activity Consultant. suci - Harold Weisbergjfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg Subject Index Files/M...
Transcript of activity Consultant. suci - Harold Weisbergjfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg Subject Index Files/M...
' (203
) Dallas w
as anoth
er area in w
hich
the F
BI w
as far less active
against La C
osa Nostra. A
lthough Joseph Francis C
ivello, a "counselor to
the Italian
com
munity
at large" acco
rdin
g to
the F
BI, atten
ded
the
A palachin m
eeting in 1957, the Crim
e Condition R
eport filed by the D
allas field o
ffice for th
e perio
d en
din
g F
ebru
ary 2
6, 1
96
2, stated
, "T
here is n
o ev
iden
ce of illeg
al activity byJo
seph F
rancis C
ivello
." T
his seine report concluded that "Texas is not a place w
here the Mafia
has th
e kin
d o
f contro
l it has elsew
here." D
allas also d
id n
ot h
ave in
opera
tiole
ctro
nic
surv
eilla
nce in
1963:—
- -- (294)
Org
anized
crime in
telligen
ce relative to
Carlo
s Marcello
and
Santos T
ratticantwas w
ell as the Dallas area w
as, therefore; insufficient-rraIra-S
7May have been involved
assassinato
-John-F
enned
y.-
- -
(295)
It is evident the Kennedy adm
inistration launched the strongest F
ederal effort ever against organized crime. L
eaders and mem
bers of L
a Cosa N
ostra were clearly concerned by it and blam
ed the President
to so
nic ex
tent, b
ut m
ost d
efinitely
his b
roth
er, Atty
. Gen
. Robert F
. K
ennedy. It was also clear that organized crim
e would have benefitted
from
the assassin
ation o
f John F
. Ken
ned
y an
d th
e chan
ges it w
ould
bring in G
overnment policy and officials. N
evertheless, it is extremely
unlikely that the national comm
ission of La C
osa Nostra w
as involved in
any
plan
to k
ill the P
residen
t. It was facin
g stro
ng
intern
al dis-
sensio
n an
d o
ther p
roblem
s and d
oes n
oM
ppear to
hav
e been
in a
position to undertake such a major act.
(296) A
review of the history of L
a Cosa N
ostra in the United S
tates rev
eals. moreo
ver, n
o p
receden
t for th
e assassinatio
n o
f a Presid
ent.
In fact, lie is among several categories of people against w
hom orga-
nized crime traditionally has not com
mitted acts ocviolence. N
or does th
e meth
od o
f the assassin
ation co
nfo
rm to
the trad
itional p
attern
of organized crime m
urders—it involved people w
ho were not m
embers
of La C
osa Nostra, one of w
hom w
as unstable, it does not seem to have
had
any
auth
orizatio
n fro
m an
y lead
er, it was co
nd
ucted
with
ou
t the
usu
al precau
tions th
at pro
tect the assassin
from
bein
g ap
preh
ended
, an
d th
e murd
er weap
on w
as atypical. N
everth
eless, there h
ave b
een
excep
tion
s to th
e traditio
nal p
attern an
d th
e Ken
ned
y assassin
ation
h
as parallels to
these ex
ceptio
ns. T
hu
s inv
olv
emen
t by
ind
ivid
ual
mem
bers organized crime cannot be precluded.
Subm
itted b
y :
RA
LPH SA
LERN
O, C
onsultant.
III. CA
RL
OS
MA
RC
EL
LO
CO
NT
EN
TS
The p
ositio
n o
f Marc
eilo
with
in th
e N
atio
nal C
rime S
yndic
ate
. M
are
ello
: A K
ennedy a
dm
inistra
tion ta
rget_
D
ep
orta
tion
effo
rts
Inere
ned F
edera
l pre
ssure
Alle
ged
as, :tssln
atio
n th
reat b
y M
arc
ella
F
BI in
vestig
atio
n o
f the a
lleg
atio
n
Com
mitte
e in
vestig
atio
n o
f the a
llegatio
n
B
eck
er 's
sta
tem
ent to
the c
om
mitte
e
Analy
sis
of th
e e
vid
ence
(297) F
ollo
win
g th
e com
pletio
n o
f its inv
esti,__
_,, ation of organized
crime th
e com
mittee co
nclu
ded
in its rep
Ort 1 hat C
arlos Alafeello,
a Itd.ilanes R
. - Hotta each
--hail th
a.tnotiv
e,_u=
s, am
t opportunity to plan and execute a conspiracy to a
ssassin
ate
Ti-
dent,-Iceimerty70
iiiTabre -
e ide nee, Ric com
in ttee
com
irdE
irtliiirit was u
nlik
ely that. any-one-of them
-was involved in
suci a
. ccii:T
icy
. Nev
ertheless, th
e possib
ilit • that o
ne o
r more o
f them
was involy_iT
Jraiuttntitbu-prn
itti10
.--
(2?)8
) While th
e com
mittee's in
vestig
ation estab
lished
evid
ence o
f association betw
een Jack Ruby, the m
urderer of the President's assas-
sin, and acquaintances or associates of Marcello, T
rafficante. and Hoffe,
similar ev
iden
ce was d
ifficult to
establish
in th
e case of L
ee Harv
ey
Osw
ald. D
espite th
is, som
e such
associatio
ns—
bo
th-d
irect and
in-
direct—
wereiT
hrt-in
dicated
in v
aryin
g d
egrees b
etween
Osw
ald an
d --
varions-efirt, Tr7S- Iiiikiiiig at feast some affiliation_ or_associatien w
ith the orgauizeslerim
e network of - M
arcello, the lon g tim
e leads • of the MA
T.-
in N
ew ( • •
. (299)
Marceltom
Va- sT
as noted
in th
e consu
ltant's rep
ort, o
ne o
f the
major leaders of the national crim
e syndicate. Certainly, he w
as one of the m
ost successful at evading the intelligence-gathering efforts of law
enfo
rcemen
t agen
cies and
at avo
idin
g co
nv
iction
, at least in recen
t. years. H
e became a prim
e target of the Kennedy adm
inistration, which
wascle
urfelift -t- tiii- v
ely
-p .ratra.
-et cd deportation proceed- ings
had
iesin_ju
iiiiiticl-ainst h
inii in
1953. T
he serio
usn
ess of
Robert ‘ennedy's intent w
as evidenced by the successful, albeit brief, deportation of M
arcello in 1961. The F
ederal Governm
ent. also stepped up other investigative efforts, principally in the area of tax evasion and intelligence gathering.
THE PO
SITION
OF M
AR
CELLO
WITH
IN TH
E NA
TION
AL C
RIM
E SYN
DIC
ATE
(300) Carlos M
arcello, now 08, has been identified by F
ederal author- ities as th
e leadin
g M
afia figure in
New
Orlean
s. La., fo
r almost. 3
0
years. (I) I
[is criminal syndicate has long provided a classic illustra-
tion of the destructive impact that organized crim
e has on Am
erican society.
(61)
Para
gra
ph
(30
0)
(333)
(333)
(35
8,
(
37
0
(3
10
) (3
90)
(399)
(H
O)
I
(301) T
he ex
act, place o
f Marcello
's birth
on F
ebru
ary 6
, 1910, h
as
long been in doubt, and at one point, was a central question in a lengthy
dep
ortatio
n p
roceed
ing. N
everth
eless, it is gen
erallly b
elieved
that
Marcell() \v
as horn
in T
imis, N
orth
Africa, w
ith th
e nam
e Calo
gero
Minacore. (F2)
00)
Marcello
's first contact w
ith th
e law cam
e on N
ovem
ber 2
9,
1929. when he w
as arrested at the age of 19 by New
Orleans police as
an accesso
ry b
efore an
d after th
e robbery
of a lo
cal ban
k.(3
) The
charg
es were su
bseq
uen
tly d
ismissed
. Less th
an 6
month
s later, on
May 13, 1930, he w
as convicted of assault and robbery and was sen-
tenced
to th
e State p
eniten
tiary fo
r 9 to
14 y
ears. He serv
ed less th
an
5. (4
) It was d
urin
g h
is pro
secutio
n o
n th
ese, charg
es that M
arcello
first came to the attention of the public and press. T
estimony disclosed
that he had personally planned the crime—
a grocery store robbery—
using an interesting method of operation. (5
) in testim
ony b
efore th
e
McC
lellan Senate com
mittee in 1959, A
aron M. K
ohn, the managing
directo
r of th
e Metro
politan
Crim
e Com
missio
n o
f New
Orlean
s and
a former F
BI agent testified that. M
arcello had shielded his own com
-
plicity
in th
e crime b
y in
ducin
g tw
o ju
ven
iles to carry
out. th
e rob-
bery. (0) K
ohn testified that. Marcello and a confederate had supplied
the ju
ven
iles with
a gun an
d in
structio
ns o
n th
eir "getaw
ay."(7
)
The p
lan h
ad g
one aw
ry w
hen
the tw
o w
ere later appreh
ended
and
pressu
red b
y au
thorities to
iden
tify th
e "Wrg
her-u
ps.
(8) K
ohn also
noted that. M
arcello "was referred to as a F
agin" in press accounts at
the tim
e, in an
apparen
t reference to
the D
icken
s character w
ho re-
cruited juveniles to carry out. his crimes. (9
)
(303) In 1935, after receiving a pardon by the Governor of L
ouisiana,
Marcello's early underw
orld career continued, with charges being filed
against. him for a second assault and robbery, violation of F
ederal In-
ternal Revenue law
s, assault. with intent to kill a N
ew O
rleans police
officer, an
d y
et anoth
er assault. an
d ro
bbery
.(70) 'M
arcell() was n
ot
pro
secuted
on th
e vario
us ch
arges. In
193
• of w
hat_
_F
edera
l--
agen
ts describ
ed as "th
e big
geat_
ma m
ana_
ring in
New
Orlean
s-his:. •
• o w
as arrestediu
ld ch
arged
with
the saleo
f more,th
an____
23 potrrrdsce,
Despite_rezeiving_ another_ lengthy
prigarrtk-ittenelvanftlFS,71■=830 fine M
amello_serazedless than 10 m
onths a'4
. arra
nged-te
--sd•tfo
lifor $
400. (1
2)
Oth
er charg
es were
brought against Marcello over the next several years, steM
ming from
such alleged o
ffenses as narcotics sale, a high-speed automobile chase,
and assaulting an investigative reporter ; these w
ere never prosecuted, and the records have since. disappeared. (1
3)
(304) D
uring the 1940's, Marcello becam
e associated with N
ew Y
ork
Mafia, lead
er Fran
k C
ostello
in th
e operatio
n o
f a slot m
achin
e net-
work. ( /.;) C
ostello was then regarded by seine authorities as one of the
most in
fluen
tial leaders o
f org
anized
crime in
the U
nited
States an
d
was com
monly referred to in the new
spapers as the Mafia's "boss of all
bosses" or "prime m
inister of the underworld." M
arcello's association
with C
ostello in various Louisiana gam
bling activities had come about
follo
win
g a rep
orted
agreem
ent. b
etween
Costello
and S
enato
r Ifuey
Long th
at allow
ed fo
r the in
troductio
n o
f slot m
achin
es into
New
O
rleans.(15) (305)
Marcello w
as also involved in Louisiana gam
bling; through his
1:r.,ily-owned Jefferson M
usic Com
pany, which cam
e to dominate the
slot machine, pinball and juke box trade in the N
ew O
rleans area. (16)
By th
e late 1940's, in
an allian
ce with
Josep
h P
oretto
, Marcello
nad
taken
contro
l of th
e largest racin
g w
ire service in
New
Orlean
s, the
Southern N
ews S
ervice and Publishing C
o., which served L
ouisiana's
prosperous gambling netw
ork. (17) M
arcello and ther_associates - tilso
• •
• • n g a
m m
- gratshrogititli6 - New
Or-
gea lin .n
s area, the B
eRerly
-Clu
b-arew
-San
thport-C
hib
-; the B
everly
Clu
b o
ught M
arcello in
to p
artnersh
ip w
ith_th
esyndicate fin
ancier,
Meyer L
ansliT(ig) —
(3
04—
By -th
e -late - 1950's; the Nola P
rinting Co., of N
ew O
rleans, a
gambling w
ire service controlled by the Marcello interests, w
as serving
bookm
akers an
d relay
centers th
roughout th
e State o
f Luisian
a, as
• well as areas as d
iverse as C
hicag
o, H
ousto
n, M
iami, H
ot S
prin
gs,
Indianapolis and Detroit and cities in A
labama and M
ississippi. (1.9)
(307) In
a statemen
t prep
ared fo
r the H
ouse Ju
diciary
Com
mittee
in 1970, Kohn outlined the continuing expansion of M
arcello's hold-
ings during the 1940's and 1950's:
Marcello
and h
is gro
win
g o
rgan
ization d
evelo
ped
their
capital o
r ban
kro
ll thro
ugh ex
tensiv
e gam
blin
g, in
cludin
g
casinos, slo
t mach
ines, p
inball, h
andbooks, lay
off, fo
otb
all
pools, d
ice, card g
ames ro
ulette an
d b
ingo; also
narco
tics,
prostitution, extortion, cli pjoin
t operatio
ns, B
-drin
kin
g, m
ar-
ketin
g sto
len g
oods, ro
bberies, b
urg
laries, and th
efts. Their
crimin
al enterp
rise required
, and h
ad, co
rrupt co
llusio
n o
f
public officials at every critical level including police, sheriffs,
justices of the peace, prosecutors, mayors, governors, judges,
councilm
en, licen
sing au
thorities, S
tate legislato
rs, and at
least one Mem
ber of Congress. (0
0)
(308) S
hen
Marcello
appeared
as a witn
ess befo
re the . K
efanver_____
comm
ittee. on January
if al, he 7i7vokest_the_hitlinmerianient - an
d-
refused to responttaquestioning on his orga nizedcrime activities; (2
1)
SU
bseq
uen
tly co
nvicted
of co
ntem
pt o
f Congress fo
r refusin
g to
re-
spond to the directions of the chair, Marcello w
as later successful in
hav
ing h
is convictio
n o
vertu
rned
. In its fin
al report, th
e Kefau
ver
comm
ittee concluded that Marcello's dom
ination of organized crime
in Louisiana had com
e about in large part due to the "personal enrich:
ment of sheriffs, m
arshals, and other law enforcem
ent officials" who
received payoffs for "their failure to enforce gambling law
s and other
statutes relatin
g , to v
ice."(22) T
he K
efauver rep
ort fu
rther n
oted
that "In
every
line o
f inquiry
, the co
mm
ittee found th
at the trail o
f
Carlos M
arcello."(03) (309)
The K
efauver report also raised the question of why M
arcello,
who "has never becom
e a citizen," "had not been deported.' (3.4)
(310) In early 1953. partly .as a resu
lt of th
e natio
nal atten
tion h
e
received from the K
efauver comm
ittee
. investigation, Marcello
finally
became the subject of deportation proceedings; these proceedings con-
tinued for over 25 years and were still being conducted in 1979. (2
5)
Fed
eral official h
ave n
ote
L_M
arcello- h RS- eN
pende41—m
ore_ legal
resources in his_two an a hal f deearle fight—
against-deportation than
in ar -ThFiRTi7e — r such case in Am
erican history.
64
(311) In the years im
mediately follow
ing the Kefauver investigation,
Marcello
apparen
tly d
ecided
to try
to escap
e his p
ublic im
age as
Louisian
a's "rackets b
oss." A
s the N
ew O
rleans C
rime C
om
missio
n
noted. he took several steps to that end :
Not u
ntil C
arlos M
arcello b
ecame a su
bject o
f dep
orta-
tion . . . d
id h
e start publicly
conductin
g h
imself in
a man
-ner intended to substantiate his claim
that he was a legitim
ate b
usin
essman
. But th
is was co
ntriv
ed p
ub
lic relation
s hav
ing
little relatio
nsh
ip to
fact. He co
ntin
ued
to d
irect his u
nd
er-w
orld government and to press further expansion. H
e became
involv
ed in
a series of m
otel tran
sactions in
volv
ing m
illions
of d
ollars, an
d lan
d n
egotiatio
ns o
f even
greater w
orth
. But
for th
e most p
art, he k
ept h
is nam
e off th
e record
, usin
g
mem
bers o
f his fam
ily an
d tru
sted lieu
tenan
ts for th
at purpose. (26)
(312) M
arcello d
id n
ot atten
d th
e natio
nal M
afia "conferen
ce" at A
palach
in, N
.Y. o
f Novem
ber 1
4, 1
957. In
stead, h
e sent h
is bro
ther
Josep
h, th
e family's u
nderb
oss, as h
is perso
nak
represen
tative. W
hen
th
e State p
olice d
iscovered
the g
atherin
g, Joellarcello
was o
ne o
f those identified as having attended, along w
ith Vito G
enovese, Santos
Traffican
te, Carlo
Gam
bin
o, .Jo
e Bonan
no, S
am G
iancan
a, Russell
Bufalin
o; an
d G
erardo C
atena. Jo
e Marcello
, how
ever, w
as able to
ev
ade arrestin
g o
fficers and escap
ed fro
m th
e scene alo
ng w
ith S
am
Giancana and C
armine G
alente. (27) (313)
Carlo
s Marcello
was called
to testify
befo
re the M
cClellan
com
mittee on M
arch 2,1,.1959, during the comm
ittee's extended investi-g
ation
of lab
or rack
eteering
and
org
anized
crime. S
ervin
g as ch
ief
counsel to the comm
ittee was R
obert F. K
ennedy ; his brother, Senator
John F
. Ken
ned
y, w
as a mem
ber o
f the co
mm
ittee. In resp
onse to
com
mittee questioning, M
arcello again invoked the fifth amendm
ent in refu
sing to
answ
er any q
uestio
ns relatin
g to
his b
ackgro
und, activ
i-ties, an
d asso
ciates.(28)
(314) A
t the co
nclu
sion o
f Marcello
's appearan
ce befo
re the co
m-
mittee, S
enato
r Sam
Erv
in o
f North
Caro
lina req
uested
of th
e Chair
permission to ask the N
ew O
rleans underworld leader one final ques-
tion
: "I wo
uld
like to
kn
ow
ho
w y
ou
man
aged
to stay
in th
e Un
ited
States for 5 years, 9 m
onths, and 24 days after you were found ordered
dep
orted
as an u
ndesirab
le perso
n."(2
9) M
arcello's resp
onse to
the questio
n—
"I would
n't k
now
"—pro
voked
Erv
in to
state that "th
e A
merican
peo
ple's p
atience o
ught to
run o
ut o
n th
is" and th
at "those
who have no claim
to any right to remain in A
merica, w
ho come here
and p
rey lik
e leeches u
pon law
-abid
ing p
eople *
* *
ought to
- be re-
moved
from
this co
untry
."(30) S
enato
r Karl M
undt jo
ined
in E
rvin
's den
unciatio
n, u
rgin
g p
rom
pt actio
n b
y th
e Atto
rney
Gen
eral, and
Sen
n o
r Carl C
urtis fu
rther rem
arked
to M
arcello th
at "I thin
k y
ou
ought to
pack
up y
our b
ags an
d v
olu
ntarily
dep
art."(31)
(315) B
y lw early 1960's C
arlos Marcello w
as widely recognized as
one of the 10 n lost powerful M
afia leaders in the United S
tates: he was
a La C
osa Nest ra boss w
hose businesslike approach, political influence, and pow
er were particularly respected w
ithin the national underworld.
I I is 30-year record of advancement in the organized crim
e hierarchy, together
with
his in
fluen
ce in L
ouisian
a and n
eighborin
g S
tates,
65
secured a position of special respect for him am
ong his syndicate peers.
(316) It w
as this same record of underw
orld achievement, as w
ill be discussed later, that also led to C
arlos Marcello's becom
ing a special targ
et of in
vestig
ation b
y th
e Dep
artmen
t of Ju
stice while Jo
hn F
. K
ennedy was P
resident and Robert F
. Kennedy, A
l torney General.
(311) In
Feb
ruary
1064, th
e Satu
rday
Even
ing P
ost rep
orted
addi-
tional information about the grow
th of Marcello's crim
inal enterprises, disclosing figures prepared by the N
ew O
rleans Crim
e Com
mission. O
f particular note w
as the prominent role w
hich the New
Orleans M
afia
had come to assum
e under Marcello's direction by 1963 :
One of the things that distinguishes this branch is its talent
at high finance. So a
a. • ero
me at handling larcre sum
s of m
oney—both or itself and for the national organization
tharitTi§ .szai - eride-s- allatrieTW
aliStifet - 7d1C.ow.N
ptra. Its arm
atiffeiime ru
nS
JO- $1,- 1114,000,000, m
aking it by far th
e S
tate's largest in
dustry
, accord
ing to
* *
* th
e metro
politan
crim
e comm
ission * * * The sum
is all the more rem
arkable
in that it compares w
ith the estimated $2 billion racketeer take
in Chicago and environs, and area w
ith more than five tim
es the population of m
etropolitan New
Orleans. (3
2)
(318) T
he crim
e com
missio
n h
ad estim
ated th
at the M
arcello co
n-
trolled syndicate generated at least $500 million annually from
illegal gam
blin
g; $
400 m
illion fro
m d
iverse "leg
itimate in
terests" in th
e fields of transportation, finance, housing, and service industries; $100 m
illion from illegal activities in over 1,500 syndicate-connected bars
and taverns; $8 million from
professional burglaries and holdups; $6 m
illion
from
pro
stitutio
n; an
d an
oth
er $1
00
millio
n in
the fo
rm o
f
underpayment of taxes. (3
3)
(319) T
he size of the Marcello organization's annual incom
e is sig-nifican
t in th
e contex
t of th
e reported
natio
nal in
com
e of o
rgan
ized
crime. F
orm
er Atto
rney
Gen
eral Ram
sey C
lark h
as noted
that th
e m
ost co
nserv
ative estim
ates indicate th
at "the p
rofits fo
r org
anized
crim
e [are] com
parab
le to th
ose o
f the 1
0 larg
est industrial co
rpora-
tions co
mbin
ed *
* *
Gen
eral Moto
rs, Stan
dard
Oil, F
ord
, Gen
eral E
lectric, Chry
sler, IBM
, Mobile. O
il, Tex
aco, G
ulf, an
d U
.S. S
teel
togeth
er. * "
"(4)
(3'2
0) In
testimony b
efore th
e .11ouse S
elect_C
om
mittee_
on_crin
ie
several years ago, Marcello-providedii si77T
it , ificantly different account,
• of his itirg
ateting-th
at be earn
ed. "a salary
of ab
out $
1,6
00 a m
onth
"
as atonuito_salesman,-travelincre
to v
arious - fru
nta
nds- and m
arkets in
thritrw
-fIrleun
,.; aron lle-alsotestilied that lie made a-living through
vario
irsianctin
tinfit'S
;(3.5
) - (3
21) W
hile M
arcello's in
fluen
ce iind statu
re as a Mafia lead
er was
well-know
n to both his underworld colleagues and F
ederal and State
auth
orities b
y th
e early 1
960's, an
oth
er significan
t aspect o
f his
careers—his relationship w
ith the Mafia's national governing com
mis-
sion—w
as not confirmed until several years later. W
hile it was know
n
that
fkla.:&
,A11_041441-4S-M
4lifi-11•241-. n the first branch of the M
afia in
Am
erica (the S
icilian L
a Cosa N
ostra ialle - rli e- reili-.11!- 1
7iiitE
d. S
tem--
t th
e--no 0
eNV
r cans ( u
rn:g
t w
hether it had
extraordiiniry speeiiiTtifi‘T
reges wilT
unTa national syitilicat e had long
been
:.iystery
. Durin
g th
e late 1960'r, th
e FB
I learned
new
and su
b-
Seating A
rrangement at La S
tella Septem
ber 22, 1966
Do
min
ick A
lon
gi
Joseph M
arce
llo, Jr.
Anie
llo
De
llacro
ce
Mike
Mira
nda [V
V.
)!---;'"
Carlo
Gam
bin
o
Ca
rlos M
arce
llo
Sa
nto
T
raffica
nte
, Jr.
Anth
ony C
aro
lla
Fra
nk G
aglia
no
Jose
ph
N. G
allo
Joseph C
olu
mbo
Tom
my E
boli
Anth
ony C
arillo
66 67
stantiv
e info
rmatio
n reg
ardin
g its u
niq
ue p
ositio
n. S
ensitiv
e Bu
reau
reports on La. C
osa Nostra set forth the details obtained from
a highly reliable source. A
mong them
were the follow
ing : * *
* h
e learned
that th
e first "family
" of w
hat h
as now
b
ecom
e kn
ow
n as L
a Co
sa No
stra (LC
N) cam
e from
Sicily
an
d settled
in N
ew O
rleans *
* *
the so
urce n
oted
that in
as-m
uch
as this "fam
ily" w
as the p
redecesso
r of all su
bseq
uen
t "fam
ilies," it has been afforded the highest respect and esteem,
and because of its exalted position, the New
Orleans "fam
ily" could m
ake decisions on its own w
ithout going to the "Com
-m
ission."(36) * *
* th
e sou
rce learned
that th
e New
Orlean
s "family
" co
uld
hav
e, on
its ow
n, "o
pen
ed th
e bo
ok
s," [adm
itting
new
m
embers in
to th
e org
anizatio
n] b
ut b
ecause o
f the tact an
d
dip
lom
acy o
f Carlo
s Marcello
, lie sou
gh
t "Co
mm
ission
" ap-
pro
val in
mak
ing
new
"sold
iers," wh
ich th
e "Co
mm
ission
" n
aturally
gran
ted *
* *
.(37
)
(322) A
aron K
olm
believ
ed th
at Marcello
's underw
orld
syndicate
had
"a more th
an au
tonom
ous co
mbin
ation o
f circum
stances b
ecause
of the remoteness of N
ew O
rleans" (37) and thus enjoyed an unusually
independent relationship with the ruling com
mission of the M
afia. (38) P
atrick C
ollin
s, an F
BI ag
ent w
ho
inv
estigated
the M
arcello o
rgan
i-zatio
n d
urin
g th
e late 1960's, ex
pressed
a similar v
iew reg
ardin
g
Marcello
's relationsh
ip w
ith th
e underw
orld
com
missio
n. H
e told
the
comm
ittee that the New
Orleans M
afia family "w
as unique among all
the m
ob
s"(39
) in th
at it "did
n't h
ave to
con
sult th
e com
missio
n in
the
same w
ay as th
e oth
er families d
id; th
ere was a u
niq
ue in
dep
enden
ce of so
rts. '(40) C
ollin
s said fu
rther th
at "the co
mm
ission w
ould
n't
question Marcello about m
aking new m
embers. H
e was not subject to
the necessity of clearing such things with the com
mission, like the other
families w
ere."(41) In addition Marcello "is probably the single m
ost resp
ected b
oss am
on
g all o
f the o
thers" in
La C
osa N
ostra an
d "h
as been for years." (42) (323)
In late 1
966, M
arcello's statu
s in o
rgan
ized crim
e was u
nder-
scored when he w
as arrested in New
York along w
ith Carlo G
ambino,
then the Mafia's reported "boss of all bosses" at a sum
mit m
eeting of L
a Cosa N
ostra leaders. (43) O
n Septem
ber 22, 1966, New
York police
arrested th
ose tw
o, S
anto
s Traffican
te, Joe C
olo
mb
o, T
ho
mas E
bo
li, M
ike M
irand
a and
several o
thers at th
e La S
tella restauran
t on
Lo
ng
Islan
d; th
is mob g
atherin
g w
as quick
ly d
ubbed
by th
e new
spap
ers "th
e Little A
palach
in" co
nferen
ce. (44) While authorities cam
e to be-lieve that the L
a Stella "luncheon" w
as actually a pro forma gathering
follo
win
g a m
ore serio
us m
eeting
(pro
bab
ly o
f the n
ight b
efore), th
e assem
blage has never been fully explained. (45) In his testimony before
the co
mm
ittee, Marcello
stated th
ere had
been
no su
bstan
ce to th
e g
atherin
g: "W
e just w
alked
in. W
hen
we w
alked
in w
e go
t arrested.
We d
idn
't hav
e time to
eat or talk
."(/r6) N
one o
f those a
rreste
d w
ere co
nv
icted o
f a crime. T
he seatin
g arran
gem
ent w
as as follo
ws:
68
(324) E
ight d
ays afterth
Ste11 ft-a rrests•-,- upon-his return to
Orle
ans It •
• Hu
irpo
rt, Marcello
com
mitted
_th
e on
ly F
ederal
oilense_far-whielthe
btretvt-Fiecrand convicted in recent tim
es. On
Septetabeii-34T- 196(x: ashe m
ade his w
the crowd of new
smen
and sp
ectators w
ho h
ad g
athered
to w
atch h
is return
, Marcello
had
a verbal exchange w
ith a man in the crow
d who he believed w
as imped-
ing his way.(47) S
houting "I'm the boss here !", M
arcello took a wild
swim
, with
his list at th
e man
. (48) T
he m
an tu
rned
ou
t to b
e FB
I S
pecial A
gen
t, Patrick
Co
llins. (4
9)
Arrested
by
FB
I agen
ts on
the
followine•6
day and charged with assault, M
arcello was eventually tried
in L
aredo, T
ex. T
he trial resu
lted in
a hung ju
ry (th
e New
Orlean
s C
rime C
omm
ission subsequently conclude. that "There w
ere substantial reaso
ns to
susp
ect jury
tamperin
g h
ad o
ccurred
."). (50
) (325)
Under the vigorous direction of the N
ew O
rleans strike force, M
arcello was retried and subsequently conV
icted in Houston, T
ex., on A
ugust 9, 1968. (51) O
riginally sentenced to 2 years in Federal prison,
Marcello served less than 6 m
onths, he was released on M
arch 12, 1971. A
s the N
ew O
rleans C
rime. C
om
missio
n n
oted
at the tim
e, the larg
e nu
mber o
f prestig
ious in
div
iduals. w
ho so
ught to
interced
e on h
is behalf, urging clem
ency, further underscored..the depth of his influence in L
ouisiana. (52)
(326) D
urin
g th
e late 19
60
's and
early 1
97
0's, M
arcello an
d h
is organized crim
e activities were the subject of renew
ed public attention. H
o was referred to by the chief of police in Y
oungstown, O
hio, as "the arch
etyp
e of th
e dev
iou
s pattern
of th
e Mafio
si."(53
) On
Sep
temb
er 1. 1967, L
ife magazine also identified M
arcello as one of the "handful" of m
en w
ho co
ntro
lled o
rgan
ized crim
e thro
ughout th
e Natio
n.(5
4)
In a s racial inves •f'hive report, the may azine reported that M
arcello w
„ personally directinganational. La C
osa_... e m
e Tic : 1Fr -6--
the ret
leader Jam
es R. H
oifa fro
m F
ederal p
rison
thro
uglu
itham
pts-trrh
rihtlIti fo
rmer cln
erfirosech
wiffie-S§-a-g
ainst
hire L
cI xac-aut-11-k--t estimonr.r6 rriT
F-Sa th
at x=
11its k
ey • A
ittfir" - lea4arF
in the-east-h
ad g
iven
the alleg
ed free-H
offa assig
nm
ent to
M
arcello, along with personal pledges of betw
een $1 to $2 million to
effect the p
lan. (5
6)
(The effo
rt was to
fail.) In its fo
llow
ing issu
e, L
ife wen
t on
to p
ortray
Marcello
as "Kin
g T
hu
g o
f Lo
uisian
a," re-p
ortin
g th
at 1w
was o
ne o
f the S
tate's wealth
iest men
and
"the lo
rd
of o
ne o
f the rich
est and
mo
st corru
pt. crim
inal fiefd
om
s in th
e land." (57) (327)
In August 19611, L
ook magazine reported on M
arcello's polit-ical and crim
inal influence in the Gulf S
tates region. (58
) 3
2) O
n M
arch 1
, 19
70
. UP
I stated th
at there. w
ere ind
ication
s that
Marcello
mig
ht b
e prep
aring to
leave th
e United
States, rath
er than
su
bm
it. to h
e forth
com
ing
imp
rison
men
t glo
win
g o
ut o
f his co
nv
ic- tio
n fo
r assaultin
g th
e FB
I agen
ti.(59
) Acco
rdin
g to
the sto
ry. M
ar-cello's atim
awy. G
. Wray G
ill, had denied the rumor, stating, "T
his is w
here M
arcello w
arts to b
e and n
obody can
put M
arcello o
ut o
f the
country unless they put a shotgun to his head. '(60) On M
arch 2, amid
television reports in New
Orleans that. M
arcello would in fact flee the
cou
nt ry
. lie New
/1 lean
s States-Item
repo
rted th
at them
W" S
no firm
evidence to :qipport the rumors.(61) In fact,„M
arcello never did leave. the country.
69
(329) In
its April 1
0, 1
970 issu
e, Life p
ublish
ed a fo
llow
up to
its investigation of M
arcello of 3 years earlier, concluding that "Mar-
cello n
ow
60
, no
t on
ly co
ntin
ues to
do
min
ate [Lo
uisian
a] bu
t gro
ws
vastly richer each year at public expense." (62) The m
agazine detailed various alleged relationships betw
een Marcello and key S
tate officials and reported on tw
o recent organized crime m
urders attributed to the M
arcello organization. (63
) The follow
ing month, in M
ay 1970, labor co
lum
nist V
ictor R
iesel reported
that F
ederal o
rgan
ized crim
e in-
vestig
ators h
ad co
nclu
ded
that C
arlos M
arcello h
ad b
ecom
e on
e of
the tw
o m
ost p
ow
erful M
afia leaders in
the N
ation
, secon
d o
nly
to
Carlo G
ambino, the actual "boss of all bosses."(64) R
iese! stated that. F
ederal officials had come th view
Marcello as the single m
ost influ-ential organized crim
e figure in the Nation outside of N
ew Y
ork. (65)
(330) In
the fall o
f 1970, th
e Wall S
treet Journ
al an
d L
os A
ngeles
Tim
es published further accounts of Marcello's m
ore recent activities, w
ith th
e Tim
es reporting that his criminal organization had expanded
to unprecedented dimensions. (66)
(331) A
ppearin
g b
efore th
e House S
elect Com
mittee o
n C
rime in
Jungtif-197T
, - Marcel 1 o repeaT
e- dliire
lias th
at h
e w
as n
of -iiiiToN
edi w
ith organized. crime. Ile testified flint lie did not know
what a -filekaker
was; (1
4rtlid -neirlinV
e - 5ny business interests outsideOf L
oniSiaInt - ; v
asr-baden7e contributed- any funds to. political_. figures in an effort..to gain-influe -i
,I-C-e- .169)find had not been sitrnificantly_.acquainted w
ith an
y n
ation ' al o
rgan
ized crim
e leaders w
ith th
e excep
tion
Of -S
iiiiras -T
railiettnte (70)fiia - 1. the:Idle Fralik.CoStello. ( 71)
(332-Y-T
F 1 response to a question by a mem
ber of the crime com
mittee
as to h
ow
he co
uld
"account fo
r the fact [th
at] you h
ave b
een re-
peated
ly id
entified
as a sign
ificant fig
ure in
org
anized
crime, b
y ap
-paren
tly resp
onsib
le peo
ple," M
arcello resp
onded
that h
e had
been
th
e sub
ject of "false statem
ents" ev
er since th
e Kefau
ver co
mm
ittee investigation of 1951. (7°x) M
arcello testified that although numerous
Fed
eral and
State in
vestig
ators h
ad cau
sed h
im to
be th
e sub
ject of negative publicity, "I am
not in no racket. I am not in no organized
crime." (73) M
AR
CE
LL
° : A K
EN
NE
DY
AD
MIN
IST
RA
TIO
N T
AR
GE
T
Dep
orta
tion effo
rts (333)
Carlo
s Marcello
and
his sy
nd
icate becam
e a prim
ary targ
et o
f inv
estigatio
n b
y th
e Dep
artmen
t of Ju
stice du
ring
the K
enn
edy
ad
min
istration
. Atto
rney
Gen
eral Ro
bert F
. Ken
ned
y v
iewed
him
as one of the m
ost powerful and threatening M
afia leaders in the Nation
and o
rdered
that th
e Justice D
epartm
ent fo
cus o
n h
im, alo
ng w
ith
other figures such as Team
sters president Hoffn, and C
hicago Mafia
leader Sam
Giancana. (74)
(334) In
Marcello
's case, the in
tent o
f the K
enned
y ad
min
istration
was m
ade k
now
n ev
en b
efore In
auguratio
n D
ay, Jan
uary
20, 1
961.
On
Decem
ber 2
8. 1
96
0, th
e New
Orlean
s States-Item
repo
rted th
at. A
ttorn
ey G
eneral-d
esignate K
enned
y w
as plan
nin
g sp
ecific actions
again
st. Marcello
.(75) A
n F
BI rep
ort fro
m th
at perio
d n
oted
:
On January 12, 1961, a [source] advised that C
arlos Mar-
cello is ex
tremely
app
rehen
sive an
d u
pset an
d h
as since th
e
70
New
Orlean
s States-item
new
spap
er on
Decem
ber 2
8, 1
96
0
pu
blish
ed a n
ews sto
ry rep
ortin
g th
at ... Ro
bert F
. Ken
ned
y
stated he would expedite the deportation proceedings pending
again
st Marcello
after Ken
ned
y tak
es office in
Janu
ary
1961. (76)
(335) T
he B
uts
LA
Co
,i sa_
lostraille fo
r 1961 n
oted
that M
arcello flew
t6 VS
ashington D.C
. short ly after the inauguration of PriT
gicturrt-K
eum-d-y--a-m
brasdirtcm2ch:A
vith_a-nuniti6.E.-..0-1
TM
rirald
i.b7
iness
a ssoc lig es. ( 77 ) W h
ile_th
ere,-he- p
laced- a- telep
hau
sall to t he office
of aCteast one C
ongressman. (78)
(336)_____Bureatt-reaird-s fiirth
er ind
icate that M
arcello in
itiated v
ari- o
us effo
rts to fo
restall or p
reven
t the an
ticipated
pro
mp
t dep
ortatio
n
action. An F
BI report noted that M
arcello may have tried a circuitous
approach. (70) Through a source, the B
ureau learned of another Mafia
leader's acco
un
t of h
ow
Marcello
had
repo
rtedly
pro
ceeded
.(80
) P
hilad
elph
ia un
derw
orld
leader A
ng
elo B
run
o d
iscussed
a specific
attempt b
y M
arcello to
forestall an
action b
y th
e imm
igratio
n au
- th
orities.(8
/) Acco
rdin
g to
the P
hilad
elph
ia un
derw
orld
leader
Marcello
had
enlisted
his clo
se Mafia asso
ciate, San
tos T
raffi- can
te of F
lorid
a, in th
e reported
plan
.(82) T
raflicante in
turn
con-
tacted F
rank S
inatra to
hav
e the sin
ger u
se his frien
dsh
ip w
ith th
e K
ennedy family on M
arcello's behalf. (83) T
his effort met w
ith failure an
d m
ay ev
en h
ave resu
lted in
inten
sified F
ederal effo
rts again
st M
arcel lo. (84)
(33
7). In
respO
nse to
Atto
rney
Gen
eral Ken
ned
y's stro
ng
interest
in M
arcello, th
e. New
Orlean
s FB
I office p
repared
a report o
n h
im
and h
is Mafia asso
ciates for F
BI D
irector J. E
dgar H
oover o
n
February 13, 1961.(8.5) A
report prepared under the direction of special A
gent. Regis K
ennedy,41-te-Neir:C
atricansmffice. stated that "C
ontinued • -
inv.eitig
rtrciii of tarh
icac-e-Decem
ber 1957, has failed to dev
elorre-tiffiT
iTibIe. area w
herein Ma rcell° m
ay be in violation of stat- utes w
ithitt-44te-F13fs; j
This assessm
ent by the New
O
rleans office itInstrtitT
A w
hy
jirsTiZ
e Dep
artmen
t and
oth
er law en
- fo
rcemen
t officials v
iewed
as less than
satisfactory
its perfo
rman
ce prior to t he in id-1960's in investigating organized crim
e. (3
38) W
hile th
e com
mittee carefu
lly ex
amin
ed n
um
erous areas o
f in
form
ation p
ertainin
g to
the p
roficien
cy o
f the F
BI in
investig
ating
organized crime during the. 1950's and early 1960's and found various
areas in w
hich
Bu
reau p
erform
ance w
as sign
ificantly
deficien
t, the
city o
f New
Orlean
s was a sp
ecial case. The in
dira H
ops are that.
Burcau's_bm
itell_wm
•k on the Mat t_elhi-casn-rnay-laiive -beau tittribut-
a distu
rbin
g a
ttitude o
n th
e p
art of th
e senio
r agen
t Wh
osu
perv
ised th
e case. Reg
is Ken
ned
y,jk
liaFU
JEiciii--th
arge o
f the
Bu
rtmr:1
Work
7r-n M
arcell() and the New
fo
r years an
d
also d
irected m
uch
of th
e FB
I investig
ation in
that city
of P
residen
t K
enn
edy
's assassinatio
n. In
an in
terview
with
the co
mm
ittee several
months before his death in-1-9-M
-Kein
iF' h
ad stated
that h
e believ
ed
iart:414 wttitot-eaigagett-ni-.any- organized crim
e activities or -oth
ei__
, illegal actions-during--the
;lid fro
in1959 u
ntil at least 1
963. (8
7)
Ile lib:L:stated that- he did not U
elieve Marcello w
as a significant orga- nized crim
e figure-TI
-did not believe that lie_was currently involved —
.
. .
, )11..C.X4
t enterprises. (88
) -----
71
(339) K
enn
edy
furth
er info
rmed
th
e com
mittee th
at he b
elieved
M
arcello IfEitild "stay aw
ay" from any im
proper activity and in reality dilea.rn his living.tis a tom
ato salesman m
at real estate in vestor. (89)
In response the question of why M
arcello had been consistently iden-tified
as one o
f the N
ation's m
ost p
ow
erful M
afia leaders b
y F
ederal
auth
orities fo
r ov
er 20
years, K
enn
edy
stated th
at the N
ew O
rleans
FB
I office did not know w
hy Marcello w
as so identified. (90) Ile fu
r-- ther stated that the N
ew O
rleans office had simply responded to peri-
odic d
irectives fro
m W
ashin
gto
n in
structin
g it to
monito
r Marcello
, but had not selected him
from investigative attention on its ow
n.(91) (340)
In Novem
ber 1978, the managing director of the N
ew O
rleans C
rime C
omm
ission, Aaron K
ohn, testified that agent Kennedy's sur-
prising views about C
arlos Marcello w
ere well-know
n to him during
that period. (92) While K
ennedy had served the Bureau w
ith distinc-tio
n in
oth
er areas, his attitu
de to
ward
investig
ating th
e org
anized
crim
e syndicate in
New
'Orlean
s was o
ne o
f neg
ativism
and rid
i-cule; (93) it w
as also accompanied by a belief that C
arlos Marcello w
as not in any w
ay a significant criminal figure. (94)
(341) In
an in
terview
with
the co
mm
ittee on
No
vem
ber 1
5, 1
97
8,
Ken
ned
y's su
ccessor as th
e FB
I org
anized
crime case ag
ent in
New
O
rleans, P
atrick C
ollin
s, stated th
at Ken
ned
y "h
ad tak
en th
e Deep
S
outh approach to organized crime; it's up N
orth but it sure isn't down
'_ere." (95) Further, K
ennedy and other agents "didn't see Marcello for
'shat he is. It is incredible to think, but they didn't understand that this w
as a Mafia fam
ily down in N
ew O
rleans." (96
) Wh
ile stating
that h
e had a high regard for K
ennedy's other work, C
ollins said he believed K
ennedy's attitude was one of "boredom
" over having to file periodic reports on M
arcello and organized crime. (97)
(342) W
;:hile the New
Orleans F
BI office's assessm
ent of Marcello and
his activ
ities - did-clot significantly contribute CO
- the F
ederal - efforts
Resinsania, other agencies w
ere pressing the drive in a more substan-
tive way. O
n March 3, Joseph S
wing of the Im
migration
and Mafura,lization S
ervice advised the FB
I that:
. . . the A
ttorn
ey G
eneral h
ad b
een em
ph
asizing
. . -• the
imp
ortan
ce of tak
ing
pro
mp
t action
to d
epo
rt no
torio
us—
ho
ms,-In-this connection -' the M
arcello case is of partieu-:::: -- ar'in
terest. A fin
al ord
er of.. d
eportatio
n h
as been
entered
ag
ainst M
arcello b
ut-th
is-fact-is- T beingTilfeld- in;.:strictest
confidence. (98)
(343) O
n the afternoon of April 4, 1961, 8 years after he w
as ordered deported, C
arlos Marcello w
as finally ejected from the U
nited States.
As h
e walk
ed in
to th
e INS
office in N
ew O
rleans fo
r his reg
ular ap
-p
oin
tmen
t to rep
ort as an
alien, h
e. was arrested
ainL
harid
euffed -b
y---_
_
INS ofircitiT
S: (99) - He w
as then rushed to_the_New
Orleans airport - and
flowirroT
hratemala. (TO
O) M
arcello's attorneys denounced the deporta-tio
n later th
at day
, termin
g it "cru
el and
un
civilized
," and
no
ted th
at th
eir client h
ad n
ot b
een allo
wed
to telep
ho
ne h
is attorn
ey o
r see his
wife.(101)
(344) O
n the following day, A
pril 5, 1961, Attorney G
eneral Robert
F. K
enned
y stated
that "M
arcello's d
eportatio
n w
as in strict acco
rd-
ance with the la
w."(1
02
) Justice Departm
ent officials noted that while
72
Marcello had not been allow
ed to call an attorney, one of his attorneys w
as present. with him
at the time, and that IN
S. officials had unsuccess-
fully
tried to
brin
g M
rs. Marcello
to th
e airpo
rt to m
eet him
.(/03
) T
he officials noted that special security precautions had been taken to in
sure ag
ainst M
arcell° s escape p
rior to
actual d
eportatio
n (104)
because lie had disappeared several times in the past w
hen deportation pro
ceedin
gs w
ere reachin
g critical ju
nctu
res. (105) (A
s will b
e seen,
such
precau
tions w
ere unab
le to p
reven
t Marcello
's return
to th
e count ry 2 m
onths later.) •
(34) In
testimony b
efore. th
e com
mittee o
n .Jan
uary
11, 1
97S
, Mar-
cell() stated th
at he h
ad n
ot b
een su
rprised
that A
ttorn
ey G
eneral
Kennedy had decided to press his deportation. (1
06) H
e noted, that "he [K
enned
y] said
* *
he w
ould
see that I b
e dep
orted
justas so
on as
be g
ot in
office. W
ell, he g
ot in
office Jan
uary
20
* *
* an
d A
pril
the 4th he deported me." (107)
(346) A
s he had in the past on several occasions, Marcello referred to
-his 1
96
1 d
epo
rtation
as an illeg
al "kid
nap
ing
."(10
8) In
his ap
pear-
ance before. the comm
ittee, he testified that "two m
arshals put the hand- cu
ffs on m
e and th
ey to
ld m
e that I w
as bein
g k
idnap
ed an
d b
eing
brought to Guatem
ala, which they did, anchin 30 m
inutes time I w
as in th
e plan
e."(/09) H
e furth
er testified th
at "they
dum
ped
me o
ff in
Guatem
ala, and I asked them, let m
e use the phone to call my w
ife, let m
e get m
y clo
thes, so
meth
ing th
ey w
ould
n't h
ear about. T
hey
just
snatched Inc and that is it, actually kidnaped me."(110)
(347) O
n A
pril 1
0, 1
96
1, 6
day
s after lie was d
epo
rted, th
e Intern
al R
even
ue S
ervice filed
a $835,3
96 tax
lien ag
ainst M
arcello an
d h
is w
ife. (111) O
n April 23, new
s reports disclosed that Marcello w
as being held
in cu
stody b
y G
uatem
alan au
thorities in
connectio
n w
ith w
hat
were reported to be false citizenship papers he had presented on arrival
there A
pril 6
. (112) O
n May 4, G
uatemalan P
resident Miguel F
uentes ordered that M
arcello be expelled; he was driven to and released at the
El S
alvad
or b
ord
er late that n
igh
t. (113)
(348) O
n M
ay 1
9, 1
961, a F
ederal co
urt in
Wash
ingto
n ru
led th
at M
arcello's d
epo
rtation
was fu
lly v
alid an
d d
enied
a mo
tion
by
his
attorneys that it be declared illegal. (114) With
that ru
ling, M
arcello's
reentry to the country was prohibited. (1
15)
3-19) Less than 2 w
eeks later, Marcello secretly gained entry into the
United
States. O
n Ju
ne 2
, 1961, co
nfirm
ing w
idesp
read ru
mors th
at th
eir client h
ad so
meh
ow
slipped
back
in, M
arcello's atto
rney
s an-
no
un
ced h
e had
return
ed an
d w
as in h
idin
g. (1
16
) Fed
eral inv
esti-gators have never been able to establish in detail his m
eans of entry. (350)
On June 5, 1961, after A
ttorney General K
ennedy dispatched 20 F
ederal agents to Shreveport, L
a., to conduct a search for Marcello,
the L
ouisian
a crime lead
er volu
ntarily
surren
dered
in N
ew O
rleans
and w
as ord
ered h
eld in
an alien
deten
tion cen
ter at McA
llen'
'rex. (1
17) O
n Ju
ne 8
, a Fed
eral gran
d ju
ry in
dicted
him
for illeg
al reentry ; (1
18
) on Ju
ly 1
1, th
e INS
ruled
he w
as an u
ndesirab
le alien
and once again ordered him deported. (119)
(351) O
n Ju
ne 1
6, 1
961, th
e FB
I received
a report th
at a U.S
. Sen
-ato
r from
Louisian
a mig
ht h
ave so
ught to
interv
ene o
n M
arcello's
behalf. (12
0) T
his Senator had reportedly received "financial aid from
M
arcello- in the past and w
as sponsoring a Louisiana official for a key
INS
positio
n fro
m w
hich
assistance m
ight b
e rendered
. (l2 l ).
9r.(-)N T
, °al
73
General K
ennedy sought to decipher the reported Marcello m
essage, the F
BI L
aboratory concluded that:
Becau
se of th
e brev
ity o
f the tex
t, no
determ
inatio
n as to
th
e mean
ing o
f the p
ossib
le code *
* *
could
be m
ade. It is
possible, however, that the nam
es in the text * * rep
resent
double m
eanin
g, w
herein
certain w
ord
s are giv
en arb
itrary
meanings by the correspondents. (.123)
(353) W
hile th
e vario
us co
urt actio
ns an
d ap
peals o
n M
arcello's
deportation and illegal recut ry were continuing in the fall of 1961, he
was again called before the M
cClellan com
mittee to testify about orga-
nized crime gam
bling activities in Louisiana. (1
24) In response to com
-m
ittee quest ions Marcell() 1111'01:V
(1 t lie fifth a mendnlent. refusing to
pro
vid
e any in
form
ation o
ther th
an h
is nam
e and alleg
ed p
lace of
birth
. (125)
(354) O
n October 30, 1961, A
ttorney General K
ennedy announced the indictm
ent of Marcello by a F
ederal grand jury in New
Orleans on
charges of conspiracy in falsifying a Guatem
alan birth certificate and com
mitting perjury. (126) M
arcello's brot lier. Joseph was also charged
in the alleged falsification of the birth certificate. (/27)
(355) O
n Decem
ber 20, 1961, with M
arcell() free on a $10,000 bond, the five-m
ember B
oard of Imm
igration Appeals upheld the deporta-
tion
ord
er again
st Marcello
, den
yin
g an
oth
er app
eal by
Marcello
at- torneys that it be declared invalid. (128)
• (356)
In October 1962, a B
ureau of Narcotics report described M
ar-cello
as "on
e of th
e Natio
n's lead
ing
racketeers" an
d n
oted
that h
e w
as "currently under intensive investigation by the Internal Revenue
Serv
ice. Intellig
ence D
ivisio
n fo
r tax frau
d."(1
29) T
he rep
ort also
noted that. M
arcell() was then instituting a further legal step to fore-
stall dep
ortatio
n.(/3
0) M
arcello's atto
rney
s had
filed a leg
al writ in
an effort to set aside his F
ederal conviction on narcotics charges from
24 years earlier. (131). Th
is con
victio
n w
as on
e of th
e key
factors in
the ongoing deportation proceedings against h
im. (132)
(357) 0•
, eraI court frilut'ag,ainst--M
areello a tte
nito
hav
e the-lb38-drug-eonviction- nullified: (13
3) T
he co
urt
said
itarliis-C
MT
h that Ite_harLnot-had-counsel-present-w
hen ]re pled_ guilt''T
hili -i=e-O
rres chargcon _October 29,1938, _w
as. f alse,(1,14 ) as • w
as •-atterlad
hO
t kilo
wn o
f-his
thts
-and
cou
ld.
- an-attem
iley:(-135)
-- •
Ivereased
Fed
eral P
ressure
(358) O
n February 15, 1963, in apparent response to A
ttorney Gen-
eral Ken
ned
y's req
uest fo
r contin
uin
g actio
n ag
ainst M
arcello, F
BI
Director J. E
dgar Hoover directed the N
ew O
rleans FB
I office to in-tensify its coverage of M
arcello and his organization. (1:36) He ordered
that a "special effort" be made to upgrade the level of the investigation
of Marcello, and suggested increased use of inform
ants as well as the
possible initiation of electronic surveillance. (137) (359)
Durin
g th
e course o
f its investig
ation o
f specific o
rgan
ized
crime leaders and their activities, the com
mittee had devoted special
attentio
n to
the d
egree to
wh
ich su
ch fig
ures w
ere sub
ject to elec-
tronic su
rveillan
ce by F
ederal o
r State ag
encies d
urin
g th
e perio
d
Marcello had not, been allow
ed to call an attorney, attc,i .n
eis
was present w
ith him at the tim
e, and that INS
officials had unsuccess-fu
lly tried
to b
ring M
rs. Marcello
to th
e airport to
meet h
im. (1
03
)
The officials noted that special security precautions had been taken to
insu
re again
st. Marcell° s escap
e prio
r to actu
al dep
ortatio
n (/0
4.)
because lie had disappeared several times in the past w
hen deportation pro
ceedin
gs w
ere reachin
g critical ju
nctu
res. (105) (A
s will be seen,
such
precau
tions w
ere unab
le to p
reven
t Marcello
's return
to th
e country `2 m
onths later.) (345)
In testimony before the com
mittee on January 11, 1978, M
ar-cello
stated th
at he h
ad n
ot b
een su
rprised
that A
ttorn
ey G
eneral
Kennedy had decided to press his deportation. (1
06) H
e noted, that "he [K
enned
y] said
" * h
e would
see that I b
e dep
orted
just as so
on as
he g
ot in
office. W
ell, he g
ot in
oflice Jan
uary
20 *
* an
d A
pril
the 4th he deported me." (1
07
) (346)
As he had in the past on several occasions, M
arcello referred to his 1
961 d
eportatio
n as an
illegal "k
idnap
ing."(1
08) In
his ap
pear-
ance before the comm
ittee, he testified that "two m
arshals put the hand- cu
ffs on In
c and th
ey to
ld m
e that. I w
as bein
g k
idnap
ed an
d b
eing
brought to Guatem
ala, which they did, and in 30 m
inutes time I w
as in th
e plan
e." (109
) H
e furth
er testified th
at "they
dum
ped
me o
ff in
Guatem
ala, and I asked them, let m
e use the phone to call my w
ife, let m
e get m
y clo
thes, so
meth
ing th
ey w
ould
n't h
ear about. T
hey
just
snatched inc and that is it, actually kidnapecritte."(110) (347)
On A
pril 1
0, 1
961, 6
day
s after he w
as dep
orted
, the In
ternal
Rev
enue S
ervice filed
a $835,3
96 tax
lien ag
ainst M
arcello an
d h
is w
ife. (111) O
n April 23, new
s reports disclosed that Marcello w
as being held
in cu
stody b
y G
uatem
alan au
thorities in
connectio
n w
ith w
hat
were reported to be false citizenship papers he had presented on arrival
there A
pril 6
. (112) O
n May 4, G
uatemalan P
resident Miguel F
uentes ordered that M
arcello be expelled ; he was driven to and released at the
El S
alvad
or b
ord
er late that n
igh
t. (113)
(348) O
n M
ay 1
9, 1
961, a F
ederal co
urt in
Wash
ingto
n ru
led th
at M
arcello's d
eportatio
n w
as fully
valid
and d
enied
a motio
n b
y h
is atto
rney
s that it b
e declared
illegal. (1
14) W
ith th
at rulin
g, M
arcello's
reentry to the country was prohibited. (115
) ( 349) L
ess than 2 weeks later, M
arcello secretly gained entry into the U
nited
States. O
n Ju
ne 2
, 1961, co
nfirm
ing w
idesp
read ru
mors th
at th
eir client h
ad so
meh
ow
slipped
back
in, M
arcello's atto
rney
s an-
nounced
he h
ad retu
rned
and w
as in h
idin
g. (1
16) F
ederal in
vesti-
gators have never been able to establish in detail his means of entry.
(350) O
n June 5, 1961, after Attorney G
eneral Kennedy dispatched
20 Federal agents to S
jireveport, La., to conduct a search for M
arcello, th
e Louisian
a crime lead
er volu
ntarily
surren
dered
in N
ew O
rleans
and w
as ord
ered h
eld in
an alien
deten
tion cen
ter at McA
llen,
Tex. (1
17
) (in Ju
ne 8
, a Fed
eral gran
d ju
ry in
dicted
him
for illeg
al reentry ; (1
18) o
n Ju
ly 1
1, th
e INS
ruled
he w
as an u
nd
esirable alien
and once again ordered him
deported. (11
9)
(351) O
n Ju
ne 1
6, 1
961, th
e FB
I received
a report th
at a U.S
. Sen
-ato
r from
Louisian
a mig
ht h
ave so
ught to
interv
ene o
n M
arcello's
beh
alf. (120) T
his Senator had reportedly received "financial aid from
M
arcello" in the past and was sponsoring a L
ouisiana official for a key IN
S p
ositio
n fro
m w
hich
assistance m
ight b
e rendered
.(1.3
1).
(352) In July 1961, the Justice D
epartment's organized crim
e section w
ith th
e assistance o
f codeb
reakin
g sp
ecialists of th
e FB
I, mad
e an
effOrt to decode w
hat was believed to be a secret com
munication involv-
ing M
arcello an
d an
associate. (1
V) W
hile sen
ior aid
es to A
ttorn
ey
oitta
'ai .h
ein
teily
iw
cIp
intr
Inc F
t
the FB
I Laboratory concluded that :
Becau
se of th
e brev
ity o
f the tex
t, no d
etermin
ation as to
th
e mean
ing o
f the p
ossib
le code *
* *
could
be m
ade. It is
possible, however, that the nam
es in the text * * represent,
double m
eanin
g, w
herein
certain w
ord
s are giv
en arb
itrary
meanings by the correspondents. (1
23
)
(353) W
hile th
e vario
us co
urt actio
ns an
d ap
peals o
n M
arcello's
deportation and illegal reentry were continuing in the fall of 1961, he
was again called before the M
cClellan com
mittee to testify about orga-
nized crime gam
bling activities in Louisiana. (1
24) In response to com
-m
ittee questions Marcell() invoked the fi fth am
endment. refusing to
pro
vid
e any in
form
ation o
ther th
an h
is nam
e and alleg
ed p
lace of
birth
. (125)
(354) O
n October 30, 1901, A
ttorney General K
ennedy announced the indictm
ent of Marcello by a F
ederal grand jury in New
Orleans on
charges of conspiracy in falsifying a Guatem
alan birth certificate and co
mm
itting p
erjury
. (126) Marcello's lirof her. Joseph w
as also charged
in the alleged falsification of the birth cell i fieate. (127) (355)
On D
ecember 20, 1961, w
ith Marcello free on a $10,000 bond,
the fiv
e-mem
ber B
oard
of Im
mig
ration A
ppeals u
pheld
the d
eporta-
tion
ord
er again
st Marcello
, den
yin
g an
oth
er app
eal by
Marcello
at-torneys that it be declared invalid. (128) (356)
In October 1962, a B
ureau of Narcotics report described M
ar-cello
as "one o
f the N
ation
's leadin
g rack
eteers" and
no
ted th
at lie w
as "currently under intensive investigation by the Internal Revenue
Serv
ice, Intellig
ence D
ivisio
n fo
r tax frau
d." (1
29)
The rep
ort also
noted
that M
arcello w
as then
institu
ting a fu
rther leg
al step to
fore-
stall dep
ortatio
n. (1
30
) Marcello
's attorn
eys h
ad filed
a legal w
rit in
an effort to set aside his Federal conviction on narcotics charges from
2
4 y
ears earlier.( /3/ ) T
his co
nvictio
n w
as one o
f the k
ey facto
rs in
the ongoing deportation proceedings against him. (132)
(357) 9n_D
aobet--84—i-D
e2—r-ra
-rfb co
urt ru
lel-against-Mareell&
F,---
a tterL/12L
Ioha.ve. t he-1938--drug-convict iorr-mil i fied, (43.3 )-.. T
he_ con rt said
thathe_had-not-had-counsel-present - when- 1ie-p
1 it
guilt "
iT
eJi1
7--a
s cha rT eorL
ilctober_29,1938 7.was.false.„(134) as
wad
firiTia
no
know
n of o
flus rr h
ts -unit-could mot T
dratt---- - . an
-atturn
ey.-(135-)
Increa
sed F
edera
l Pressu
re
(358) O
n February 15, 1963, in apparent response to A
ttorney Gen-
eral Ken
ned
y's req
uest fo
r con
tinu
ing
action
again
st Marcello
, FB
I D
irector J. Edgar H
oover directed the New
Orleans F
BI office to in-
tensify its coverage of Marcello and his organization. (1
36) H
e ordered that a "special effort" be m
ade to upgrade the level of the investigation of M
arcella and suggested increased use of informants as w
ell as the possible initiation of electronic surveillance. (1
37)
(359) D
urin
g th
e course o
f its investig
ation o
f specific o
rgan
ized
crime leaders and their activities, the com
mittee had devoted special
attentio
n to
the d
egree to
which
such
figures w
ere subject to
elec-tro
nic su
rveillan
ce by F
ederal o
r State ag
encies d
urin
g th
e perio
d
44-:0
5 c
- 79 - 6
74
of th
e early 1
960's. T
he co
mm
ittee believ
ed th
at there w
as a possi-
bility
that electro
nic su
rveillan
ce mig
ht h
ave reco
rded
som
e discu
s-sio
n o
f the K
enn
edy
assassinatio
n. In
evalu
ating
vario
us assessm
ents
by organized crime specialists during the early 1960's, the com
mittee
had
noted
that th
e likelih
ood o
f iden
tifyin
g th
e com
missio
n o
f crimi-
nal acts b
y o
rgan
ized crim
e figures d
urin
g th
at perio
d v
aried w
ith
the scope of electronic surveillance of those figures. (138) (360)
After carefu
lly ex
amin
ing th
e vario
us electro
nic su
rveillan
ce p
rog
rams in
effect du
ring
the early
19
60
's, the co
mm
ittee fou
nd
th
at Carlo
s Marcello
had
nev
er been
subject to
such
coverag
e durin
g
that p
eriod. F
BI files in
dicate th
at while th
ere had
not b
een p
rior in
-terest in
usin
g su
ch in
vestig
ative tech
niq
ues in
Marcello
's case, the
Bureau
did
attempt to
institu
te electronic su
rveillan
ce durin
g th
e pe-
riod of 1963 and 1964. (139) Tw
o unsuccessful attempts w
ere made, to
effect such surveil lance, (/40) failures attributable. in all likelihood to the security system
employed by M
arcello at the various locations from
which he operated. (/1
./) (361)
Al S
taffeld, th
e form
er FB
I official w
ho co
ord
inated
Bureau
period. , g
ave th
e com
-m
ittee his v
iew—
that th
e_F
BI....".h
att virtu
aI1 fib
Iliing in
electronic
surv
eillance o
n M
arcello an
d h
is gu
ys. W
e just co
uld
n't effeetiv
ite -its W
ith .1
rae r the-one big exception in our w
ork back - then
: T
here- w
as- just n
o w
ay o
f pen
etrating th
at area. He w
as too sm
art. -
(42-)--:Fhe-rn
ability - to effect surveillance of M
arcello apparently con-tinued, as F
BI files indicate that as late as 1967 B
ureau officials were
prep
ared to
testify th
at Marcello
had
nev
er been
the su
bject o
f elec-tronic surveillance. (4
3)
(362) A
ttorn
ey G
eneral K
enned
y's p
ersonal in
terest in th
e contin
u-
ing Ju
stice Dep
artmen
t investig
ation o
f Marcello
was fu
rther ev
i-denced in A
pril 1063. He had received a letter w
hich he in turn ordered th
e chief o
f the C
rimin
al Div
ision, Jack
Miller, to
forw
ard to
Hoover
for h
is perso
nal atten
tion. (14.4.)• T
he letter w
as from
a citizen claim
-in
g to
hav
e know
ledge o
f a severe b
eating in
flicted u
pon a frien
d b
y
lieuten
ants o
f Marcello
.(45) T
he A
ttorn
ey G
eneral req
uested
imm
e-diate B
ureau
attentio
n to
the m
atter. (363)
On
May
27
, 19
63
, the U
.S. S
up
reme C
ou
rt, in resp
on
se to an
appeal filed by M
arcello's attorneys, (IA
declined to review the M
ar-cello
dep
ortatio
n actio
n an
d u
pheld
the earlier d
ecision o
f the U
.S.
Circu
it Co
urt o
f Ap
ikals.(1
47
) (3
61) O
n N
ovem
ber 4
, 1963, A
larcello w
ent o
n-trial in
New
Orlean
s o
n F
edcif -a I' charges of conspiracy in connection w
ith his alleged 'falsi-ficatio
n 'o
f a Guatem
alan b
irth certificate. (148)-- E
ighteen
day
s later; n. N
ovember 22, 1963, he W
as acquitted. The new
s of President K
in=
nedy's_murder in D
allas:Tea -C
hM the N
ew O
rleans...courtroom shortly .
before lliTverdict w
as announced. (14.9). (365)—
Cm-
J•triy-22I9
64, th
e Suprem
e Court rejected
anoth
er appeal
by Marcello to have his 1938 narcotics conviction set aside, upholding
the rulings of various lower courts. (150)
( 366) -M
arcel lo td-a-nitssoci ate-w e re indicted in
Fed
eral cou
rt on
charg
es of h
avin
g b
ribed
a mem
ber o
f the lay
- that
had aesinit-techltfareello on NtsreitiV
-r-22-01
11
3:.(te
_-in
dic
tmen
t. alleg
ed-th
at Marculto-
ffirerhiS- Tie-u
tenan
ts had
mad
e two secret p
a-y-=
75
ments to a juror w
ith "the intent to influence his action, vote, opinion and decision" in the case. (152) T
he indictment further charged that in
Novem
ber 1963, Marcello had endeavored "to influence, obstruct, and
imped
e" the p
rosecu
tion "b
y req
uestin
g th
e. murd
er of *
* *
a prin
-cipal w
itness" for the Governm
ent, Carl N
oll. (153) (3
67) M
arcello su
rrendered
at the F
ederal co
urth
ouse an
d w
as sub-
sequently freed on a $100,000 bond on October 8, after the U
.S. attor-
ney
noted
that a search
by 1
0 F
BI ag
ents h
ad b
een u
nsu
ccessful in
locating him
the day before.(/54) The charge of having requested the
mu
rder o
f the ch
ief pro
secutio
n w
itness in
the 1
06
3 case w
as later dropped, follow
ing the reported unwillingness of that person to testify
to th
e incid
ent. M
arcello w
as acquitted
by a_
jury
of th
e oth
er charges. (
155) /
(3t8
1 E
fforts to
dep
ort M
arcello w
ere still un
derw
ay in
19
79
. In
late 1975, Marcello's attorneys had filed an appeal for suspension of
his d
eportatio
n o
rder, b
ased o
n "g
ood m
oral ch
aracter" durin
g th
e previous 10 years.(150) A
nother Marcello appeal w
as pending in the U
.S. district court in N
ew O
rleans in 1978. (157) (369)
While IN
S o
fficials poin
t out th
e pecu
liar natu
re of th
e cur-
rent deportation process in the United S
tates, which sets no practical
limits on the num
ber and frequency of appeals and other legal steps a p
erson
may
initiate to
forestall d
epo
rtation
, ano
ther facto
r has b
een
central to Marcello's continued presence in the U
nited States. Im
migra-
tion officials note that before the final step of deportation can be taken, som
e other country must agree to issue travel docum
ents authorizing th
e perso
n to
settle in th
at natio
n. (/5
8) A
s of 1
979, n
o co
untry
was
willing to do so. (159)
AL
LE
GE
D A
SS
AS
SIN
AT
ION
TIIR
EA
T B
Y M
AR
CE
LL
O
(370) A
s part o
f its inv
estigatio
n, th
e com
mittee ex
amin
ed a p
ub
-lish
ed acco
unt. o
f what. w
as alleged
to h
ave b
een a th
reat. mad
e, by
Carlz;g
arcello_in
late1962-ag
ainst th
e life 'of P
ireSident- - K
ennedy and his brother,. R
obert, the Attorney G
eneral..Thb-inform
ation was
firsVgW
fiTith
.pnbliely
in a ,b
ook o
n o
rgan
ized crim
e publish
ed in
1969-,-"T
he G
rim R
eapers," b
y E
d R
eid.(/6
0)
ii-foiriiier editor of tlirrtw
Irep-s- Stio,:wils- a, w
riter on
org
anized
crime-an
d th
e co-
auth
or, w
ith O
vid
Den
iaris, of "T
he G
reen F
elt Jungle," p
ublish
ed
in 19-677------
(371)--In
a length
y ch
apter o
n th
e New
Orlean
s Mafia an
d C
arlos
'Marcello, R
eid wrote of an alleged private m
eeting between M
arcello and tw
o or more m
en sometim
e in Septem
ber 1962. (101) Ilis account
was b
ased o
n in
terview
s he h
ad co
nducted
with
a man w
ho alleged lie had attended the m
eeting. (102) (3
72) A
ccord
ing to
Reid
's info
rman
t, the M
arcello m
eeting w
as held
in a farm
house. at C
hu
rchill F
arms, th
e 3,0
00
-acre swam
plan
d
plan
tation
ow
ned
by
Marcello
ou
tside o
f New
Orlean
s.(/63
) Reid
w
rote that Marcello and three other m
en had crone to the fa rmhonse
in a car d
riven
by
Marcell° h
imself.(1
6.0
Mharcello
and th
e oth
er m
en gathered inside the farmhouse, had drinks and engaged in casual
conversatio
n th
at inclu
ded
thc g
eneral su
bjects o
f busin
ess and
sex.(/6
5) A
fter furth
er drin
ks "b
rought m
ore fam
iliarity an
d re-
76 I16 o
Sir
77
js Ike
laxatio
n. th
e dialo
g tu
rned
to serious m
atters, including the pressure law
cstilkifTeliR
rrit-agenc-tes to
lear on
the M
afia bro
ther-
hood - • so
f the K
enn ly
adm
irustra
tionT
rar -
- ----
(37; )—
Reid's book contained the follow
ing account of the discussion:
It was then that C
arlos' voice lost its softness, and his words
were bitten off an
d sp
it out.w
hen
men
tion w
as mad
e of U
.S.
Atto
rney
Gen
eral Robert K
enned
y, w
ho w
as still on th
e trail of M
arcella. "L
ivarsi n
a petra d
i la scarpa I" C
arlos sh
rilled th
e Mafia
cry o
f reven
ge: "T
ake th
e stone o
ut o
f my sh
oe!"
"Don't w
orry
about th
at little Bobby so
n o
f a. bitch
," he
shouted. "He's going to be taken care of !"
Ever sin
ce Robert K
enned
y h
ad arran
ged
for h
is dep
orta-
tion
to G
uatem
ala, Carlo
s had
wan
ted rev
eng
e. Bu
t as the
subsequent conversation, which w
as reported to two top G
ov-ern
men
t investig
ators b
y o
ne o
f the p
articipan
ts and
later to this author, show
ed, he knew that to rid him
self of Robert
Ken
ned
y h
e would
first hav
e to rem
ove th
e Presid
ent. A
ny
killer o
f the A
ttorn
ey G
eneral w
ou
ld b
e hu
nted
down by
his bro
ther: th
e death
of th
e Presid
ent w
ou
ld see] the fate of
his Attorney G
eneral. (167) *
*
*
*
*
*
No one at. the m
eeting had any doubt about Marcello's in-
tentio
ns w
hen
he ab
ruptly
arose fro
m th
e table. M
arcella did
not jo
ko ab
out su
ch th
ings. In
any case, th
e matter h
ad
e- one beyond nicer "business": it. had become an affair of hon-
or, a Sicilian vendetta. M
oreover, the conversation at Church-
ill Farm
s also m
ade- clear th
at Marcella h
ad b
egu
n to
plan
a m
ove. H
e had
, for ex
ample, alread
y th
ought o
f usin
g a
"nut" to do the job. R
oughly
1 y
ear later Presid
ent K
enned
y w
as shot in
D
allas-2 m
on
ths after A
ttorn
ey G
eneral R
ob
ert Ken
ned
y
had announced t to the McC
lellan comm
ittee that he was going
to expand his war on organi•i,ed crim
e. And it is perhaps sig-
nificant that privately Robert K
ennedy had singled out James
Hotta. S
am (3 'anem
ia, and Carlos M
arcella as being among
his chief targets.(/68)
t::7-1
) In an
interv
iew w
ith th
e com
mittee, R
eid said
that h
is in-
formant- stated that A
farcello seemed to be "very serious" as he spoke
of p
lannin
g to
assassinate P
Lsid
ent K
enned
y. (169) H
e furth
er told
1 . ., co
mm
itit e that w
hile h
is info
rman
t had
had
great d
oubts at th
e tim
e as to w
heth
er Mareello
could
or w
ould
hav
e the P
residen
t as,a ssin
ated. im
med
iately after th
e assassinatio
n o
ccurred
, lie came
to believe t hat :Marcell° w
as in fact the porpettator. (170) :;7
5) R
eid in
form
ed th
e com
mittee th
at he b
elieved
his in
form
ant,
a man
with
underw
orld
associatio
ns, w
as credib
le and tru
stworth
y
(171) an
d h
ad in
fact pro
vid
ed "u
nusu
ally reliab
le" info
rmatio
n
about organized crime on past occasions, including during the w
riting of "T
he G
reen F
elt .1 u
ngle."(1
72) B
ased o
n p
ast associatio
n an
d
runt acts w
ith h
e in fo
rman
t, Reid
was "stro
ngly
inclin
ed to
believ
e his acco
unt o
f the M
arcella ineetin
g,"(1
73) alth
ough lie w
as "not
sure what it all m
eans in the final analysis."(174)
FB
I investig
atio
n o
f the a
llegatio
ns
(376) In early Ifax.1,267, over a year and a half before the book w
as p
ub
lished
, senio
r officials o
f the F
lI1 learn
ed o
fTirreco
un
t of th
e alleg
ed iliz-cting.(17.5) According to all F
BI m
emorandum
of May
1967,-Cram
-Assistant I )irector-A
itix Rosen to A
t;siStiiiit D
irector Cartha
DeL
onele the-Bureau's L
os Angeles oilier. ha
u l been contacted on by R
eid. (1
76) T
he m
emoran
dum
stated th
at Reid
. "who h
as written
several books concerning the hoodlum
eleniTiT
M177iffitacted the L
os A
ngeles office and had "indicated h had information concerning:1O
n_ R
oselli." (177) T
he mem
orandum furt, ter s a ed- th
at-when-R
eid-Was
interv
iewed
, he sh
ow
ed h
is man
uscrip
t to th
e Bu
reau's L
os A
ng
eles agents. (1
78
) The m
emorandum
gave the following account of R
eid's. in
form
ation
:
Reid
refers to C
arlos M
o
and
ind
i__
__a
cated_there-was-tr-
m
eeting
on
Sep
temb
er 11
alk..114.ttrchM
Ym
s, outside N
ew O
rleans, La., attend
several people including M
ar- cello
and
Reid
's info
rma
t.'nt. M
arcella was alleg
ed ; h
ave
said that in order to get BolybrItxurrerly-th
vy w
ohlitlid
it to
get the 1-Imsitleutj-tm
rt-thev-coutd-norld11131:Thby because the
President, w
ould A
rmy and the
The zesult-ef- kill ingthe P
resideilVv-voiffd cause B
obby to lose his p
ow
er a
s Atto
rney G
enera
l because
of th
e N
ew
P
residen
t. (179)
(377) W
hile th
e Bureau
mem
oran
dum
indicates th
at the ag
ents
who read that section of R
eid's manuscript believed it placed the m
eet-ing in S
eptember 1963, the actual account published by R
eid in 1969 stated
that th
e meetin
g h
ad o
ccurred
in S
eptem
ber 1
962.(1
80) In
his com
mittee interview
, Reid said that he had "alw
ays stated that the m
eeting
was in
Sep
temb
er 19
62
"(18
1) b
ecause h
is info
rman
t had
"clearly recalled" the tim
e, of the meeting and had been "traveling in
Louisian
a" that m
onth
. (180) (378)
The B
ureau
mem
oran
dum
wen
t on to
state that R
eid h
ad
info
rmed
the L
os A
ng
eles agen
ts that "a p
erson w
ho atten
ded
this
alleged meeting w
as interviewed by agents of our L
os Angeles office
and fu
rnish
ed th
em th
e info
rmatio
n.'5(1
83) F
urth
er, Reid
believ
ed
that "several days" after the informant had attended the m
eeting with
Marcella, he "w
as interviewcd concerning the B
illie So
l Estes case, at
which
time h
e alleged
ly related
to o
ur ag
ents w
hat h
e heard
at C
hu
rchill F
arms."(/8
4)
(379) T
he mem
orandum goes on to note that, a review
of FB
I tiles on R
eid's inforina It, whose nam
e was E
dward liccker. show
ed he had in
fact. been
interv
iewed
by B
ureau
n7ir-rrrrrrb
er 26, 1
96'2
, in
connectio
n w
ith th
e Billie S
ol E
stes investig
ation.(J$
.i) While "H
it this interview
, :Niarcello w
as mentioned * * in connection w
ith h '
no
sy p
rop
ositio
n *
* *
no
men
tion
was m
ade o
f" Atto
rney
Gen
eral K
enn
edy
or P
residen
t Ken
ned
y, o
r any
threat ag
ainst th
em.(/8
6)
(380) T
he mem
orandum said that t he agents w
ho read. the part. of R
eid's manuscript on the m
eeting told the author that Becker had not
infornied Ow
Iinreaa of the alleged Alarcello discussion of assassina-
tion. (18
7) In
1:n
.t. "It is noted E
dward N
icholas Becker is as private
investig
ator in
Los A
ngeles w
ho in
the p
ast has h
ad a rep
utatio
n o
f being unreliable and know
n to misrepresent facts."(188)
78
(381) T
he m
emoran
dum
conclu
ded
by statin
g th
at Reid
's offer to
provide the B
ureau with inform
ation about Mafia figure John R
oselli had been declined :
In co
nnectio
n w
ith Jo
hn R
oselli, R
eid w
onted
to trad
e in-
formation concerning him
, which offer w
as refused. He m
en-tioned he w
as concerned with R
oselli's association with attor-
ney Edw
ard Morgan of W
ashington, D.C
. As you recall, M
or-gan
was p
revio
usly
interv
iewed
at the req
uest o
f the W
hite
house co
ncern
ing alleg
ed in
form
ation in
his p
ossessio
n re-
gard
ing
the assassin
ation
. Also
, Ro
selli was th
e con
nectin
g
link b
etween
CIA
and R
obert M
aheu
who w
as hired
by th
e C
IA to approach S
am G
iancana to have Castro assassinated.
(189)
(382) T
he m
emoran
du
m w
ent to
Assistan
t Directo
rs Ro
sen an
d
DeL
oach
, and to
the m
ost sen
ior o
fficials in th
e Bureau
, inclu
din
g
Assistan
t. Directo
r William
Su
llivan
and
several o
f his d
epu
ties, and
A
ssistant D
irector Jam
es Gales o
f the In
spectio
n D
ivisio
n, all o
f w
hom
had
direct resp
onsib
ility fo
r the F
lIks in
vestig
ation o
f Presi-
den
t Ken
ned
y's m
urd
er.(190) N
o in
structio
ns o
f any k
ind to
follo
w
up o
n th
e info
rmatio
n reg
ardin
g M
arcello, th
e alleged
assassinatio
n
discussitm, and the inform
ant, were issued subseqttently. (191)
(383) T
he o
nly
directiv
e regard
ing th
e matter w
as a han
dw
ritten
notation matte on the m
emorandum
by De L
oach :(192) "We. should
discretly identify t he publisher" of the Reid book. (193)
(384) T
wo days later, in an F
BI m
emorandum
of May 17, 1967, the
Special A
gen
t. in C
harg
e (SA
C) o
f the L
os A
ngeles o
ffice reported
su
mo ad
ditio
nal in
form
ation to
Hoover.(1
94) In
the m
emoran
dum
, the L
os Angeles office set forth som
e alleged information it had learned
regarding Becker, w
ho, the Mem
o noted, claimed to have heard "state-
men
t9 su
pposed
ly m
ade b
y C
arlos M
arcello o
n S
eptem
ber 1
1, 1
963,
concern
ing th
e pen
din
g assassin
ation o
f Presid
ent K
enned
y."(1
95)
The F
BI m
emo stated
that 1
day
after the B
ureau
first learned
of th
e R
eid information, its L
os Angeles office received inform
ation regard-in
g E
dw
ard B
ecker w
hich
was alleg
edly
dam
agin
g to
his rep
uta-
tion.(1
96
) Acco
rdin
g to
the in
form
ation, S
idn
ey K
orsh
ak h
ad b
een
discussing liocke rand:
* *
Korsh
ak in
quired
as to w
ho E
d B
ecker w
as and
advised
that B
ecker w
as tryin
g to
shak
e dow
n so
me o
f K
orsh
ak's frien
ds fo
r mo
ney
by
claimin
g h
e is the co
llabo
-rator w
ith Reid and that for m
oney he. could keep the names
of th
ese peo
ple o
ut o
f the b
ook. (1
97)
(385) T
he m
emo
rand
um
also stated
that S
idn
ey K
orsh
ak h
ad fu
r-ther stated that "B
ecker was a no-good shakedow
n artist," (198) in
for-
mation w
hich in turn became know
n to the Bureau. (1
99
) (386)
The m
emoran
dum
did
not m
entio
n th
e back
gro
und o
f the
perso
n w
ho
was su
pp
lyin
g th
e neg
ative in
form
ation
and
allegatio
ns
about Becker—
Sidney K
orshak. He w
as a Los A
ngeles labor lawyer,
'Where
It,eker is re
ferre
d to
as a
n -in
form
ant,-
it sho
uld
be n
ote
d th
at
till!, applie
s to h
is rela
tionsh
ip to
Reid
and n
ot to
a F
edera
l law
enforcement
ageitey
.
79
who h
as been
-alleged
to h
ave u
nderw
orld
associatio
ns in
Chicag
o,
Califo
rnia, Is V
egas, an
d N
ew Y
ork
. (200) The B
ureau
's ow
n files
iden
tified h
im as a co
ntin
uin
g su
bject o
f nu
mero
us o
rgan
ized crim
e investigations, an associate of reputed C
hicago Mafia executioners G
us A
lex and Murray "T
he Cam
el" Hum
phreys, (201) and a business asso-
ciate of Jam
es R. H
offa an
d P
aul D
orfm
an.(2
02) In
an ex
tensiv
e four-part investigative series in 1976, the N
ew Y
ork Tim
es noted that a 1
968 Ju
stice Dep
artmen
t report h
ad d
escribed
Korsh
ak as p
erhap
s "the m
ost significant link in the relationship between the crim
e syndi-cate, p
olitics, lab
or, an
d m
anag
emen
t."(20
3) T
he T
imes fu
rther re-
ported
that at a m
eeting in
April 1
976, sen
ior o
fficials of th
e Justice
Dep
artmen
t's Org
anized
Crim
e Div
ision h
ad "reach
ed a co
nsen
sus
that M
r. Korsh
ak w
as one o
f the fiv
e most p
ow
erful m
embers o
f the
underworld." (2
04
) (387)
On June 5, 1967, in another m
emorandum
to Director H
oover, th
e Los A
ngeles F
BI o
ffice reported
that th
e perso
n w
ho h
ad p
ro-
vid
ed th
e dero
gato
ry in
form
ation o
n B
ecker h
ad co
ntacted
Reid
on
May
26 in
an effo
rt to "d
iscredit" B
ecker's in
form
ation ab
out M
ar-cello. (2
05
) This person had provided R
eid with the inform
ation about B
ecker -w
hich
had
deriv
ed fro
m K
orsh
ak. (2
06) T
he m
emoran
dum
w
ent o
n to
state that "T
he p
urp
ose [o
f this p
erson
] was to
discred
it B
ecker to
Reid
in o
rder th
at the C
arlos M
arcello in
ciden
t would
be
deleted from the book by R
eid. (207)
(388) O
n May 31, 1967, according to the sam
e mem
orandum, a spe-
cial agent of the Los A
ngeles office was involved in a visit to R
eid's hom
e(208) in
a furth
er effort to
persu
ade h
im o
f Beck
er's alleged
untrustw
orthiness. (209) D
uring this visit :
It was ag
ain p
oin
ted o
ut to
Reid
that B
ecker h
ad b
een
interviewed by B
ureau agents in Novem
ber 1962 concerning the B
illie Sol E
stes case, but had not mentioned the reputed
con
versatio
n o
r statemen
ts alleged
ly m
ade b
y M
arcell° on
•
Septem
ber 11, 1963 (almost a year later), at C
hurchill Farm
s, N
ew O
rleans. (210)
(389) T
he B
ureau
's po
ssible co
nfu
sion
ov
er the tim
e perio
ds in
-volv
ed in
the m
atter was fu
rther ev
iden
ced in
the m
emoran
dum
, w
hich said that "in Novem
ber 1962" Becker had "not m
entioned the rep
uted
* *
* statem
ents alleg
edly
mad
e by M
arcello o
n S
eptem
-b
er 11
, 19
63
."(21
1) A
gain
, bo
th R
eid an
d B
ecker h
ave m
aintain
ed
consisten
tly th
at they
mad
e clear that th
e meetin
g w
as in S
eptem
ber
1962, rather than Septem
ber 1963, (212) and that the specific reference in
the R
eid b
ook stated
"Sep
tember 1
962."(2
13) A
dditio
nally
, the
Bureau's ow
n files on Becker (w
hile not. containing - any references to assassination) clearly indicated that B
ecker had been interviewed by
:agen
ts in N
ov
emb
er 19
62
, follo
win
g a trip
thro
ug
h L
ou
isiana th
at S
eptember. (214)
Com
mittee in
vestigatio
n of
the alleg
atio
n
(390) T
he co
mm
ittee carefully
exam
ined
the F
BI's files relatin
g to
B
ecker and the Bureau's contact w
ith him in late 1962. T
he first Bu-
reau reference to Becker appeared in a report of N
ovember 20, 1962,
regarding a private investigator working on the B
illie Sol E
stes case, th
e famous m
ultim
illion-d
ollar frau
d in
vestig
ation o
f the early
80
19
60
's.(21
5) T
he rep
ort n
oted
that B
ecker, th
en 4
2, w
as associated
w
ith an
investig
ator b
eing em
plo
yed
by o
ne o
f the o
il service co
m-
pan
ies that h
ad alleg
edly
been
swin
dled
by
Estes. (216)
Becker w
as said to have had first m
et with the investigator in B
rownsw
ood, Tex.,
on Septem
ber 18, 1962, and that they had traveled to Shreveport, L
a., on business on S
eptember 21.(217) B
ecker was associated w
ith an oil geologist in S
hreveport, Carl R
oppolo,(218) who w
as alleged to be a close acquaintance of. C
arlos Marcella (219)
Th
e repo
rt no
ted th
at on
e perso
n h
ad to
ld th
e Bu
reau th
at "Ro
p-
polo
had
said th
at his m
oth
er is Carlo
s Marcello
's sister, and th
at R
op
po
llo is th
e favo
rite nep
hew
."(22
0) A
s is discu
ssed later, B
ecker
info
rmed
the co
mm
ittee that R
oppolo
, a close frien
d o
f his, w
as the
man w
ho allegedly set up the Septem
ber 10
62
meeting w
ith Marcello
and
attend
ed th
e meetin
g alo
ng
with
Beck
er for th
e pu
rpo
se of seek
-ing M
accello's support for a proposed business venture of theirs. (221) (391)
Beck
er was referred
to in
a secon
d F
BI rep
ort o
f No
vem
ber
21, 1962, which dealt w
ith an alleged counterfeiting ring and a Dallas
lawyer w
ho rep
orted
ly h
ad k
now
ledge o
f it.(222) T
his rep
ort. n
oted
that. B
ecker was being used as an "inform
aret2Lby a private investiga-
tor in
the in
vestig
ation(2
23) an
d w
as assisting to
the ex
tent th
at he
beg
an receiv
ing ex
pen
se money
.(224) T
he L
os A
ngeles F
BI o
ffice n
oted
that th
e inv
estigato
r wo
rkin
g w
ith B
ecker h
ad "ad
mitted
that
he could be supporting a con game for living expenses on the part of
Beck
er * *
* b
ut th
at he d
ou
bted
it," as he h
ad o
nly
pro
vid
ed B
ecker
with lim
ited expenses.(225) (392)
Th
e No
vem
ber 2
1, 1
96
2, B
ureau
repo
rt no
ted fu
rther th
at B
ecker had once been associated with M
ax Field, a crim
inal associate o
f Mafia lead
er Josep
h S
ica of L
os A
ng
eles.(22
6) A
ccord
ing
to th
e rep
ort "It ap
pears th
at Beck
er * *
has b
een feed
ing all ru
mors h
e has heard plus w
hatever stories he can fit, into the picture."(227) (393)
On
No
vem
ber 2
0, 1
96
2, B
ecker w
as interv
iewed
by
the F
BI
in co
nn
ection
with
its inv
estigatio
n o
f the B
illie So
l Estes case o
n
wh
ich B
ecker w
as then
also w
ork
ing
as a priv
ate inv
estigato
r.(22
8)
Becker told the B
ureau of his recent trips to Dallas, T
ex., and Louisi-
ana, and informed them
of the information he, had heard about counter-
feiting in
Dallas. (2
29) A
t that p
oin
t, Beck
er also b
riefly d
iscussed
C
arlos Marcella :
Ho [B
ecker] W
ised th
at on tw
o o
ccasions h
e has acco
m-
pan
ied R
oppolo
to N
ew O
rleans, w
here. th
ey m
et with
one
Carlo
s Marcella, w
ho is a lo
ngtim
e friend o
f Roppolo
. He
adv
ised th
at Ro
pp
olo
was to
ob
tain th
e finan
cing
for th
eir prom
otional business from M
arcella. He advised that he knew
nothing further about M
arcel4o.(230)
(394) B
ecker w
as briefly
men
tion
ed in
ano
ther B
ureau
repo
rt, of
Novem
ber 2
7, 1
962, w
hich
again
stated th
at he alleg
edly
mad
e up
"stories" an
d in
ven
ted ru
mo
rs to d
erive "p
ossib
le gain
" from
such
false in form
ation.(231) (3
05
) T
hree d
ays later, o
n .N
ovem
ber 3
0, 1
962, an
oth
er Bureau
rep
ort o
n th
e Billie S
ol A
tes case made reference to B
ecker's trip to D
allas in Septem
ber and his work on the case.(230) T
he report. noted th
at Beck
er was ap
paren
tly asso
ciated w
ith v
ariou
s sho
w b
usin
ess in
T.;<
, (:?
1?) V
iirtlwr
a m
art w
ho !ia
rl been
81
acqu
ainted
with
Beck
er had
referred to
him
as a "small-tim
e con
m
an."(234) (3
96
) In an
Ap
ril 11
, 19
63
, FB
I repo
rt, Beck
er and
his frien
d R
op
-polo w
ere referred to once, again.(235) The report. had been w
ritten by agent. R
egis Kennedy of the N
ew O
rleans office in response to a directiv
e issued
shortly
after Beck
er info
rmed
the B
ureau
that R
op-
polo had accompanied him
to two business m
eetings with M
arcello. (236)
The N
ew O
rleans o
ffice had
been
instru
cted to
determ
ine if
Roppolo w
as in fact acquainted with M
arcello, as advised by Becker.
(237) T
he A
pril 1
1, 1
90
3, rep
ort co
nclu
ded
that R
op
po
lo d
id in
all likelihood know
the New
Orleans M
afia lcader.(238) A source had in-
formed the N
ew O
rleans office that the Marcello and R
oppolo "fami-
lies were q
uite clo
se at one tim
e as they
came fro
m th
e 'old
country
' at ap
pro
xim
ately th
e same tim
e and liv
ed as n
eighbors in
New
O
rleans." (239) (3
97
) Th
is repo
rt furth
er stated th
at the sam
e sou
rce do
ub
ted
wh
ether R
op
po
lo h
imself co
uld
secure fin
ancial b
ackin
g fro
nt M
ar- cello
for a b
usin
ess ven
ture, d
ue to
Roppolo
's alleged
reputatio
n as
som
eone "rath
er shiftless."(2
4(1
) Roppolo
was reg
arded
as "a pro
b-
lem," a person w
ho "is always trying to prom
ote something."(241)
(398)
Wh
ile the co
mm
ittee was u
nab
le to d
evelo
p m
ore sp
ecific in
form
ation reg
ardin
g th
e relationsh
ip b
etween
I3eck
er's associate,
Roppolo, and M
arcella the comm
ittee did receive information indicat-
ing a clo
ser relationsh
ip th
an w
as indicated
in th
e April 1
963 F
BI
report.. The N
ew O
rleans Crim
e Com
mission, in various analyses and
charts o
f the M
arcello o
rgan
ization
, had
for y
ears been
iden
tifyin
g
Lillian R
oppolo as an associate of Carlos M
arcello. (242) Aaron K
ohn, noted
the rep
orted
relationsh
ip b
etween
the tw
o fam
ilies and stated
that L
illian itoppolo "was considered to be som
ething of a courier for M
arcello."(243) A C
rime C
omm
ission file on the Roppolos indicates
that sh
e had
an ev
en clo
ser perso
nal relatio
nsh
ip w
ith M
arcella in
additio
n to
the alleg
ed co
urier an
d b
usin
ess activitie.s.(2
44) D
urin
g
his appearance before the comm
ittee on .January 11, 1978, Marcella
him
self bro
ug
ht u
p h
is app
arent fam
iliarity w
ith th
e Ro
pp
olo
s wh
en
he w
as questio
ned
about h
is know
ledge o
f a perso
n h
avin
g a sim
ilar sounding surnam
e.(245) B
ecker's statem
ent to
the co
mm
ittee (3
99) D
urin
g its ex
amin
ation o
f Reid
's publish
ed acco
unt o
f the
alleged Marcello discussion about assassinating P
resident, Kennedy,
the co
mm
ittee received
a mo
re detailed
accou
nt fro
m B
ecker o
f the
allegatio
ns an
d in
form
ation
he o
rigin
ally p
rov
ided
Reid
. Beck
er 57
in
1979 to
ld tl
omm
itte 10 tte
16 a
mt h
is accou
nt o
f the m
eeting_ an
d d
is- cu
ssion w
it Marce to
m
-4
) tru
.
was
neon an n
ow
, was t m
ere."
e main
tained
that "th
e FB
I—th
eir agen
ts in
r1 T
iigele
s—lrrv
e trie
l- to d
iscredit m
e. Th
ey'v
e do
ne ev
ery-
thin
g ex
cept in
vestig
ate the in
form
ation
I gav
e Reid
. Th
ey ap
par-
ently
hav
e alway
s said it w
as not th
e truth
, but th
ey'v
e nev
er in-
vestig
ated it to
arrive at th
at. jud
gm
ent."
(247) B
ecker in
dicated
a w
illingness to
support h
is truth
fuln
ess in
oth
er
ways.(248)
(100) B
ecker stated
that h
e was b
orn
in C
aliforn
ia and raised
in
New
Haven. C
onn. (249) His early years of em
ployment had included
publicity work for several S
an Francisco nightclubs and, subsequently,
82
writin
g a co
lum
n fo
r two C
aliforn
ia new
spap
ers. (250) D
urin
g later
rears he h
ad d
one fu
rther w
ork
in th
e entertain
men
t field, m
anag
ing
t singer, as w
ell as writin
g an
d p
roducin
g p
rogram
s for telev
ision in
Los A
ngeles during the early 1950's. (251)
(401) B
ecker said
he b
ecame a p
ublic relatio
ns m
an fo
r the R
iviera
Hotel an
d C
asino in
Las V
egas in
1955, w
ork
ing clo
sely w
ith G
us
Greenbaum
,(252) the Riviera m
anager and well-know
n gambling fig-
ure w
ho w
as the v
ictim o
f a much
publicized
underw
orld
killin
g in
1957. (253) B
ecker stated
that h
e "was th
en trav
eling in
som
e pretty
fast circles. I was certain
ly n
ot th
e cleanest p
erson aro
und."(2
54)
He further m
aintained that while he "w
as always out to m
ake a buck,
he was never enga(*ed in any significant crim
inal activity. (255) Becker
noted
that h
e had
twiceb
ecom
e the su
bject o
f crimin
al investig
ations,
(256) the first resulting in his conviction on misdem
eanor charges for
hav
ing sto
len "aro
und $
900" fro
m a n
ightclu
b p
hoto
grap
her w
ith
whops he w
as acquainted. (257) 1
Ie was in his tw
enties at the time and
served 60 days in jail. (268) (4
09) B
ecker stated
that in
1959 h
e had
also b
ecom
e involv
ed w
ith
two m
en w
ho w
ere "runnin
g a co
n d
eal involv
ing lau
nderm
ats and
stolen credit ca yds" (2.59) and that one of the two m
en was an associate
of Los A
ngeles Mafia leader Joseph S
ica. (960) rfr-w
as the subject of
an S
EC
desist o
rder in
conju
nctio
n w
ith th
e 1959 in
vestig
ation. (2
61)
(403) B
ecker to
ld th
e com
mittee th
at he h
ad w
ork
ed as a p
rivate
investigator during the years since, coordinating undercover investiga-
tive w
ork
for co
rporate clien
ts,(262) as w
ell as work
ing o
n v
arious
org
anized
crime eases.(2
63) D
urin
g th
e early 1
900's, h
e was d
oin
g
investig
ative w
ork
for Ju
lian B
lodgett, a p
rivate in
vestig
ator an
d
forme i.F
B I agent. (264)
(404) B
ecker to
ld th
e com
mittee th
at he an
d R
oppolo
had
met w
ith
Marcello
in late 1
962 to
seek h
is finan
cial back
ing fo
r an o
il additiv
e
pro
duct th
ey w
ere planning to market. (265) D
ue to Roppolo's close
relationsh
ip w
ith M
arcello, th
e meetin
g w
as arranged
with
out d
iffi-
culty
. (266)
(405)
Becker stated that he and R
oppolo met w
ith Marcello on three
or fo
ur o
ccasions in
connectio
n w
ith th
e pro
posed
busin
ess deal an
d
that M
arcello m
ade h
is com
men
ts about P
residen
t Ken
ned
y d
urin
g
the first o
r second m
eeting. (2
67) T
he m
eetings tran
spired
betw
een
som
etime in
Sep
tember 1
962 an
d ro
ughly
January
1963.(2
68) O
nly
the th
ree of th
em h
ad b
een p
resent d
urin
g tw
o o
r three o
f the m
eet-
ings, b
ut a M
arcella aide .n
amed
"Liv
crde," a b
arber, h
ad also
been
present once. (269)
(406) B
ecker stated
that, M
arcello h
ad m
ade h
is remark
s about th
e
Kennedy brothers after B
ecker said something to the effect that "B
ob-
!by K
enned
y is really
giv
ing y
ou a ro
ugh tim
e."(270) H
e could
not
recall the ex
act word
s Marcello
used
-in th
reatenin
g P
residen
t Ken
-
ned
y. b
ut b
elieved
the acco
unt in
Reid
's book "is b
asically co
rrect."
( 211 ) M
arcello \ v ; p-i very angry and had "clearly stated that lie w
as
goin
g to
arrange to
hav
e Presid
ent K
enned
y m
urd
ered in
seine
way." (272) M
arcello's statement had been m
ade in a serious tone and
sounded
as if he h
ad d
iscussed
it prev
iously
to so
me ex
tent.(2
73)
Becker com
mented that M
arcello had made som
e kind of reference to
Presid
ent K
enned
y's b
eing a d
og an
d A
ttorn
ey G
eneral R
obert K
en-
83
nedy the dog's tail,(274) and had said "the dog will keep biting you if
you only cut off its tail," but that if the dog's head were cut off, the dog
would (lie. (2
75)
(407) B
ecker stated that. Marcella also m
ade some kind of reference
to th
e way
in w
hich
lie alleged
ly w
anted
to arran
ge th
e Presid
ent's
murd
er.(276) M
arcello "clearly
indicated
" that. h
is ow
n lieu
tenan
ts
must not be identified as the assassins,(277) and that there w
ould thus
be a n
ecessity to
hav
e them
use or manipulate som
eone else to carry
out the actual crime. (2
78)
(408) B
ecker said that Marcello's alleged rem
arks about assassinat-
ing th
e Presid
ent. lasted
only
a few m
inutes d
urin
g th
e course o
f the
meeting, w
hich went 1 to 2 hours. (279) M
arcello -'had spoken in Si-
cilian p
hrases d
urin
g p
arts of th
e meetin
g an
d h
ad g
row
n an
gry
at
one point in the discussion of their proposed business deal. (280)
(409) B
ecker said that although he and Roppollo m
et with M
arcello
on tw
o o
r three o
ccasions fo
llow
ing th
is meetin
g, th
ey n
ever ag
ain
discussed President K
ennedy. (281) (B
ecker ad
ded
that th
e oil ad
di-
tive business business deal never came to fruition. (2
83))
(410) B
ecker to
ld th
e com
mittee th
at while lie b
elieved
...Marcell°
had been sest -
-wan -tug-
16e-- P
resident- as-
sasstiiiired, he did
not b"3"4741
el. '1..et ..3.fatia, leader w
as eapable_of carry=
ing it o
ut o
r ha th
e opportu
nity
_to
ilaso.(2
83)-lle--em
phasiialk
at
while h
e was d
isturb
ed b
y M
arcello's remarks_at_the tim
e,_he_ had
g row-Tram
-us tun led to he axingsriM i nal ligu res- m
ake-Ihreatsjiga inst
adversaries. 8.4)-
-
ec ter stated th
at the o
nly
error in
Reid
's publish
ed acco
unt
of the meeting related to the statem
ent that Becker had inform
ed two
Govern
men
t investig
ators o
f it. (285) B
ecker said
that h
e nev
er told
any Governm
ent - investig
ator o
f Marcello
's remark
s about P
residen
t
Ken
ned
y ; (2
86) h
e "would
hav
e been
afraid" to
repeat M
arcello's
remarks to anyone during that period, out of concern that M
arcello or
his associates might learn he had done so. (2
87) B
ecker suggested that
Reid m
ay have incorrectly inferred that he told the FB
I of the alleged
Marcello
threat w
hen
he w
as interv
iewed
by ag
ents reg
ardin
g th
e
Billie S
ol Estes case in N
ovember 1962. (288) B
ecker also stated that he
was never interview
ed by the FB
I about the alleged Marcello m
eeting
in the years since Reid first reported it, a fact borne out by the com
mit-
tee's examination of B
ureau files on Becker.
(412) B
ecker fu
rther stated
that th
e only
perso
n o
ther th
an R
eid
whom
he m
ight h
ave in
form
ed o
f Marcello
's remark
s was h
is close
associate Ju
lian B
lodgett, w
ho em
plo
yed
him
durin
g th
at perio
d as
an investigator. (289)
(413) B
lodgett, a fo
rmer F
BI ag
ent an
d ch
ief investig
ator fo
r the
district attorney of Los A
ngeles County, inform
ed the comm
ittee that
he can
"vag
uely
remem
ber so
meth
ing" ab
out B
ecker's h
avin
g m
et
with M
arcello. (290) B
lodgett stated
that h
e "can v
erify" th
at Beck
er
traveled to New
Orleans in S
eptember 1962, but could not recall any
specific acco
unt o
f Beck
er's meetin
g w
ith M
arcello. (290
Blodgett
told the comm
ittee lie regarded Becker as an honest person w
ho was
one of "the most know
ledgeable detail men" in the private investiga-
tion business. (292) W
hile noting that Becker "has been a controversial
guy," Blodgett stated that he personally w
ould believe Becker's account
of the alleged Marcello m
eeting. (293)
84
(414) B
ecker fu
rther to
ld th
e com
mittee th
at follo
win
g P
residen
t K
enned
y's assassin
ation in
Dallas, h
e quick
ly cam
e to b
elieve th
at C
arlos Marcello had in fact probably been behind it. (294) H
e reached this opinion because of factors such as L
ee Osw
ald having been from
New
Orleans, as w
ell as Jack Ruby's alleged underw
orld associations. (2
95) B
ecker stated that "it was generally thought in m
ob circles that R
uby was a tool of sonic m
ob group." (206) B
ecker fu
rther stated
that
he had learned after the assassination that "Osw
ald's uncle, who used
to run some bar, had been a part of the gam
bling network overseen by
Marcello. lie w
orked for the mob in N
ew O
rlea.ns."(297) (415)
Din
ing h
is appearan
ce befo
re the co
mm
ittee on Jan
uary
11,
1978, Marcello
questioned about Reid's account of the m
eeting at w
hich
he alleg
edly
spoke o
f assassinatin
g P
residen
t Ken
ned
y. (M
I) M
arcello firmly denied that the m
eeting and discussion ever took place an
d stated
that h
e was fam
iliar with
the R
eid b
oo
k : "T
he w
ay th
e pap
er puts it an
d th
e books p
ut it in
there, it m
akes it lik
e you h
ad
som
e kin
d o
f secret meetin
gs, b
ecause I h
ave h
eard th
e bo
ok
abo
ut
what you are telling m
e." (299) (416)
Marcello testified that w
hile he had heard that Robert K
ennedy w
as a stron
g ad
vo
cate of in
tensify
ing
the in
vestig
ation
of o
rgan
ized
crime fig
ures. an
d h
ad b
een so
even
bek
te beco
min
g A
ttorn
ey G
en-
eral, -1 d
idn't p
ay n
o atten
tion to
it at that tim
e."(300) A
sked
when
he did begin to pay attention to R
obert Kennedy's intentions, M
arcello testified, "W
hen he got to be Attorney G
eneral. (3
01) W
hile recalling th
at Atto
rney
Gen
eral Ken
ned
y "said
he w
as goin
g to
get o
rgan
ized
crime an
d all th
at kin
d o
f stutl,"(3
02
) Marcello
stated th
at "the o
nly
t hue I really know
e(i about it" was w
hen he was arrested and deported
from
the C
ountry
."(303) A
sked
if he p
laced an
y p
articular b
lame o
n
the A
ttorn
ey G
eneral fo
r his d
eportatio
n, M
arcello testified
, "No, I
do
n't, h
e just d
on
e wh
at he th
ou
gh
t was rig
ht., I g
uess."(3
04
) (417)
Marcello
furth
er testified th
at he co
uld
not recall h
avin
g
any d
iscussio
n at h
is Church
ill Farm
s estate about th
e Ken
ned
y
adm
inistratio
n's in
tensificatio
n o
f Fed
eral efforts ag
ainst o
rgan
ized
crime. (3
05)
Marcell° stated
that C
hu
rchill F
arms w
as no
t a place
where h
e would
conduct a m
eeting; th
at the estate w
as only
used
fo
r limitin
g an
d w
as the lo
cation o
f vario
us d
uck
blin
ds. (3
06
)
Marc
ello
furth
er te
stified th
at h
e (lid
not h
ave to
disc
uss h
is d
epo
rtation
with
associates b
ecause "E
very
bo
dy
in th
e Un
ited S
tates k
no
wed
I was k
idn
aped
. I did
n't h
ave to
discu
ss it . . . I told
the
wh
ole w
orld
that it w
as un
fair. An
yb
od
y w
ho
talked
to m
e said it
was u
nfair." (3
07
) ( 41.9—
When- asked- if-he-had-ever- m
ade - any- th
real— aiiiiist Atto
r-ney .G
eoeral Kennedy-or turd
- spoken
of tak
ing an
y p
hysical actio
n
ago-belt him, M
arre- tRigtated, "N
o sir; I nev
er said an
yth
ing lik
e that-Z
-(.3408) Wrie.n_asked of he had ever_spok -eTn.--o
Tta'llin
g-su
elr-action
against P
resl -Frit7
iF inery ar- had threatenedhim in any w
ay, Mar-
io stated
, "- Positively nZ
i- t, nev
er said an
yth
ing
like th
irt," -(309)
AN
AL
141S O
F T
HE
E1M
EN
CE
(41
91
T
he acco
unt o
f the, alleg
ed M
arcello d
iscussio
n set fo
rth b
y
Becker and R
eid presented a number of serious issues, som
e of which
85
it. (31
0)
(420) U
pon learn
ing in
1907 o
f the B
ecker acco
unt o
f the alleg
ed
Marcello rem
arks about assassinating President K
ennedy, the Bureau
did
not m
ake an
y effo
rt to in
terview
Beck
er about th
e info
rmatio
n,
nor d
id it in
stitute an
y actio
ns to
seek elab
oratio
n, els rilicatio
n, o
r co
rroboratio
n o
f the in
form
ation. In
stead, th
e allegatio
n w
as merely
circu
lated to
the B
ureau
's most sen
ior o
fficials, inclu
din
g D
irector
J. Edgar H
oover,(3
//) while th
e Bureau
's ow
n files o
n B
ecker co
n-
tained
several p
ieces of in
form
ation th
at should
hav
e been
the su
b-
ject of careful review. T
he Bureau's files from
Novem
ber 1962 noted th
at Beck
er had
in fact. trav
eled th
rough L
ouisian
a durin
g th
at p
eriod
and
had
also trav
eled to
Dallas. (312)
The B
ureau
's ow
n
No
vem
ber 2
6, 1
96
2, in
terview
repo
rt. on
Beck
er no
ted th
at he h
ad
info
rmed
the B
ureau
of tw
o b
usin
ess meetin
gs w
ith M
arcello th
at he h
ad atten
ded
with
Carl R
oppolo
in recen
t week
s. (313)
A su
b-
sequen
t report, d
ated A
pril 1
1, 1
963, co
nclu
ded
that, R
oppolo
may
w
ell have known M
arcello and that. the Roppolo and M
arcello fami-
lies had
long b
een asso
ciated. (3
14)
(421) In
1967, in
notin
g th
at Beck
er had
not to
ld th
e Bureau
of
the alleg
ed M
arcello th
reat. durin
g h
is 1962 in
terview
with
agen
ts; th
e Bureau
seemed
to reach
the co
nclu
sion th
at the sig
nifican
ce of
the alleg
ed B
ecker in
form
ation
was g
reatly u
nd
ermin
ed as a resu
lt. L
ikew
ise., the B
ureau
's apparen
t view
that B
ecker's b
ackgro
und o
f crim
inal asso
ciation
s un
derm
ined
the p
ossib
ility th
at he h
ad in
fact m
et with
Marcello
—rath
er than
strength
ened
that p
ossib
ility—
was
indicativ
e of th
e Bureau
's deficien
t appro
ach to
the m
atter. In its
handling of the allegations about Mai-cello, the B
ureau did not carry out an
y su
bstan
tive ex
amin
ation an
d ev
aluatio
n o
f the so
urce w
ho
had
set forth
the in
form
ation; o
nly
the stan
dard
exam
inatio
n o
f v
ariou
s crimin
al info
rman
ts and
un
derw
orld
sou
rces was m
ade to
d
etermin
e the sp
ecific natu
re of th
eir mo
tivatio
ns, cred
ibility
and
activities. (422)
Sim
ilarly, there was no evidence that the F
BI m
ade any effort to investigate the allegations from
the other direction—front the spe-
cific travels and activities of Marcello during the period or periods in
qu
estion
. Patrick
Co
llins, th
e agen
t cov
ering
Marcello
's activities at
the time, inform
ed the comm
ittee that. he "was never asked to investi-
gate it in any way."(,115) W
hile he later read of the alleged Marcello
threat in the press, he "never saw any directive on it" or heard of any
Bureau
interest. in
the m
atter.(316) H
e stated th
at he w
ould
in all
i klihood have been aware of any such B
ureau directives or interest had there been any. (3
17)
(423) T
he evidence shows another aspect of the B
ureau's perform-
ance. FB
I files clearly Oldie:lie a high level aw
areness that the Bureau
was in
volv
ed in
tryin
g to
"discred
it" (the term
used
in a B
ureau
m
emorandum
) the source, of the information, E
dward B
eeker.(318)
had
hig
hly
distu
rbin
g im
plicatio
ns reg
ardin
g th
e perfo
rman
ce of
the F
BI in
investig
ating th
e possib
ility o
f Mafia co
mplicity
. um
_
evilence indicate` that the FB
Es--fo
rritItibC
of th
e allegatio
ns an
d
mffi-nration about. M
arcello was characterized by a less than vigor-
ous e o
- e
'low
, •
' .thaliniR
TT
4Threll u
s a stron
g d
esire to
"discred
it" the in
form
ation w
ithout litiV
irie actually
to in
vestig
ate
br
As n
oted
earlier, the files sh
ow
that a L
os A
ng
eles FB
I agen
t partici-
pated
in th
e effort, an
d w
ithout h
avin
g ever investigated the M
arcello allegations. (3
19) F
urth
er, the Ju
ne 5
,'19
67
, FB
I mem
oran
du
m o
n th
e m
atter ( which
wen
t. to D
irector H
oover h
imself, as w
ell as to h
is clo
sest aides) clearly
ind
icated th
at the "p
urp
ose" o
f the v
isit to R
eid
was "to
discred
it Beck
er to R
eid in
ord
er that th
e Carlo
s Marcello
incident w
ould be deleted from the book by R
eid." (320) (424)
l'he F
BI files also
con
tain rep
eated referen
ces to th
e Bu
reau's
use o
f allegatio
ns ab
out B
ecker receiv
ed fro
m S
idney
Korsh
ak, an
alleg
ed asso
ciate of v
arious o
rgan
ized crim
e leaders.(3
2/) T
he files
indicate a h
igh lev
el awaren
ess at Bureau
head
quarters th
at the L
os
Angeles F
BI office w
as usino.b the in
form
ation receiv
ed fro
m K
orsh
ak
in an
eit:d.t. to
persu
ade R
eid n
ot to
publish
the M
arcello alleg
a-tions. (3
22) T
here was, how
ever, no reference in the files to Korshak's
own possible background and activities, nor to his possible m
otives in su
pp
lyin
g th
e info
rmatio
n at th
at time. (3
23)
(425) T
he ev
iden
ce show
s that th
e FB
I's failure to
investig
ate the
allegatio
n th
at Marcello
had
discu
ssed assassin
ating P
residen
t Ken
-n
edy
con
stituted
a vio
lation
of th
e Directo
r's pro
mise to
inv
estigate
all circum
stances su
rroundin
g th
e Presid
ent's m
urd
er even
after the
official W
arren C
om
missio
n in
vestig
ation
had
end
ed in
19
64
. In h
is ap
pearan
ce befo
re the C
om
missio
n o
n A
fty. 6
, 1964, F
BI D
irector
J. Edgar H
oover h
ad p
ersonally
affirmed
that p
rom
ise, stating:
I can assu
re you so
far as the F
BI is co
ncern
ed th
e case w
ill be co
ntin
ued
in an
open
classification fo
r all time. T
hat
is, any in
form
ation co
min
g to
us o
r any rep
ort co
inin
g to
us
from
any so
urce w
ill be th
oro
ughly
investig
ated, so
that w
e w
ill be ab
le to eith
er pro
ve o
r disp
rov
e the alleg
ation
. (32
4)
(426) T
he FB
I's failure to take seriously the alleged Marcello threat
was all the m
ore disturbing given the time at w
hich the Bureau learned
of an
d d
iscarded
the alleg
ation
—less th
an 2
mo
nth
s after the lead
er-ship of the B
ureau had been faulted by President Johnson him
self for not p
ursu
ing an
oth
er allegatio
n b
y an
underw
orld
info
rman
t that
Mafia fig
ures an
d C
ub
an ag
ents m
igh
t secretly h
ave b
een in
vo
lved
in
Presid
ent K
enn
edy
's assassinatio
n.(3
2,5
) In th
at instan
ce, as de-
tailed b
y th
e Sen
ate Select C
om
mittee o
n In
telligen
ce in 1
976, F
BI
Directo
r Hoover an
d h
is top d
eputies h
ad learn
ed o
f the in
form
ation
from L
os Angeles M
afia figure John Roselli's law
yer, Edw
ard P. M
or-gan. (326) only to decide on F
ebruary 15, 1967, that "no investigation w
ill be m
idu
cted reg
ardin
g th
e allegatio
ns." (327)
(427) O
n M
arch 1
T, 1
96
7, u
pon
learnin
g o
f the R
oselli alleg
ation
and
of th
e Bu
reau's failu
re to in
vestig
ate it, Persid
ent Jo
hn
son
per-
son
ally in
terven
ed an
d o
rdered
the B
ureau
to in
terview
Mo
rgan
, p
ursu
e the in
form
ation
and
repo
rt its find
ing
s to h
im. (328)
Subm
itted b
y :
G. R
OB
ERT B
LAK
EY,
Chief C
ounsel and Staff Director.
GA
RY
T. C
OR
NW
EL
L,
Deputy C
hief Counsel.
MIC
HA
EL
EW
ING
, R
esearcher.
RE
FE
RE
NC
ES
(1) A
ttorn
ey G
eneral's C
on
ference o
n O
rgan
ized C
rime, R
epo
rt of F
ebru
-ary 15, 1950, p. 20; hearings before the S
elect Com
mittee to Investigate O
rganized C
rime in
Interstate C
om
merce, U
.S. S
enate, 8
2d
Co
ng
ress, Janu
ary-F
ebru
ary
19
51
, part 8
( Wash
ing
ton
, D.C
.: U.S
. Go
vern
men
t Prin
ting
Office) • (h
ere-in
after cited as K
efauver C
om
mittee h
earings an
d rep
ort) ; h
earings b
efore th
e S
elect Com
mittee o
n Im
pro
per A
ctivities in
the L
abo
r and
Man
agem
ent Fields,
Stith
Congress, 2
6 S
ess., March
1959, p
art 48 ( W
ashin
gto
n, D
.C.: U
.S. G
ov-
ernm
ent P
rintin
g O
ffice, .1959) (h
ereinafter cited
as McC
lellan C
om
mittee) ;
hearin
gs b
efore th
e Perm
anen
t Su
bco
mm
ittee on
Inv
estigatio
ns o
f the C
om
-m
ittee on G
overn
men
t Operatio
ns, U
.S. S
enate, 8
7th
Congress, G
amblin
g an
d
Org
anized
Crim
e, August-S
eptem
ber 1
961, p
arts 2 an
d 3
(Wash
ingto
n, D
.C.:
U.S
. Govern
men
t Prin
ting O
ffice, 1961) (h
ereinafter cited
as Perm
anen
t Investi-
gatio
ns S
ub
com
mittee) ; th
e Presid
ent's C
om
missio
n o
n L
aw E
nfo
rcemen
t and
th
e Ad
min
istration
of Ju
stice, Task
Fo
rce Rep
ort : O
rgan
ized C
rime (W
ashin
g-
ton, D.C
.: U.S
. Governm
ent Printing O
ffice, 1967), (hereinafter cited as Organized
Crim
e Com
mission R
eport). (2) S
ee ref. 1, testim
ony o
f Aaro
n M
. Kohn, A
ug. 3
0, 1
961, P
erman
ent In
vesti-
gatio
ns S
ubco
mm
ittee. ,(3
) Ibid
. (4)
Ibid
. (5)
Testim
ony of Aaron M
. Kohn, M
ar. 23, 1959, McC
lellan Com
mittee p. 17221.
(6) Ib
id.
(7) Ib
id.
(8) Ib
id.
,(9)
Ibid
. (10)
Kohn testim
ony, Aug. 30, 1961, P
ermanent Investigations S
ubcomm
ittee. (11)
Ibid
. (12)
Ibid
. (13)
Testim
ony of Aaron M
. Kohn, M
ar. 29, 1959, McC
lellan Com
mittee, P
P.
17222-23. (14)
Ko
hn
testimo
ny
, Aug. 3
0, 1
961, P
erman
ent In
vestig
ations S
ubco
mm
ittee; K
efauver Com
mittee, pp. 77-78; M
cClellan C
omm
ittee, pp. 17221-22. (15)
McC
lellan Com
mittee, pp. 17221-22.
(16) K
ohn Testim
ony, Aug. 30, 1961, P
ermanent Investigations S
ubconunittee. (17)
Ibid
. (18)
Ibid
. (19)
Ibid
. (20)
Statem
ent o
f Aaro
n M
. Ko
hn
, Jun
e 11
, 19
70
, ho
use Ju
diciary
Co
mm
ittee S
ubcomm
ittee No. 5, June 11, 1970.
(21) T
estimo
ny
of C
arlos M
arcello, Jan
. 25
, 19
51
, Kefau
ver C
om
mittee, p
p.
36-55. (22) K
efauver Senate C
omm
ittee report, p. 90. (23)
Id. at p
. 82
. (24) Id
. at p. 8
3.
(25) See ref. 20.
(26) K
ohn testimony, A
ug. 30. 1961, Perm
anent Investigations Subcom
mittee.
(27) M
cClellan
Sen
ate Co
mm
ittee repo
rt, No
. 11
39
, pp. 48
7-8
8; h
earing
s, pp
. 11213-14.
(28) M
cClellan C
omm
ittee, Mar. 24, 1959, pp. 17257-69.
(29) Id. at p. 17265. (30) Id. at p. 17266. (31)
Id. at p. 17267. (32)
Bill D
avid
son, "N
ew O
rleans : C
osa N
ostra's W
all Street," T
he S
aturd
ay
Evening P
ost, Feb. 29, 1964.
(33) Ib
id.
• (34)
Ram
sey Clark., "C
rime In A
merica" (N
ew Y
ork : Pocket B
ooks, 1971), pp. 56-57.
(35) H
ou
se Select C
om
mittee o
n C
rime, h
earing
s, "Org
anized
Crim
e in
Sports," June 1, 1972, pp. 970-71. (36)
FB
I report, Oct. 24, 1972, L
a Cosa N
ostra file, Bureau N
o. 92-6054-3176. (37)
Ibid
. (38)
Dep,sition of A
aron I:01m, N
ov. 7, 1978, House S
elect Com
mittee on A
s-sassin
ation
s, p. 4
0.
(391
Interv
iew o
f Patrick
.7. C
ollin
s, House S
elect Com
mittee o
n A
ssassina-
tions, Nov. 15, 1978.
88
(40) Ib
id.
(41) ib
id.
(42) Ibid
. (43) N
ew Y
ork Tim
es, Sept. 23, 1966, S
ept. 24, 1966; see ref. 20.
(44) Ibid
. (45)
The A
ssassinatio
n o
f John F
. Ken
ned
y an
d O
rgan
ized C
rime, co
nsu
ltant's
report, this volume.
46) Imm
unized testimony of C
arlos Marcell°, Jan. 11, 1978, H
ouse Select C
om-
mittee o
n A
ssassinatio
ns, p
. 110.
(47) N
ew O
rleans T
imes P
icayune, O
ct. 1, 1
966, O
ct. 2, 1
966.
(48) See ref. 20.
(49) Ib
id.
(50) Ibid. (51)
Ibid
. (52)
Ibid
. As d
etailed b
y th
e New
Orlean
s Crim
e Com
missio
n, th
ose w
ho ac-
tively
sought clem
ency
on M
arcello's b
ehalf in
cluded
one sh
eriff, one fo
rmer
sheriff, one S
tate legislato
r, two fo
rmer S
tate legislato
rs, two fo
rmer S
tate police
com
man
ders, o
ne p
residen
t of a w
aterfront lab
or u
nio
n, o
ne b
ank p
residen
t, two
ban
k v
ice presid
ents, o
ne fo
rmer assistan
t district atto
rney
, one ch
ief Juven
ile
pro
batio
n o
fficer, one fo
rmer rev
enue ag
ent, th
ree insu
rance ag
encies, fiv
e real-
tors, fiv
e physician
s, one fu
neral d
irector, an
d six
clergym
en.
15.3) Ibid. (54)
"The M
ob," part 1, LIF
E, S
ept. 1, 1997.
(55) Ibid
. (56)
Ibid
. (57 ) "T
he Mob," part 2, L
IFE
, Sept. 8, 1967.
•
(5;'.)
Warren
Rogers, "T
he P
ersecutio
n o
f Clay
Sha‘r," L
OO
K, A
ug. 2
6, 1
969.
(59) U
nited
Press In
ternatio
nal n
ews d
ispatch
, Mar. 1
, 1970.
(60‘ Ib
id.
(61) N
ew O
rleans States-Item
, Mar. 2, 1970.
(62) ' T
he L
ittle Man
Is Big
ger T
han
Ever," L
IFE
, Apr. 1
0, 1
970.
(6.3) 164 a S
yndicated
colu
mn o
f Victo
r Wesel, M
ay 5
, 1970.
(85) Ib
id.
86.) L
os A
ngeles T
imes, S
ept. 4
, 1970; W
all Street Jo
urn
al, Oct. 1
4, 1
970.
(67) See ref. 35.
(88) Id
. at p. 9
76.
(89) Id
: at p. 9
78.
(70) Id
. at p. 9
64.
(71) Id
. at p. 9
69.
(72) Id. at p. 9S5.
(73) Ibid
. (74) F
BI L
a Cosa N
ostra file, 1961, Bureau N
o. 92-6054.
(75) New
Orleans S
tates-Item, D
ec. 28, 1960.
(76) F
BI report, M
ar. 3, 1961, Carlos M
arcello file, Bureau N
o. 92-2713, Sec. 4.
(77) F
BI L
a Cosa N
ostra file, 1961, Bureau N
o. 92-6054.
Ibid
. (79) F
BI L
a Cosa N
ostra file, 1963, Bureau N
o. 92-6054.
(80) Ibid
. (5
1) Ib
id.
(82) Ibid
. (83) Ib
id.
) (
.5) FB
I report, Feb 13, 1961, C
arlos Marcello file.
(86t (b
7)
Interv
iew o
f A
ssassinatio
ns.
(SS
) Ibid
. (5
9) [b
id.
(90) Ib
id.
(91) Ib
id.
(P- 2) see ref. 37, pp. 65-66.
(9.1
i ibid
. 91 !,; ln
terv
i,• ,c of P
atric
k J. C
ollin
s, Nov. 1
5,1
978, H
ouse Select C
omm
ittee on
(9 , ; 1
89
(98) F
BI rep
ort, Mar. 30, 1961, C
arlos Marcello file, B
ureau
Serials 126-202.
(99) F
BI L
a Cosa N
ostra file, 1
961, B
ureau
No. 92-
6054; N
ew Y
ork
Tim
es, A
pr. 5, 1961, A
pr. 6, 1961.
(100) Ib
id., N
ew Y
ork T
imes, A
pr. 5, 1961, A
pr. 6, 1901.
(101) Ib
id.
(10) Ib
id.
(103) Ib
id.
(104) N
ew Y
ork T
imes, A
pr. 16, 1961.
(105) Ib
id.
(106) S
ee ref. 48, p. 37.
(107) Ib
id.
(108) Id
. at p. 38.
(109) Ib
id.
(110) Ib
id.
(111) N
ew Y
ork T
imes, A
pr. 10, 1961.
(112) New
York T
imes, A
pr. 23, 1961. (113) N
ew Y
ork Tim
es, May 5,1961.
(114) New
York T
imes, M
ay 20, 1961. (115)
Ibid
. (116) N
ew O
rleans Tim
es Picayune, June 2, 1961, Ju
ne 3, 1961.
(117) New
York T
imes, June 6, 1961.
(118) New
York T
imes, June 9, 1961.
(119) New
Orleans T
imes P
icayune, July 12, 1961. (120)
FB
I report, June 16, 1961, Carlos M
arcello file, Bu
reau
Seria
ls 120-202.
(121) Ib
id.
(122) F
BI rep
ort, Ju
ly 1
3, 1
961, C
arlos M
arcello file, lab
orato
ry w
ork
sheet,
Bureau S
erials 126-202. (123)
Ibid
. (124)
New
Orlean
s Tim
es Picayu
ne, S
ept. 8, 1961.
(125) Ib
id.
(126) N
ew Y
ork T
imes, O
ct. 31, 1961. (127)
Ibid
. (128)
New
Orleans T
imes P
icayune, Dec. 21,1961.
(129) B
ureau
of Narcotics rep
ort, Octob
er 1962, Carlos M
arcello file, Wash
ing-
ton.
(130) Ib
id.
(131) Ib
id.
(132) Ib
id.
(133) N
ew O
rleans T
imes P
icayun
e, Nov. 1,1962.
(134) Ib
id.
(135) Ib
id.
(136) F
BI rep
ort, F
eb. 1
5, 1
963, h
eadquarters to
New
Orlean
s SA
C, L
a Cosa
Nostra file, 1963, 92-6054. (137)
Ibid
. (138) O
rganized Crim
e Com
mission report, pp. 17-20, 90-113; H
earings Before
the S
enate Ju
diciary
Com
mittee, 87th
Con
g., 2d S
ess., Su
bcom
mittee on
Con
sti-
tutio
nal R
igh
ts, "W
iretap
pin
g a
nd
Eavesd
rop
pin
g, S
um
mary
Rep
ort o
f Hea
r-
ings 1958-61."
(139)
FB
I La C
osa Nostra file, 1903, 1967, B
ureau No. 92-6054.
(140) Ibid.
(141) See ref. 95.
(142) In
terview
of A
l Staffeld
, Aug. 2
3. 1
973, H
ouse S
elect Com
mittee o
n
Assassinations ; deposition of A
l Staffeld, S
ept. 7, 1978, House S
elect Com
mittee
on Assassinations, p. 20.
(143) FB
I La C
osa Nostra file, 1967, B
ureau No. 92-6054.
(144) F
BI rep
ort, A
pr. 1
7, 1
963, C
arlos M
arcello file, sec. 8
, Serials 3
34-3
79,
Bureau N
o. 92-2713. (145)
Ibid. (146) N
ew O
rleans Tim
es Picayune, M
ay 28, 1963. (147) Ibid. (148) N
ew O
rleans Tim
es Picayune, N
ov. 5, 1963. (149) N
ew O
rleans Tim
es Picayune, N
ov. 23. 1963, Nov. 24, 1963.
(1.5
0) N
ew O
rleans Tim
es Picayune, July 23, 1964.
(151) N
ew O
rleans Tim
es Picayune, O
ct. 7, 1964.
( 152) Ib
id.
(153) Ib
id.
(154) N
ew
Orlean
s Tim
es Picayu
ne, O
ct. 8, 1964.
Reg
is Ken
ned
y, T
an. 6
, 1978, H
ouse S
elect Com
mittee o
n
90 9
1
(1.55) In
terview
of A
aron K
ohn, N
ov. 2
1, 1
978, H
ouse S
elect Com
mittee o
n
Assassin
ations.
(156) In
terview
of R
ex Y
oung, O
ffice of G
eneral C
ounsel, Im
mig
ration an
d
Naturalization S
ervice, Nov. 20, 1978, H
ouse Select C
omm
ittee on Assassinations.
(157) Ib
id.
(158) Ib
id.
(159) Ib
id.
(160) E
d R
eid, "G
rim R
eapers," (H
enry
Reg
nery
Co
., 19
69
), pp
. 15
7-5
9.
(161) Id. at p. 157. (162)
Interview of E
d Reid, O
ct. 20, 1978, House S
elect Com
mittee on A
ssassi-n
ation
s; see ref. 16
0, "G
rim R
eapers," p
p. 1
57-5
9.
(163) Ib
id.
(164) See ref. 160, "G
rim R
eapers," pp. 157-58. (165)
Ibid
. (166)
Ibid
. (167)
Id. at p
p. 1
58-5
9.
(168) Ibid
. (169) S
ee ref. 162, Reid interview
. (170)
Ibid
. (171)
Ibid
. (172)
Ibid
. (173)
Ibid
. (174)
Ibid
. (175)
FB
I report, M
ay 1
7, 1
967, E
d R
eid file, A
lex R
osen
to C
artha D
eLoach
, B
ureau No. 62-109060-5589.
(176) Ib
id.
(177) Ib
id.
(178) Ib
id.
(179) Ibid
. (180)
See ref. 160, "G
rim R
eapers," pp. 157-59; see ref. 16. (181) S
ee ref. 162. (182)
Ibid
. (183)
FB
I report, M
ay 1
5, 1
967, E
d R
eid file, A
lex R
osen
to C
artha D
eLoach
, B
ureau No. 62-109060-5589.
(184) Ib
id.
(185) Ib
id.
(186) Ib
id.
(187) Ib
id.
(188) Ib
id.
(189) Ib
id.
(190) Ib
id.
(191) Ib
id.
(192) Ib
id.
(193) Ib
id.
(194) F
BI rep
ort, M
ay 1
7, 1
96
7, L
os A
ng
eles SA
C to
Directo
r, Bu
reau N
o.
62-109060-5589. (19.5) Ib
id.
(196) Ib
id.
(197) Ib
id.
(198) Ibid
. (199)
Ibid. (200)
FB
I La C
osa Astra file, 1961, 1963, 92-6054.
(201) Ib
id.
(202) Ib
id.
(203) "The D
ouble Life of S
idney Korshalf : L
awyer C
alled Crim
e's Link to B
ig B
usiness," New
York T
imes, June 27, 1976.
(204) Ib
id.
(205) F
BI rep
ort, Ju
ne 5
, 19
67
, Ed
ward
Beck
er, Lo
s An
geles S
AC
to D
irector,
Bureau N
o. 92-9927-2. (206)
Ibid
. (207)
Ibid
. (208)
Ibid. (209)
Ibid
. (210)
Ibid
. (211)
Ibid
. (212)
See ref. 1
62
, Reid
interv
iew ; an
d in
terview
of E
dw
ard B
ecker, O
ct. 24
, 1978, H
ouse Select C
omm
ittee on Assassinations.
213) S
ee ref. 160, "Grim
Reapers," p. 157.
(214) F
BI rep
ort, M
ay 1
5, 1
96
7, A
lex R
osen
to C
artha D
eLo
ach, B
ureau
No
. 62-100060-5589.
(215) F
BI airtel, from
Los A
ngeles to Director, O
ct. 20, 1962, Carlos M
arcello file, sec. 8, S
erials 334-379, Bureau N
o. 02-2713. (216)
Ibid
. (217) Ib
id.
(218) Ib
id.
(219) Ib
id.
(220) Ib
id.
(221) See ref. 212, B
ecker interview, O
ct. 24, 1978. (222)
FB
I repo
rt, No
v. 2
1, 1
96
2, C
arlos M
arcello file, sec. 8
, Serials 3
34
-37
9,
Bureau N
o. 92-2713. (223)
Ibid
. (224)
Ibid
. (225)
Ibid
. (226)
Ibid
. (227)
Ibid
. (228) F
BI report, N
ov. 26, 1962, Los A
ngeles SA
C to D
irector, Carlos M
arcello file, S
erials 334-379, Bureau N
o. 92-2713. (229)
Ibid
. (230)
Ibid
. (231)
FB
I repo
rt, No
v. 2
7, 1
96
2, E
dw
ard B
ecker file, B
ureau
No
. 62
-10
90
60
-5589.
(232) F
BI rep
ort, N
ov. 3
0, 1
962, E
dw
ard B
ecker file, B
ureau
No. 6
2-1
09060-
5589. (233)
Ibid
. (234)
Ibid
. (235)
FB
I report, Apr. 11, 1963, C
arlos Marcello file, B
ureau No. 92-2713.
(236) Ib
id.
(237) Ib
id.
(238) Ib
id.
(239) Ib
id.
(240) Ib
id.
(241) Ib
id.
(242) D
epositon of Aaron M
. Kohn, N
ov. 7, 1978, House S
elect Com
mittee on
Assassinations, p. 62. (243)
Ibid
. (244)
New
Orleans C
rime C
omm
ission file on Roppolo fam
ily, staff review of
file, No
v. 8
, 19
78
, Ho
use S
elect Co
mm
ittee on
Assassin
ation
s. (245) S
ee ref. 46. (246) S
ee ref. 212, Becker interview
. (247)
Ibid
. (248) Ib
id.
(249) Ib
id.
(250) Ib
id.
(251) Ib
id.
(252) Ib
id.
(253) Ib
id.
(254) Ib
id.
(255) Ib
id.
(256) Ib
id.
(257) Ib
id.
(258) Ib
id.
(259) Ib
id.
(260) Ib
id.
. (26
1) Ib
id.
(262) Ib
id.
(263) Ib
id.
(264) Ib
id.
(265) Ib
id.
(266) Ib
id.
(267) Ib
id.
(268) Ib
id.
(269) Ib
id.
(270) Ib
id.
(271) Ib
id.
(272) Ib
id.
t273) Ib
id.
92
(274) Ib
id.
(275) Ib
id.
(276) Ib
id.
(277) Ib
id.
(278) Ib
id.
(279) Ib
id.
(2S
0) Ib
id.
(281) Ib
id.
(282) Ib
id.
(283) Ib
id.
(284) Ib
id.
(285) Ib
id.
(286) Ib
id.
(287) Ib
id.
(288) Ib
id.
(289) Ib
id.
(290) Ib
id.
(291) Ib
id.
(292) Ib
id.
(293) Ib
id.
(294) Ib
id.
(295) Ib
id.
(296) Ib
id.
(297) Ib
id.
(298) S
ee ref. 46, PP
. 36-4
3. (299)
Id. at p
p. 4
3-4
4.
(300) Id
. at p. 3
6.
(.301) Id. at p
. 37.
(302) Id
. at p. 3
8:
(303) Ib
id.
(303)
Ibid
. (8
05) Id
. at p. 4
3.
(300)
Ibid
. (307)
Id. at p
. 42.
(308) It). at p
. 43.
(309) Ib
id.
(310) F
BI rep
ort. M
ay 1
7, 1
967. E
d R
eid file, B
ureau
No. 6
2-1
09060-5
589; F
BI
report. M
ay 1
7, 1
967, L
os A
ngeles S
AC
to D
irector, B
ureau
No. 6
2-1
09090-5
589;
FB
I report, Ju
ne 5
, 1967, E
dw
ard B
ecker, L
os A
ngeles S
AC
to Directo
r, Bureau
No. 9
2-9
927-2
. (311)
Ibid
. (312)
FB
I report, N
ov. 1
2, 1
902, L
os A
ngeles S
AC
to D
irector, C
arlos A
larcon°
file. S
eria
ls 334-3
79, B
ure
au N
o. 9
2-2
713 : F
BI re
port, N
ov. 2
7, 1
962 E
dw
ard
Becker file
, Bure
au N
o. 6
9-1
09060-5
589; F
BI re
port, N
ov, 3
0, 1
962, E
dw
ard
Beck
er file, Bureau
No. 6
2-1
09060-5
589.
(313) Ib
id.
(314) Ib
id.
(313) S
ee ref. 39.
(316) Ib
id.
(317) Ib
id.
(318) F
BI rep
ort, M
ay 1
.7, 1
967, E
d R
eid file, B
ureau
No. 6
2--1
09060-5
589; F
BI
report. M
ay 1
7. 1
907. L
os A
ngeles S
AC
to D
irector, B
ureau
No. 6
2-1
09060-5
589;
FB
I m1)0
0..1
1111° 5
, 1967, E
dw
ard B
ecker, 1
,os A
ngeles S
AC
to D
irector, B
ureau
No. 92-11927-2. (319)
Ibid
. (320)
Ibid
. (321)
Ibid
. (322)
110d. (.3
23; Ib
id.
(3231 T
estimony o
f J. Edgar H
oover, M
ay 6
, 190.1
, Hearin
gs b
efore th
e Presi.
dent's C
om
missio
n o
n th
e A
ssassin
atio
n o
f Pre
sident K
ennedy (W
ash
ingto
n,
D.C
. : U.S
. Govern
men
t Prin
ting O
ffice, 1964), v
ol. V
, p. 1
00.
(.;25)
-Tim
Investig
ation o
f the A
ssassinatio
n o
f Presid
ent Jo
hn F
. Ken
ned
y :
Pertn
rnian
c , o
f In
telligen
ce Agen
cies,- b
ook V
. Select C
om
mittee to
Stu
dy
c;overn
men
t Operatio
ns w
ith R
espect to
Intellig
ence A
ctivities, A
pril 2
3, 1
976,
pp. 8
0-8
9. S
enate rep
ort N
o. 9
4-7
55.
(3.1?6) It). at pp. 83-84. Id
. at pp. 8
1-8
2.
-.„
.,
IV. O
SW
AL
D'S
EA
RL
Y L
IFE
: NE
W O
RL
EA
NS
AN
D
OR
GA
NIZ
ED
CR
IME
*
CO
NT
EN
TS
Residence in the F
rench Quarter: 128 E
xchange Alley
Charles "D
utz" Murret and the N
ew O
rleans Underw
orld
Marg
uerite O
swald
and C
lem S
ehrt
Osw
ald's Em
ployment w
ith Tu
) ague s
Marguerite
Osw
ald and R
aoul Sere
Osw
ald. David F
errle and the Civil A
ir Patrol
Marguerite O
swald and S
am T
ermine
Paragraph
(4.28) (431) (4
41
(450 (453 (457) (491)
RE
SID
EN
CE
IN T
HE
FR
EN
CH
QU
AR
TE
R: 1
26 E
XC
HA
NG
E A
LL
EY
(428) D
uring his early childhood and adolescence in New
Orleans,
Lee O
swald
lived
with
his d
ivorced
moth
er at a num
ber o
f differen
t
locations, usually in small rented houses or apartm
ents in a moderate-
to-lower-incom
e section of the city. (1) While the record of residences
is not complete, one address w
as 126 Exchange A
lley. (2) During her
testimony b
efore th
e Warren
Com
missio
n, lies. M
arguerite O
swald
indicated
that sh
e and h
er son liv
ed th
ere when
Osw
ald w
as about
15 to
16 y
ears old
, roughly
the y
ears 1955-5
6.(3
) They
were "liv
ing
nt 126 Exchange P
lace, which is the V
ieux Carr section of the F
rench
Quarter of N
ew O
rleans." (4) During her testim
ony, Mrs. O
swald noted
that "th
e pap
ers said w
e lived
over a salo
on at th
at particu
lar ad-
dress * * * that is just the French part of tow
n. It looks like the devil.
Of co
urse I d
idn't h
ave a fab
ulo
us ap
artmen
t. But v
ery w
ealthy p
eo-
ple and very fine citizens live in that part of town. * * *"(5) W
hile Mrs.
Osw
ald co
rrectly n
oted
that "w
ealthy" citizen
s resided
in so
me sec-
tions o
f the F
rench
Quarter, E
xch
ange A
lley w
as well k
now
n as th
e
location of other elements; it w
as an area notorious for illicit activities.
As the m
anaging director of the Metropolitan C
rime C
omm
ission of
New
Orlean
s, Aaro
n K
ohn recalled
, "Exch
ange A
lley, sp
ecifically
that little b
lock
that O
swald
lived
on, w
as literally th
e hub o
f som
e
of the most notorious underw
orld joints in the city.3 '(3) H
e noted
fur-
ther th
at Exch
ange A
lley w
as the lo
cation o
f vario
us g
amblin
g
operatio
ns affiliated
with
the M
arcello o
rgan
ization. (7
) Notin
g th
e
open
ness w
ith w
hich
such
activities w
ere conducted
there,(8
) Kohn
said, "y
ou co
uld
n't w
alk d
ow
n th
e blo
ck w
ithout literally
bein
g ex
-
posed
to tw
o o
r three. sep
arate form
s of illicit activ
ities and u
nder-
world operations." (9)
(429) As early as N
ovember 26,1963, the crim
e comm
ission had noted
Lee O
swald
's exposu
re at Exch
ange A
lley, w
hen
it publish
ed a
* O
swald
's late
r life, p
artic
ula
rly h
is activ
ities in
1963, is c
overe
d in
deta
il
in o
ther staff rep
orts an
d in
the co
mm
entary
.
(93)