The Hidden History of the JFK Assassination by Lamar Waldron Page A
Authors: Lamar Waldron
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was in addition to his other highly profitable activities, which ranged from having “the largest racing wire service in New Orleans” to “reaping huge profits from the narcotics trade for Sam Carolla.”
When it came to keeping his men in line, as well as the many other business owners he dealt with, Carlos Marcello could rely on his violent reputation. John H. Davis pointed out that “Carlos had been the prime suspect in several murders for which he had never been charged.” One victim was a hoodlum who used the names Constantine Masotto and (according to FBI files) Thomas Siracusa. In 1943 Marcello senta clear message to mobsters, business owners, and law enforcement when he personally helped torture and murder Siracusa in semi-public fashion at the Willswood Tavern, a rustic restaurant just outside New Orleans owned by Marcello’s family.
Davis briefly mentioned the torture/murder in his landmark 1989 biography of Marcello, a key source for information about Marcello’s history in this chapter. But here, quoted from FBI files for the first time, is an eyewitness account from a woman who had been dining at the restaurant that evening. Twenty-four years later, when she finally told the FBI what she had seen, she was still so afraid that she refused to testify in court and requested that the FBI not identify her.
The woman said that Marcello was part of a large dinner party at the restaurant and that when Siracusa “arrived [he] appeared surprised and then afraid.” When “Siracusa walked . . . back into the kitchen,” Marcello and three other men “immediately” followed him. After hearing shouting and fighting, a customer “opened the kitchen door,” and the witness “observed Siracusa sitting in a metal chair.” One of Marcello’s men “was holding a snub-nose revolver which was pressed against Siracusa’s temple. Carlos Marcello was slapping Siracusa [who] appeared afraid for his life and was shouting in Italian.”
The “terrified” witness and her companions fled. A day or two later, the witness noticed “all the newspapers were carrying front-page stories about the disappearance of Siracusa,” so she notified “the New Orleans Police Department.” She was sent “to see Sheriff Clancy . . . and told him what she had seen and that she was scared. Sheriff Clancy told her that if she kept her mouth shut, she would not get hurt. She later went to see [a police] Captain at his home [who] told her to keep her mouth shut about what she had told him, as they would kill her. Several weeks later [a] Deputy [for Clancy] also told her to keep hermouth shut,” adding that he already knew “Carlos Marcello worked [Siracusa] over [and] that Siracusa was killed.”
The willingness of public officials to intimidate the witness and aid Marcello is remarkable, especially considering that the witness told the FBI that the man she had seen holding the gun on Siracusa for Marcello was the “Chief Investigator” for the local “District Attorney.” John H. Davis cited a different FBI report stating that “a year after [Siracusa went] missing . . . his lime-encrusted skeleton was discovered in the swamp behind [Willswood] Tavern.” That report said that Siracusa “had been beaten to death with rubber hoses by Carlos Marcello and an accomplice. The body was then thrown into a tub of lye and after decomposition, the partially liquefied remains were poured into the swamp.” That type of murder (usually by “one of his guards”) and body dumping became standard retaliation for anyone in Marcello’s organization who displeased, disobeyed, or withheld money from the crime boss.
Word of Marcello’s murder of Siracusa spread throughout the criminal underworld and beyond, to those who did business with Marcello and to all levels of law enforcement, helping to keep all of them in line. That use of fear and corruption was a template for many of Marcello’s future crimes, though the mob boss later kept his
When it came to keeping his men in line, as well as the many other business owners he dealt with, Carlos Marcello could rely on his violent reputation. John H. Davis pointed out that “Carlos had been the prime suspect in several murders for which he had never been charged.” One victim was a hoodlum who used the names Constantine Masotto and (according to FBI files) Thomas Siracusa. In 1943 Marcello senta clear message to mobsters, business owners, and law enforcement when he personally helped torture and murder Siracusa in semi-public fashion at the Willswood Tavern, a rustic restaurant just outside New Orleans owned by Marcello’s family.
Davis briefly mentioned the torture/murder in his landmark 1989 biography of Marcello, a key source for information about Marcello’s history in this chapter. But here, quoted from FBI files for the first time, is an eyewitness account from a woman who had been dining at the restaurant that evening. Twenty-four years later, when she finally told the FBI what she had seen, she was still so afraid that she refused to testify in court and requested that the FBI not identify her.
The woman said that Marcello was part of a large dinner party at the restaurant and that when Siracusa “arrived [he] appeared surprised and then afraid.” When “Siracusa walked . . . back into the kitchen,” Marcello and three other men “immediately” followed him. After hearing shouting and fighting, a customer “opened the kitchen door,” and the witness “observed Siracusa sitting in a metal chair.” One of Marcello’s men “was holding a snub-nose revolver which was pressed against Siracusa’s temple. Carlos Marcello was slapping Siracusa [who] appeared afraid for his life and was shouting in Italian.”
The “terrified” witness and her companions fled. A day or two later, the witness noticed “all the newspapers were carrying front-page stories about the disappearance of Siracusa,” so she notified “the New Orleans Police Department.” She was sent “to see Sheriff Clancy . . . and told him what she had seen and that she was scared. Sheriff Clancy told her that if she kept her mouth shut, she would not get hurt. She later went to see [a police] Captain at his home [who] told her to keep her mouth shut about what she had told him, as they would kill her. Several weeks later [a] Deputy [for Clancy] also told her to keep hermouth shut,” adding that he already knew “Carlos Marcello worked [Siracusa] over [and] that Siracusa was killed.”
The willingness of public officials to intimidate the witness and aid Marcello is remarkable, especially considering that the witness told the FBI that the man she had seen holding the gun on Siracusa for Marcello was the “Chief Investigator” for the local “District Attorney.” John H. Davis cited a different FBI report stating that “a year after [Siracusa went] missing . . . his lime-encrusted skeleton was discovered in the swamp behind [Willswood] Tavern.” That report said that Siracusa “had been beaten to death with rubber hoses by Carlos Marcello and an accomplice. The body was then thrown into a tub of lye and after decomposition, the partially liquefied remains were poured into the swamp.” That type of murder (usually by “one of his guards”) and body dumping became standard retaliation for anyone in Marcello’s organization who displeased, disobeyed, or withheld money from the crime boss.
Word of Marcello’s murder of Siracusa spread throughout the criminal underworld and beyond, to those who did business with Marcello and to all levels of law enforcement, helping to keep all of them in line. That use of fear and corruption was a template for many of Marcello’s future crimes, though the mob boss later kept his
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