The Hidden History of the JFK Assassination by Lamar Waldron Page B
Authors: Lamar Waldron
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hands technically clean by relying on his men and professionals to take care of the actual murders.
At the same time, Carlos Marcello could also be extremely personable with family, friends, and business associates. Given the many murders for which he was responsible, it’s tempting to say that Marcello combined the traits of both a sociopath and a psychopath. However, a better analogy might be that Marcello was simply like a great white shark, which must keep swimming forward or die. JackVan Laningham later characterized Marcello by saying, “[A] more cruel and vicious egomaniac I have never met. If he liked you, he would take care of you. But if he did not—well, I’m sure that you know what happens to you.” He added that Marcello “seemed to want to win all the time, even if he had to cheat,” and this impulse applied even to the friendly games of gin rummy they played in prison. So for Marcello, killing may simply have been part of winning, of always moving ahead. After all, he hadn’t achieved his position in the Mafia by inheriting it from his father, as had his friend Santo Trafficante. Instead, Marcello had to earn his own power and then keep earning it to fend off potential local rivals and mob bosses from other areas.
As Marcello gained experience, he also became better at avoiding prosecution. John H. Davis points out that in the late 1930s and early 1940s, “Carlos had been charged with two more assaults and robberies, violation of the federal Internal Revenue laws, assault with intent to kill a New Orleans police officer, sale of narcotics, and armed assault of a New Orleans investigative reporter. None of these charges were ever prosecuted, and the records of several of the arrests mysteriously disappeared.” Not bad for a man described as “almost illiterate.”
Marcello’s rise was also aided by his mentor and partner from New York, Frank Costello. The top Mafia figure of the 1930s had been Charles “Lucky” Luciano, who eventually left Costello temporarily in charge while Luciano was in prison. In return for the aid Luciano offered Naval Intelligence during World War II (ostensibly to help protect New York docks from sabotage and to help restore order in Italy and Sicily after the Allied invasion), Luciano was released from prison. He went into permanent exile in Italy. This solidified Costello’sNew York and national mob power even more, a development that also helped Marcello.
Costello and the other high-ranking mob bosses clearly liked what they saw in Carlos Marcello because when local boss Sam Carolla was slated for deportation back to Sicily in May 1947, Marcello was chosen to take over the Mafia in Louisiana. Ostensibly, Marcello was to be Carolla’s “ de facto successor,” since Carolla would still technically be the local godfather. But with the same merciless determination that had taken him that far, Marcello continued to expand his power and his contacts. Within a few years, he was indeed godfather of a rapidly expanding empire. Marcello became more prominent on the national Mafia scene when “Costello [and] mob financier and adviser Meyer Lansky agreed to establish a national underworld communications center in New Orleans, and later a national clearinghouse for underworld money laundering . . . in the Crescent City,” according to Davis. He said the thirty-seven-year-old Marcello “bought an eight-bedroom Italianate mansion . . . and moved his growing family—he now had a son and three daughters—into . . . surroundings worthy of some of the grand old families of New Orleans.”
Marcello became more powerful, wealthier, and more influential in the Mafia—and in Louisiana politics—with each passing year. At that time, officials ranging from US Attorney General Howard McGrath to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover publicly expressed skepticism that the Mafia even existed. However, Tennessee Democratic Senator Estes Kefauver knew the Mafia was a very real threat, so in
At the same time, Carlos Marcello could also be extremely personable with family, friends, and business associates. Given the many murders for which he was responsible, it’s tempting to say that Marcello combined the traits of both a sociopath and a psychopath. However, a better analogy might be that Marcello was simply like a great white shark, which must keep swimming forward or die. JackVan Laningham later characterized Marcello by saying, “[A] more cruel and vicious egomaniac I have never met. If he liked you, he would take care of you. But if he did not—well, I’m sure that you know what happens to you.” He added that Marcello “seemed to want to win all the time, even if he had to cheat,” and this impulse applied even to the friendly games of gin rummy they played in prison. So for Marcello, killing may simply have been part of winning, of always moving ahead. After all, he hadn’t achieved his position in the Mafia by inheriting it from his father, as had his friend Santo Trafficante. Instead, Marcello had to earn his own power and then keep earning it to fend off potential local rivals and mob bosses from other areas.
As Marcello gained experience, he also became better at avoiding prosecution. John H. Davis points out that in the late 1930s and early 1940s, “Carlos had been charged with two more assaults and robberies, violation of the federal Internal Revenue laws, assault with intent to kill a New Orleans police officer, sale of narcotics, and armed assault of a New Orleans investigative reporter. None of these charges were ever prosecuted, and the records of several of the arrests mysteriously disappeared.” Not bad for a man described as “almost illiterate.”
Marcello’s rise was also aided by his mentor and partner from New York, Frank Costello. The top Mafia figure of the 1930s had been Charles “Lucky” Luciano, who eventually left Costello temporarily in charge while Luciano was in prison. In return for the aid Luciano offered Naval Intelligence during World War II (ostensibly to help protect New York docks from sabotage and to help restore order in Italy and Sicily after the Allied invasion), Luciano was released from prison. He went into permanent exile in Italy. This solidified Costello’sNew York and national mob power even more, a development that also helped Marcello.
Costello and the other high-ranking mob bosses clearly liked what they saw in Carlos Marcello because when local boss Sam Carolla was slated for deportation back to Sicily in May 1947, Marcello was chosen to take over the Mafia in Louisiana. Ostensibly, Marcello was to be Carolla’s “ de facto successor,” since Carolla would still technically be the local godfather. But with the same merciless determination that had taken him that far, Marcello continued to expand his power and his contacts. Within a few years, he was indeed godfather of a rapidly expanding empire. Marcello became more prominent on the national Mafia scene when “Costello [and] mob financier and adviser Meyer Lansky agreed to establish a national underworld communications center in New Orleans, and later a national clearinghouse for underworld money laundering . . . in the Crescent City,” according to Davis. He said the thirty-seven-year-old Marcello “bought an eight-bedroom Italianate mansion . . . and moved his growing family—he now had a son and three daughters—into . . . surroundings worthy of some of the grand old families of New Orleans.”
Marcello became more powerful, wealthier, and more influential in the Mafia—and in Louisiana politics—with each passing year. At that time, officials ranging from US Attorney General Howard McGrath to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover publicly expressed skepticism that the Mafia even existed. However, Tennessee Democratic Senator Estes Kefauver knew the Mafia was a very real threat, so in
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