“You came a long way for nothing.”
…Said the man standing on the platform in the Southern Railway train terminal on Basin Street. He spoke with a slight Italian accent.
The man he was speaking to had just arrived in New Orleans by train from Chicago. The two men were close to the same age and each was dressed very well but differed in personal appearance. The first was slight of build with ears that stuck out a bit. The newly arrived man was big, with three scars on the left cheek. Both were of Italian heritage but the thinner man was of Sicilian descent while the bigger man was a Neopolitan. The Neopolitan had spent several days making the trip South and appeared to be in an unhappy and tense mood. This man spoke with an accent that could only be from New York. Brooklyn in fact.
“Where’s Corrado? I’m tired and I got no time for no bullshit. I wanna’ talk to Corrado now. Take me to wherever he is so I can get this straightened out! You guys are gonna’ start sending me shipments instead of that prick, Aeillo!”
He turned to the several men who had appeared behind him.
“Get the luggage,”
He said to no one of them in particular.
“You won’t need to worry about that Al,”
Said the first man, and then he turned to several New Orleans police officers who had joined them on the platform.
“Help Al’s boys out with their luggage. You fellas know the drill,”
Said one of the policemen to Al’s boys as they approached. The officers then proceeded to frisk the men, producing several pistols. They stuck the guns in their belts.
“They’re clean now Mr. Carollo”
Said one of the cops.
“Corrado said to tell you hello Al, and sorry that he didn’t have time to see you while you were passing through town. He hopes next time you come you’ll be able to stay longer and he can show ya’ around.”
With that he nodded to the policemen who were still with Al’s boys. They each grabbed the nearest hand of one of Al’s boys, and proceeded to twist the fingers as hard as they could. Several cracks could be heard, followed by screams of pain and streams of profanity. Some passersby looked on in amazement, some kept their eyes averted and their ears shut. They all gave the group of men a wide berth.
“You got just enough time to catch the next train back to Chicago. These boys will help you get to the right one…….arrivederci Al,”
Smirked the slightly built man with the ears that poked out a bit and with that he turned and walked away.
So this is the way I imagine it could have happened. Nobody knows for sure what happened on that day in 1929, when Sam Carollo met “Scarface” Al Capone at the New Orleans train station.
In reality no one really knows if it even did happen at all. And we’re really not sure where the story first came from but the earliest reference I’ve been able to find for it is in David Chandler’s 1975 book Brothers in Blood. Chandler doesn’t elaborate or speculate on the story or provide any sources for where he got it, he just tells it and moves on.
A note before we continue on with Sam’s story.
The original article I submitted to our host and Capo dei Capi Craig was written in mid – 2016 when I had only been digging into the New Orleans Family for a few months and the info I had on “Silver Dollar Sam” was very limited. In the years since I’ve learned MUCH more about Sam’s life through research along with a BIG dose of help from some of Sam’s family. After recently reading through the original article I could definetely see the need for a major update. While there’s still many gaps in the info and some things are still pretty muddy this will be much more informative and, I hope, interesting
The above story was sort of a filler to puff up the original article as I really didn’t have a whole lot as far as facts back then but I liked the local “legend/myth” of the man that ran Al Capone out of town. I say myth because there’s just no sources backing up this story at all and when it’s broken down the facts make it even less likely it happened. I’ll cover more on this down below but I will note here that Sam was asked about the Capone story not long before his death by a family member and reportedly Sam’s answer was “Why would I do that? He was my friend.”
But hey, enough of my yakkin! Let’s boogie on to Sam!
So the first thing we need to cover is the last name.
You can find his last name referenced as Corollo and Carolla. Usually Carolla.
There’s a few theories as to why you can find it as Carolla but most likely it just boils down to a reporter at some point getting it wrong and it just proliferated from there. The same with his first name in the early part of Sam’s life. I’ve seen it written as Silvestre, Silvestrie, Silvestri, Silve……but as Sam got more noteriety the papers got it down to Sam…….they never did decide to stick to one last name. Until that is, and this is pretty interesting, the last few months of his life. It should also be noted that, according to family, he was never referred to as Sam with close friends and family. With them he was known as Silve.
But the fact is that the last name is Carollo.
Sam’s Family Background
Michele Corollo, born around 1867, was a shoe maker married to a woman named Serafina Bommarito, born around 1881. Michele originally arrives in New Orleans in 1892 and returns to Sicily for a brief period in 1895 in which timeframe Sam would have been concieved and Sylvestro Davide Carollo was born June 17 1896 in Terrasinni Sicily. At some point after Sam’s birth Michele returns to New Orleans (we do know that he’s back in New Orleans by October 23 1900, staying on the 2nd floor of the Customs House and arrived on the SS. Sempione but how this fits in the timeline is unclear) and it’s unclear if Michele makes any more return trips to his home and family in Sicily or not but on February 14 1903 Serafina arrives in the Port of New Orleans on the SS Manila with a young Sam. It had left the Port of Palermo on January 24 1903. Serafina is 22 and Sam is 6.
Michele and Serafina have another son, Salvadore (who would become known as Tudie), who is born on October 26 1904. Tudie would pass away on March 18 1992 at his home in Arabi Louisiana on March 18 1992.
Michele died in New Orleans on July 22 1905. No other details on his death and none on Serafina after she arrives are available at this time.
Caterina “Tenie” Carollo was born on March 12 1896 to Anthony Carollo and Margarete Manale. Anthony was brother to Michele, uncle to Sam.
Sam’s grandparents on his father’s side were Silvestro Carollo and Caterina Soprenza. So it looks likely that Sam and Tenie, who shared the same grandparents since they were first cousins, were named after those grandparents.
Sam’s great grandparents (again, father’s side) were Antonino Carollo and Grazia Bommarito.
Sunday March 16 1913
Sam is 16 and Tenie had just turned 17 when they vanish one afternoon after saying they were going to see a moving picture show. The two were found two days later in a New Orleans boarding house at 717 St. Charles Avenue living as a married couple when the owner of the boarding house, a Mrs. Britt, read the description in the papers on Tuesday the 18th of two cousins who had dissappeared and were were being sought out and so she called the police. When questioned by the two detectives that showed up at their door, Detectives Glynn and Scheffler, where they got married Sam replied ” We didn’t get married, we eloped”. The two were taken to the Juvenile Court where Tenie’s father showed up and a very upset Anthony loudly denounced the two and cast his daughter out. She was placed in the House of Good Shepherd and Sam was placed in the Waif’s Home until a solution could be arrived at. It was later arrainged with the Juvenile Court’s Judge Wilson that the two teens would go to Gulfport to marry as Louisiana law did not allow the marriage of first cousins. Mississippi had no such qualms. On March 20 1913 the two teens were escorted by a still unhappy Anthony Carollo by train to Gulfport where the two were properly married by Justice of the Peace Rankin. According to articles in the paper the married cousins were not going to be allowed to return to New Orleans as the State didn’t recognize the type of marriage they had and it was speculated that Tenie’s father was going to set Sam up in business in Gulfport. As we know however that would not be the case.
Sam and Tenie had three children. Saraphine (Sarah) C. born on November 25 1917, Michael Pascal born May 24 1921 and Anthony Salvador born November 24 1923. Anthony would go on to follow in his dad’s footsteps and become the Boss of New Orleans in 1993 after the death of Carlos Marcello and would remain in that position until his own death on February 1 2007. Michael was a “civilian” and worked as a contractor in Arabi Louisiana where he also lived. He was electrocuted on May 20 1983 when helping a neighbor work on an AC unit in the man’s attic. Sarah passed away on February 7 1980 from colon cancer.
Details are still fairly sketchy of the very early days of his rise in the criminal underworld of New Orleans but Sam, called Silva in one article from the Sam/Tenie elopment scandal, is described as a young dandy with his fingers bedecked with cheap rings and an ever present cigarette between his lips. It appears that by 1918 Sam had gained a name and reputation for himself as someone to be respected and was affiliated with Charles “Millionaire Charlie” Matranga who was the Boss of New Orleans at the time.
Matranga came from a line of Mafiosi that hailed from Monreale Sicily, a beautiful little town that sits in the hills overlooking Palermo.
Matranga was a survivor of the 1891 lynching at the Orleans Parish Prison where 11 Italians were lynched after a not guilty verdict in the case of the assassination of David C. Hennessey, Superintendant of Police in New Orleans. There is much speculation though as to how much danger Matranga was really in on March 14 1891 when a group of 30 or so men, referred to as the Regulators, broke into the prison and executed the offending Italians. The Matranga family had been building up power since the assassination of Raffaelle Agnello in 1870, an early New Orleans Boss, but in the aftermath of the lynching it appears it left things wide open for Matranga and by the time Sam came along it seems Millionaire Charlie had a fairly firm grip on things (though there is evidence of some waring factions in the 1910’s). By 1922 Matranga was getting up in age, mid 60’s or so, and decided to retire.
And so here is one of those “muddy” situations I mentioned earlier. There’s four versions how Sam took over the top spot in the New Orleans Underworld. They are as follows:
The first, and least likely in my opinion, was that Salvatore Maranzano appointed Sam as Boss in 1931 after he eliminated Joe Masseria in the Castellamarase War. That just doesn’t work in reality.
The other three versions all revolve around the 1922 retirement of Matranga.
The first of these three is that Corrado Giacona was appointed Boss upon Matranga’s retirement. The second is that Sam was made Boss and the third is that Giacona was made Boss with Sam in the position of Street Boss. Though it’s not unheard of Sam would have been pretty young to take things over, just 26 years old.
I find the third version the most likely but in reality there’s no info to confirm any of these scenarios.
To add to the confusion there’s another part of the story that plays off the third where Frank Todaro is made Boss after Giacona’s death in July 1944 but dies shortly after that in November 1944. The story goes that Sam may have helped Frank along with a little poison but in reality Frank died of throat cancer. A member of the Todaro family confirmed that Sam and Frank were close going back to their time in Italy growing up and in no way would that have ever have happened.
Information for the next several years is severely lacking but Sam’s first documented prison term is in 1923 and he’s sentenced to two years in federal prison for stealing 89 barrels of alcohol. Sam states in his 1931 trial that he had been to Atlanta Penitentiary before and that the denial of his Naturalization on February 27 1925 was due to a violation of the Volstead Act.
1929 was a busy and interesting year for Sam but first let’s talk about the Scarface story again.
The story goes along the lines that Sam was exporting booze to Joe Aiello in Chicago and that Al came down to NOLA to persuade Sam to start sending shipments over his way instead of to his competitor Aiello. Now, keep in mind that the 1929 Atlantic City conference took place in May from the 13th to the 16th and Al was busted on the 17th in Pennsylvania for carrying a gun and was sentenced to a year. So this incident would have had to take place sometime before that. Unfortunately I’ve never seen a version of the story that mentioned an exact date. Only the year of 1929. In addition, Sam supposedly attended the Atlantic City meet and I would think there would have been some bad blood but between them and I’ve yet to come across any info of a clash between the two during the conference. Add in the facts that Al was a pretty famous guy and when he went somewhere and there would be reporters all over the place. There’s no record at all of Al travelling to New Orleans.
I think the basis of the Al story lies with his brother Ralph. Known as “Bottles”, Ralph was busted in 1928 in New Orleans for basically being an undesireable character (who knows if that went deeper or not). Ralph was likely in town for the races at the horse track which was one of the best in the country at the time. Ralph resembled Al quite a bit at the time as well. Whatever the genesis of the story I’m sure that if Sam ever heard it he didn’t deny it. I would imagine most people, criminal or not, would be wary of crossing a guy that did that to Scarface Al Capone and got away with it.
As mentioned above, Sam attends the Atlantic City conference in May 1929 from the 13th to the 16th.
THURSDAY AUGUST 22 1929
Federal narcotics agent Clarence (Cecil) V. Benjamin Moore is shot in the jaw while attempting to arrest two men for selling an ounce of morphine. Five people were implicated in the shooting and the Harrison Act violation. A woman, Marietta Andre and a man described as her “admirer” Ray “Doc” Coughlin, were promised they would not be brought up on charges for their early co-operation after the shooting. The three others were a man named Edward Grayson along with Frank Todaro and Sam Carollo. The situation went along these lines: Moore, and Julius Peiper arrainged to buy an ounce of morphine through an addict and informer named Ernest Lunford. During the buy Todaro and Carollo pulled up to Grayson and handed him the morphine. As soon as the buy was made Peiper followed Grayson into his house to arrest him while Moore followed Todaro and Carollo. At the edge of the French Quarter on the corner of Esplanade Ave. and Bourbon Street Carollo shot him and and the pair fled. In the hospital Moore first claimed a man named Vicaro had shot him but then failed to identify him when Vicaro was brought before him. Marietta Andre was arrested as it was her car that Todaro And Carollo were driving but she had apparently reported the vehicle stolen that morning before the shooting. “Doc” Coughlin was arrested as Grayson told police that it was he who arranged for the morphine to be delivered. Todaro and Sam were arrested in February 1930.
When they went on trial on January 12 1931 Frank and Sam claim they were out of town at the time of the shooting. The story was that they had given $5000 to a man named Louie Schwet to finance a large whiskey shipment from Mexico. Schwet had disappeared with the money but they got word Schwet was in New York so they left to find him, arriving in New York on August 18, four days before the shooting, and not returning until December 12. They produced reciepts and a photo copy of the hotel register showing they checked in on August 18. In addition, two NOLA detectives, Charles Porretto and J.T.Ford, testified for the defense that they had brought a man (Vicaro) before Moore the morning after the shooting and that Moore had positivley ID’d him as the man who shot him and that charges had been filed against him.
Todaro and Carollo are eventually found guilty of Harrison Act violations and sentenced to federal time of 36 months, they end up serving about 28 months (18 in Atlanta and the rest in Louisiana). Upon their release from federal custody in May 1933 Sam is turned over to state authorities to begin serving time for the shooting of a liquor runner named Hayes Penton.
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 1 1929
Bootleggers Hayes Penton, Hubert Serigent and John Zechenelly witness a truck driven by William Bailey pull up near Zechenelly’s home. Bailey and another man transfer the load of liquor to another truck and take off. A short time later Carollo and two others entered Zechenelly’s home demanding to know where their liquor was. The trio denied any knowledge of the liquor shipment. Penton and Serigent leave around midnight and Penton quickly finds he is being followed and is then forced off the road by the following car. Carollo and his two men get out of their car and then proceed to beat the two men with blackjacks. Penton decided to make a run for it but was shot twice by Carollo. Carollo was sentenced to 8 to 15 years in the Hayes case, to be served after his Harrison Act violation case. Though he would be handed over to state authorities upon his release from federal prison he would serve very little time on the Hayes shooting as he was pardoned by Louisiana Governor Oscar K. Allen. Known as OK Allen who, it was said, was agreeable that if a leaf blew through his window and on to his desk he would sign it.
SATURDAY DECEMBER 28 1929
Rival Irish bootlegger William Bill Bailey is shot down by four men. Before dying a few hours later on Sunday morning Bailey told police “That Sam Carollo and his gang” when asked who shot him. When Bailey pulled up to a residence and got out of his car to open a gate a dark colored car filled with four men drove up behind him and open fired. Bailey was pumped with 14 shotgun slugs. Bailey apparently liked to hijack liquor shipments that didn’t belong to him. Frank Todaro was likely one of the four men. Carollo claimed he was in bed at the time of the Bailey shooting and knew nothing about it. Hayes Penton is arrested a material witness a week after Bailey is killed. Eventually all charges against Carollo would be dropped due to lack of evidence.
SUNDAY JANUARY 3 1932
The body of Steve Smith, 24 years old with a wife of 19 and a five-month-old son is found in Jefferson Parish. He was shot four times in the head. Smith was a bootlegging associate of Sam. No information as to Sam being connected to the murder. He was serving time in Atlanta when the murder occurred.
FEBRUARY 1932
While serving time on their Harrison act violations, Frank Todaro and Sam are indicted in a Prohibition case relating to a large smuggling operation from South America landing in the Port of New Orleans. 104 indictments are handed down and Al Capone is named as the man directing the operation.
FRIDAY MAY 5th 1933
The charges against Frank Todaro and Sam are dropped for lack of evidence along with six others in the case.
Sunday September 22 1935
The body of New Orleans Family member Frank Bruno, 40 years old, is found in his car on a side road in New Orlean’s City Park. His body lay on the floor of the rear seat of his sedan with his legs resting on top of the seat, his face bloody and beaten and wrapping twine tightly wrapped around his neck. Official cause of death was strangulation. Bruno had a nightclub called Club Orchard in New Orleans. Carollo and associate Sam Alonzo are arrested in connection to the murder. Alonzo’s brother Peter was also held for questioning. Bruno was last seen in Alonzo’s bar which sat almost across the street from the City Park entrance. It’s thought that Bruno was part of narcotics trafficking in the Crescent City and had crossed Carollo in some way. Possibly he was informing and was likely involved with the deal in which Alonzo and Carollo were busted on September 5 1935 selling an 13 and a half ounces of heroin and morphine to a Joseph Define. It was thought that Bruno might possibly testify against them as well. Carollo was also charged at that time in the Bruno murder. Carollo and Alonzo were convicted in the narcotics case (another Harrison Act violation) on January 14 1936 and sentenced to five years, the maximum sentence for the offense. They appealed the conviction with the SCOTUS but lost their appeal in October 1936.They served their time in Atlanta. When questioned Bruno’s wife told authorities that Frank had said several times that he was in fear for his life but never said over what or by whom.
SUNDAY OCTOBER 6 1935
Carollo and Alonzo are again busted, this time with others in a narcotics ring.
1940
Sam is released around 1940 and ordered deported back to Italy but the advent of World War 2 freezes the order. The end of the war in Europe again brings the threat of deportation and Sam’s connections along with attorney G Wray Gill (who would later represent Carlos Marcello) reach out to Louisiana Representative Jimmy Morrison of Hammond who introduces a Bill into Congress to allow Carollo to become a US Citizen simply by taking an oath of allegiance. This deal was quashed by 1946 however after Washington Columnist Drew Pearson exposed the deal in his Merry Go Round column. When asked about the deal Davis replied he wasn’t aware of who Carollo was and that he was just doing a favor for a friend, namely G Wray Gill.
SUNDAY AUGUST 3 1942
Sam’s liquor license is revoked for his St. Charles Tavern, 1433 St. Charles Ave in New Orleans. It was shown Sam had lied on the application for the license and to add to that, two State Policeman had bought a horse race ticket in the backroom of the Tavern.
Sidenote: The St. Charles Tavern was an icon for locals, especially the late-night crowd looking to fill their liquor-soaked bellies. As I understand it the tavern stayed in the Carollo family hands until the late 90’s or early 2000’s but it continued on as the St. Charles Tavern. Unfortunately, it was a victim of Covid and government overreach a couple of years ago. They couldn’t keep the doors open any longer and it was sold. It opened back up as a sushi place or something along those lines a year or so ago.
1943
Sam is arrested on a charge of illegally selling wholesale liquor without a license.
WEDNESDAY APRIL 30 1947
The final deportation order for Sam finally came down ordering him deported on April 14 1947. He was given a two week extension though apparently because he agreed to pay his own way to Italy which saved the government $450. Carollo climbs on a TWA flight out of New York early on the morning of April 30 headed to Rome. He was deported as an undesirable alien. He eventually ends up back in his hometown of Terrasini.
MONDAY MAY 5 1947
Carlos Marcello takes control of the New Orleans Family. John Davis in his book Mafia Kingfish has Sam Carollo sitting in on the meeting at the Black Diamond night Club in New Orleans to approve this choice as his successor before he’s deported but as we know Sam was deported the week before. There was a Carollo in attendance however, Sam’s son Anthony. Anthony fully expected to take over his father’s spot as the Boss of New Orleans and would be bitterly disappointed in the outcome. There has been much speculation as to intent of this action though. It’s possible that Sam was approving of someone taking his spot in a temporary measure until he could make it back into the country and possibly that’s why, reportedly, he sent his approval when Carlos was chosen. Carlos was a proven money maker and force to be reckoned with by this time. We honestly don’t know too much about Anthony’s underworld career in this time frame or any other besides some info from 1993 when he finally took over the Family.
TUESDAY JULY 4 1950
Sam is captured in a cottage on the Pearl River near Slidell Louisiana. He is staying with another previously deported Mobster, Salvator “Sam” Guarnieri (seen in news clippings of the time as Guarino), also known as Kansas City Sam who was deported in 1938. It was never determined when they returned to the US or how as neither one revealed that info. An anonymous tip led eight federal officers and two local Deputy Sheriff’s to perform a break of dawn raid on the cottage. The two Sams gave up without incident. Authorities surmised that Carollo had been back less than a year and Guarino up to two years. When Carollo posted $15,000.00 bond he was quoted as: “I had to come back to see my wife and family. Life wasn’t worth living without them and there’s no place like the United States. It was terrible to be away. I never knew any place but New Orleans”. When told he could be facing a two year jail sentence and a $1000.00 fine he further replied:
“I knew there was a risk coming back but nothing matters if I can only stay here”.
A new deportation order came down for the two Sams by October 25 1950. Carollo was deported again in 1951.
Sidenote: One of Sam’s lawyers was Jack Wasserman who helped write immigration laws in the 1940’s. Wasserman would become more well known with his future longtime client Carlos Marcello.
AFTER DEPORTATION
There’s not a whole lot of info on this period of Sam’s life either other than some random info from newspapers and rumor with not much fact to back anything up. We’re pretty sure he was back in Sicily and ran the biggest bar in Terrasini. At least for awhile. He was arrested for swindling in 1952 in Italy apparently and rumors that he worked with Luciano on narcotics trafficking which is a definite possibility. He may have also worked as a liaison in Mexico for Luciano in narcotics trafficking. Another possibility but we just have nothing to back anything up. I’ve spoken to a couple of knowledgeable Luciano historians, and they can’t confirm or deny this information. So, just as with much of Sam’s life, it’s a mystery.
TUESDAY JANUARY 7 1969
Sam’s beloved wife Tenie dies at 12:30 PM.
FEBRUARY 1970
A local reporter discovers Carollo in the intensive care unit at a New Orleans hospital for heart problems. Authorities are notified but do nothing because of his health though they are waiting for him to recover and then charge and/or deport him again. Carollo returned to the US through Detroit via Canada when son Anthony and daughter Sarah escorted him from Sicily in late 1969/early 1970. Sam soon leaves the hospital to his daughter Sarah’s house but returns once more to the Touro Infirmary in April. It’s at this time that the monicker Silver Dollar Sam comes about. It was an invention of the media. A great name I admit but one that Sam never went by. There’s absolutely no mention of the name in any papers until 1970. It has been confirmed by a descendant of Frank Todaro who, when as a kid he and his father were watching the newscast on the story, his father stood and shouted at the TV “What is this Silver Dollar shit! That’s Sam Carollo!”
FRIDAY JUNE 26 1970
Sam dies of a heart attack on this day while still in Touro Infirmary. There is conflicting info of where his death occurred, but family has confirmed it was in Touro. His funeral service is held in St. Mary’s Church in the French Quarter on Rue Chartres across the street from a place Sam would have known very well, the Beauregard-Keyes House that Corrado Giacona lived in with his family for many years and had its own events to add to the Mafia story of New Orleans. Sam, Tenie, Anthony and Sarah are interred in Greenwood Cemetery at the end of Canal St in New Orleans.
SAM AND UNCLE FRANK’S SLOT MACHINES
Many people are under the impression that Carlos Marcello, along with Huey P. Long, gave his blessing for Frank Costello to bring his slot machines to Louisiana as Frank was being chased out of New York by the “Little Flower” Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia in 1935. I’m sure Marcello was fine with it, but the fact is that Marcello was a nobody bar owner at the time. It was placing Frank’s machines around the west bank that kickstarted Carlos’s rise. There are also stories about Frank having meetings with Sam Carollo and Diamond Jim Moran to hash out a deal over the slots, but the fact is that Sam was either in court or prison during that time frame. Likely they were dealing with either Frank Todaro or directly with Corrado Giacona. I guess it’s always possible that Sam was involved in some way, but it would probably been through intermediaries while he was in prison.
ODDS, ENDS AND SOME FINAL THOUGHTS ON SAM
His name on the Carollo family tomb is misspelled as Silverstro. So far, I’ve not gotten a satisfactory explanation for this from anyone. Another, final, mystery connected to Sam?
Through his life it seems that Sam deliberately muddied things as his name and date of birth especially are never the same. The few documents I’ve seen with his signature all have different birthdates. A couple with variations of his first name. Great way to deny you are THAT Carollo who is being sought out for some crime when THAT Carollo is Silvestri and was born 4 years later than you were.
I go by the date on his tomb as his birthdate but even then I wonder if it’s truly correct.
Going back to the Al Capone story……..again, great story but highly unlikely that Sam was sending anything to Chicago whether it be to Aiello or Capone. Sam just wasn’t that big. He was a big fish in the small tank of New Orleans but in the sea of organized crime in the rest of the country there were much bigger fish. The picture we have of Sam right now is that he has limited sway over the area. Doesn’t seem to be much more than the New Orleans area and probably some surrounding towns. The best connection we’ve seen to politicians was a Hammond Representative but that was through his lawyer G. Wray Gill. And even that wasn’t very strong. As mentioned in the beginning besides that Capone story of dubious origin David Chandler built Sam up in his book as the Al Capone of New Orleans with battles between him and Bill Bailey in speeding sedans spitting tommy gun fire and epic battles for control of the bootlegging business in Louisiana……just no evidence any of that happened. It wasn’t until Marcello took over that New Orleans truly became a force in the Mafia with Carlos’s political connections, influence, sway and outright control over other parts of the country and his ability to generate massive amounts of money.
MANY THANKS
I want to thank Nic Cardon who, along with his family, has released some great Carollo family pics to me, many of them seen along with this article. The one of Sam shortly before his death has never been publicly seen before. Also, would like to thank Dexter Babin who has the great LAM site on Louisiana Mob History and Dennis Todaro for the Todaro family stories.
"I'm always learning something new," he says. "Often when I think I have the whole story down on a subject, some new bit of info will pop up and lead off into another interesting direction."
Among the tales of pirates, voodoo priestesses, and vampires, New Orleans holds a long Mafia history. Most people will automatically think of Carlos Marcello, as the father of the New Orleans Mafia. Most people will also assume that the first Mafia family was in New York City. Even many locals don't know that New Orleans has Mafia roots predating the Civil War, giving their wonderful city the distinction of being home to the first Mafia family in the United States.
So let's explore the lesser known stories, facts, and even some OC fiction in a little space of the NCS Ron calls, the Crescent Corner.
- What’s This Silver Dollar Shit! That’s Sam Carollo! - June 26, 2023
- New Orleans Sets a Record - April 11, 2022
- Carlos Marcello Takes A Vacation: The Little Man’s Deportation to Guatemala Pt. 2 - June 11, 2021
