According to information collected by FBI wiretaps, representatives of the Philadelphia family contacted ageing mobster Frank Gagliano, the underboss to Carolla, for permission to move into casino-styled gambling operations and cocaine trafficking.

"Sure, go ahead," Gagliano is supposed to have said, "come on in. You won't get any problems from the Marcellos. They're finished. They don't mean nothin' around here any more."


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By the time Marcello left prison in 1989, he was in ill health and unable to run his far-flung empire - or what was left of it. He died in 1993.

About the time video poker machines started coming on line in Louisiana in 1992, the FBI was running a court-approved wiretap on a pay telephone in a French Quarter deli where bookmaking was suspected.

Illegal bets on professional sports have always been a mainstay of organized crime. But there wasn't much worry about organized crime at the time: as far as the federal government was concerned, the Marcello family had fallen so far that New Orleans was just about an "open city" - not controlled by any particular gang.

But what the feds heard on that pay phone stunned them - various mob figures in Louisiana talking with their counterparts in the East about infiltrating the video poker businesses through "front organizations."

And the conversations revealed that Anthony Carolla - who had lost out in the 40s to Marcello as boss - was now leading the family and would be aided by Joseph "JoJo" Corrozo, described by prosecutors as a captain in the Gotti-dominated Gambino family.

"We had the advantage of being up on a wire, watching and listening day to day the mob literally re-emerging in New Orleans. It was unprecedented," Letten said.

Bally Gaming Inc., a major slot-machine manufacturer, had fallen behind in the game. Its video poker machines were outdated compared to competitors who had beaten Bally to the budding Louisiana market.

Then, as prosecutors would later allege, a former New Jersey casino executive named Steve Bolson and Christopher Tanfield, a rock concert promoter, linked up Bally Gaming with two Louisiana companies - Worldwide Gaming of Louisiana and Louisiana Route Operators to place Bally machines in restaurants, bars and truck stops.

The deal was a disaster for Bally Gaming. The company terminated its relationship with the two firms and later claimed a $25 million loss from the deal.

That was only the start: In May 1994, a federal grand jury alleged that Worldwide Gaming and Louisiana Route Operators were nothing more than fronts for the Marcello and Gambino crime families, with the Genovese family also along for the ride.

Prosecutors debriefed Gravano and found out about the 1990 meetings between the Gotti and Marcello families, learning for the first time that the scheme was concocted even before video poker was legalized. By the time the pay phone gave away its secrets, the plan was nearly three years old.

The government convicted 25 people of involvement in the scheme. Those included Corrozo, Carolla and Salvatore, along with John "Johnny G" Gammarao, an alleged soldier for the Gambino family, Eugene "Noogie" Gilpin, an alleged Genovese associate, and Carlos Marcello's brother, Joseph Paul Marcello Jr.

One Louisiana legislator lost his political career. Buster Guzzardo, who served in the House, pleaded guilty to accepting $1,200 in cash and a fax machine from Tanfield, the concert promoter.
Bally Gaming was eventually bought by another company.

In local referendums held in 1996, 33 parishes banned video poker. But casinos survived and the Legislature later approved slot-machine casinos at race tracks.

Gotti was convicted of murder and sentenced to life. He died in June 2002.

Gravano confessed to roles in 19 murders when he testified against Gotti and was released after only five years in prison. He eventually left the witness protection program, lived openly in Arizona and taunted the mob during interviews in 1999.

But old habits die hard: Gravano is now serving a 19-year sentence in Arizona for masterminding an ecstasy drug ring.

As far as organized crime goes, Letten says from what he sees, New Orleans is again mostly an "open city," at least as far as traditional La Cosa Nostra goes.

"I think we struck a killer blow to these guys and dismantled a re-emerged family," Letten said. "By the grace of God, we were able to do that."