When "Colonel" W.L. Moody, self-proclaimed emperor of Galveston, who'd made his fortune in hotel monopolies, threw his weight with the Maceos, Sam responded coolly. He counseled Moody to stay out of Maceo business and the Maceos would stay out of hotels. Moody knew the only reason he hadn't already been ruined was because the Maceos had chosen to let him be.

According to the book you mentioned it was the opposite. Sam Maceo was building a luxury complex on the island, Moody Jr heard about it, summoned Russ Maceo to HIS office, and told him I stayed out of gambling, you stay out of hotels. Apparently construction stopped the very next day.

Check it out. Page 238

http://books.google.com/books/about/Galveston.html?id=RFRu8kYThEcC

Also check page 240. Moody may have tried to frame Maceo for drug dealing at some point. A lot of his co-defendants plead guilty to heroin distribution though so maybe they weren't as clean as they acted.

The Maceos made a lot of money, but it wasn't really their town.