I wanted to ask you what ever happened to Carlos Marcello after he was released.

Chris Chuter

Dear Chris,

I'm not sure exactly which time you are referring to, so I'll tell you about all of them.

The Mafia boss' first contact with the law was in 1929. He was only 19 when he was arrested by New Orleans police in connection with a planned robbery of a local bank with two younger boys, for which he had stolen a getaway car. He was sentenced to the state penitentiary for nine to 14 years. In less than five years, however, he was out again -- pardoned by Louisiana Gov. O.K. Allen.

Marcello returned to work with his father, who raised vegetables in Algiers. But farm life had little appeal, so Marcello bought a bar in Gretna and opened a liquor store in Algiers. Then more charges were filed against him: assault and robbery, violation of Federal Internal Revenue laws, and assault with intent to kill a New Orleans police officer. While he was not prosecuted on these charges, he was arrested again in 1938 as part of what federal agents described as "the biggest marijuana ring in New Orleans history." For this he went to prison again, this time serving less than 10 months.

After his release, he went to work for the Jefferson Music Company, which eventually came to dominate the slot-machine, pinball, and juke-box businesses. And in the 1940s, Marcello kept himself busy associating with the likes of New York Mafia leader Frank Costello and operating a slot-machine network. He was also part-owner of two wildly popular casinos: the Beverly Club and the New Southport Club.

In 1951, Marcello became one of the targets of an investigation of organized crime. Led by U.S. Sen. Estes Kefauver of Tennessee, the investigating committee questioned Marcello and others. Marcello, who refused to cooperate, was convicted of contempt of Congress. An appeals court reversed that ruling, but Marcello soon had a new battle on his hands. Born in Tunisia, Marcello had not become a U.S. citizen; so procedures were begun to have him deported. In 1961, he was deported to Guatemala but managed to sneak back into the country. Over the years, Marcello spent a fortune fighting deportation.

During the next several years, he kept a low profile, but the New Orleans Mafia grew. By the early 1960s, the syndicate was bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars annually, but Marcello claimed he made a living in real estate and as a "tomato salesman" for the Pelican Tomato Company.

The "tomato salesman" managed to stay out of jail until August 1969, when he was found guilty in a retrial for assaulting a federal agent. Off to federal prison he went for a term of six months, which he served at the Federal Medical Center in Springfield, Mo. He spent the years after his release buying and selling property on the West Bank in Jefferson Parish.

Marcello began his last prison term in 1983. In 1981 he had been convicted in California of conspiring to bribe a federal judge, and in Louisiana he was found guilty of the infamous BRILAB (an anagram for bribery and labor) scheme, a sting operation involving bribery in exchange for hefty insurance contracts. Marcello began suffering strokes and was released to a federal medical center in the summer of 1989 in poor health. Shortly afterward, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal in New Orleans reversed the 1981 conviction, and the kingpin was released from prison after serving six years.

Marcello, who was born Calogero Minacori and whose 5-foot-2-inch height earned him the nickname "The Little Man," was also believed by conspiracy theorists to be involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, although nothing was ever proved. It is theorized that Marcello was angered over a crackdown on organized crime led by the president's brother, then-Attorney Gen. Robert Kennedy.

Federal officials estimated Marcello's wealth from business interests and real estate holdings in St. Charles and Jefferson parishes amounted to about $30 million when he went to prison the last time. So when he was released he was able to live fairly comfortably in a modest home in Metairie. It was there he died on March 3, 1993.

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