The Mafia in the South

Hi,

I know some things about the Mafia and its ties to the South.

The Itlalian American Mafia was started in New Orleans,Louisiana in 1865. The prominant families in NOLA were the Marcello and Traficante families.

2.Hot Springs, Arkansas was a mob hide out.

3.I'm sure Virginia Hill was from the South I just don't know where.

I'm sure the Mafia has a long history here in the South since a lot of people here once made moonshine. However alot of people usually don't associate the mafia with the South. Does anyone have anymore information on the history of the Mafia in the South?

Welcome, Atlanta!
You're right: the Mafia's probable first foothold in America was in New Orleans through the Matrangas and their associates, etc. Later, Carlos Marcello in New Orleans and Santos Trafficante in Tampa pressed the cause forward. They may have had something to do with distributing moonshine, but I doubt they were involved in distilling it. Their greatest interests were gambling and drugs. Hot Springs, Arkansas, had connections to New Orleans, Tampa and Chicago, and at one time, Owney Madden, a big-time NYC Prohibition-era bootlegger and gangster, had a piece of the action.
Ony Virginia Hill (her full name) was from rural Alabama. Although she was primarily known as Benny Siegel's mistress, she in fact spent much more time, in total, with the Chicago "outfit" through her connection to Joe Epstein, second-in-command to Jake (Greasy Thumb) Guzik, who was Capone's second-in-command, and who ran the Outfit with Frank (the Enforcer) Nitti while Capone was in Alcatraz.

Thanks for the info Turnbull. Really interesting stuff. I've always heard that Johnny Cash's (the country singer) brother was "sawed in half" by the mafia? Do you know if that's true?

Hmm... sawed in half? Never heard that one... But I can tell you that the big businesses of the Marcello family were pinball and slot machines (slot machines used to be illegal in Louisiana and were at the time that we had them) and distributing drugs and moonshine (correct, Turnbull, as always! They didn't make it, but were in tight with those who did. The Guarinos made much of the moonshine that Carlos and the others helped to distribute, and one of Carlos's sisters even married one of the Guarinos!)They did have many legit businesses, including numerous restaurants. My uncle Carlos has passed away, though; he died in 1993.

Neither did I. Sorry...

I, also, never heard of that. You sure it wasn't a half-brother?? :rolleyes:

Hey does anyone know the details of a story that Bobby Kennedy supposedly had Marcello picked up in New Orleans and had him flown by a small plane to the deepest jungles of Central America and had him dropped there left alone with just the clothes on his back and no money? The little guy (I think he was 5' tall or something) MADE IT ALL THE WAY BACK!!! And man, was he supposedly P***ed off ( do you blame him?). Is this a true one or legend?
BTW, SC, Half brother...

That's a true story, BK. The story was that Marcello had a phony Guatemalan passport to cover up with, so Bobby had him "deported" to Guatemala, and yes, he was left in the middle of a jungle. He managed to get to Nicaragua, but the Justice Dept. leaned on them there and he was once again stranded--apparently left to die. Marcello managed to get back after about three weeks. Showed incredible resourcefulness.
And let me chime in on SC's "half brother":

I guess the Johnny Cash thing was just a rumor. The people who did the "distilling" were old mountain bootleggers. I know some old guys who used to be bootleggers. If you've ever seen the movie "Thunder Road" there's alot of people around here who knew the guy they made the movie about.

ah yes, Carlos Marcello, the "Big Daddy of the Big Easy". doesn't he look familiar?

Mafia news in Virginia.The former owner of a South west Roanoke convenience store who pleaded guilty to drug and firearms charges was sentenced to 12 years in prison in federal court. "Don" John Mark Fourcherlioni, who owned Gary's Corner Market, in the 600 block of Marshall Avenue, faced a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years because he had three prior felony drug convictions. Fourcherlioni,41, pleaded guilty in March to two counts of possesion w/ intent to distribute methamphetamine and one count of recieving stolen wepons. The wepons were stolen from a collector in Montvale. Two other Roanoke men who also pleaded guilty to drug charges in connection with the Foucherlioni crime organization were also sentenced in Fed. court. Mike Eugene, 49, was sentenced to seven yr. in prison for posseion w/ intent to sell Meth. Thomas Edward , 58, was sentenced to probation for possession of cocaine.

I seem to remember someone saying that "drugs is a dirty business..."

Hi,
I live in Florida where they can't even use the new voting machines. They will begin counting again. Forget about good Italian Bread. The water down here sucks. It's the same with the Pizza and Pastry.

Paul

I know, Paul. I once tried to order spaghetti with marinara sauce, and they gave me egg noodles with ketchup.

Hi,
I am still on the floor from that one.

Paul