On this day in 1940 Rudolph T. O’Dwyer succumbs to a month long illness at the Hotel Dieu hospital in New Orleans. O’Dwyer was born in New Orleans but lived most of his life in Jefferson LA and was an early gambling proprietor, political figure and sportsman.

He, along with brother George, ran some of the biggest gambling establishments in Jefferson including Club Forest, The Original Southport Club and O’Dwyers. Like many others at the time he was indicted in 1936 for tax evasion for the years 1929 through 1931 and pled guilty to the charges. He was ordered to pay around $34,000.00 including taxes and fines. He filed a civil action to recoup some of the money but was defeated in the attempt and assessed more fines finally totalling around $43,000.00.

He was 60 years old and is interred in Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans.

On this day in 1940, Rudolph T. O'Dwyer passed away following a month-long illness at the Hotel Dieu hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was 59 years old, and his death marked the end of an era for one of the most colourful and consequential figures in the story of organised gambling in the greater New Orleans area. Born in New Orleans, O'Dwyer spent the bulk of his life across the parish line in Jefferson, where he would help shape a gambling culture that would eventually attract the attention of some of the most powerful organised crime figures in America.

Together with his brother George, Rudolph operated some of the most prominent and profitable gambling establishments in Jefferson Parish, including the Club Forest, the Original Southport Club, and the eponymous O'Dwyers. These were not back-alley operations — they were sophisticated, well-patronised venues that reflected the wide-open political climate of Louisiana, where gambling and local political machinery were deeply intertwined. Jefferson Parish, sitting just beyond the reach of New Orleans city authorities, was tailor-made for men like O'Dwyer, who understood that real power lay in cultivating the right relationships with local politicians and law enforcement alike.

O'Dwyer's operations did not go unnoticed by the federal government. In 1936, as part of a broader crackdown on untaxed gambling income, he was indicted for tax evasion covering the years 1929 through 1931. He pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay approximately $34,000 in back taxes and fines. Undeterred, he attempted to claw back some of that money through a civil action, but the courts ruled against him and imposed additional penalties, pushing his total financial exposure to around $43,000 — a considerable sum at the time and a clear signal that the federal government was tightening its grip on the lucrative underground economy that men like O'Dwyer had long taken for granted.

The world O'Dwyer helped build in Jefferson Parish did not disappear with him. The infrastructure of gambling, political patronage, and organised money that he and his contemporaries established laid the groundwork for the later dominance of Carlos Marcello, who would go on to become one of the most powerful mob bosses in the American South and a key figure in the national crime syndicate. Rudolph T. O'Dwyer is interred at Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans, a fitting resting place for a man whose life was woven into the very fabric of Louisiana's complicated and endlessly fascinating underworld history.