river from sprawling
Fort Benning, Georgia, Phenix City was so lawless that even General
George S. Patton had been unable to tame it. However, in 1954, an anti-
Chapter Three
45
corruption attorney general for the state of Alabama, Albert Patterson,
was elected from the town, after he pledged to run the mobsters out of
Phenix City once and for all. The mobsters faced a huge loss of revenue,
so the state’s new attorney general–elect was assassinated in Phenix
City on June 18, 1954.
However, the vice lords had been so used to the lax attitudes toward
organized crime by the state of Alabama, J. Edgar Hoover, and the
Eisenhower-Nixon administration that they didn’t bother to use a patsy
to quickly take the heat and divert attention from the real culprits. This
was a serious mistake, and suspicion quickly focused on Trafficante’s
lieutenants and a corrupt official, one of whom fled to Marcello’s terri-
tory to hide, while two others went to Trafficante’s Florida. The brazen
assassination became a national scandal, causing a barrage of media
coverage. After nationwide calls for action, President Eisenhower finally
declared Martial Rule and sent in National Guard troops to clean up
Orleans during much of November 1963, later read the transcript of
44
LEGACY OF SECRECY
the only instance in which Marcello’s conversation was ever bugged
during the 1960s. Since the FBI in New Orleans left Marcello alone, this
single instance involved one visit to Marcello’s headquarters by a very
scared wired informant for the Bureau of Narcotics. Diuguid described
the scene to fellow Mafia prosecutor, Ronald Goldfarb, who wrote that
“the overheard conversation between Marcello and other supplicants
who came to see him and seek his favors sounded like a scene from
The Godfather.” Diuguid confirmed that to us, describing Marcello as a
“godfather” who was “holding court.”
However, Marcello was more powerful than any traditional god-
father, or even a fictional one such as Don Vito Corleone, the character
in The Godfather . Even he had to share New York City with the heads of
other Mafia families, and the real Mafia families of New York sometimes
feuded as they vied for power. In contrast, Marcello reigned supreme in
Louisiana and large portions of the surrounding states, including Texas,
where he controlled rackets in cities like Dallas and Houston. Instead
of feuding with Mafia bosses in adjacent territories, Marcello became
business partners with them, as he did with Florida’s Trafficante.
There was another very important difference between Marcello and
almost every other Mafia chief in America: As the head of America’s
oldest Mafia family, Marcello didn’t need permission from the informal
National Mafia Commission to stage major hits. This made Marcello
more powerful in 1963 than far more famous mob bosses who had held
sway over only a particular city, such as his friend Mickey Cohen (of Los
Angeles) and New York’s Vito Genovese, both of whom had still been
subject to the commission. Unlike most other Mafia families in America,
the Louisiana Mafia had a long tradition of murdering government offi-
cials, beginning with the assassination of a New Orleans Police Chief
in 1890. Marcello himself had attempted to have New Orleans Sheriff
Frank Clancy assassinated in 1955, and was linked to two successful hits
on much higher-ranking government officials.
The Mafia assassinations of an attorney general in 1954 and a presi-
dent in 1957 had a major impact on how Marcello, Trafficante, and
Rosselli assassinated JFK. Marcello had learned in the 1950s that by
working with other Mafia bosses like Trafficante and Rosselli, he could
extend his considerable power even further. While Trafficante had pri-
mary control of corrupt Phenix City, Alabama, in the 1950s, Marcello
also had vice interests in the town. Across the river from sprawling
Fort Benning, Georgia, Phenix City was so lawless that even General
George S. Patton had been unable to tame it. However, in 1954, an anti-
Chapter Three
45
corruption attorney general for the state of Alabama, Albert Patterson,
was elected from the town, after he pledged to run the mobsters out of
Phenix City once and for all. The mobsters faced a huge loss of revenue,
so the state’s new attorney general–elect was assassinated in Phenix
City on June 18, 1954.
However, the vice lords had been so used to the lax attitudes toward
organized crime by the state of Alabama, J. Edgar Hoover, and the
Eisenhower-Nixon administration that they didn’t bother to use a patsy
to quickly take the heat and divert attention from the real culprits. This
was a serious mistake, and suspicion quickly focused on Trafficante’s
lieutenants and a corrupt official, one of whom fled to Marcello’s terri-
tory to hide, while two others went to Trafficante’s Florida. The brazen
assassination became a national scandal, causing a barrage of media
coverage. After nationwide calls for action, President Eisenhower finally
declared Martial Rule and sent in National Guard troops to clean up
Similar Books
