A lot of Italian immigrants came in through the Gulf. It's the reason there were Italians in Tampa and Texas as well, although they couldn't just go anywhere. Places like N.O., Galveston, and Tampa were progressive for their times. Catholics weren't very welcome in protestant regions of the country then and Italians weren't considered to be "pure white" in the Dixie South.

"...the successful annihilation of organized crime's subculture in America would rock the 'legitimate' world's foundation, which would ultimately force fundamental social changes and redistributions of wealth and power in this country. Meyer Lansky's dream was to bond the two worlds together so that one could not survive without the other." - Dan E. Moldea