Evening star., 1951-07-29

4dChcIS OIl UlS S-GliIle DdSlS.
New Orleans, though it has beel
cleaned up steadily since Mayo
This is the twelfth Of series Of 20 orticle
condensed from the book, Crime
America" by Senator Kefouver.
De Lesseps S. Morrison took offic,
in 1916, became an important pro
vincial capital of the East Coas
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES mob. A
his proconSul, Frank Costello in
stalled a trusted lieutenant, Philil
DANDY PhiD Kastel, convicted
swindler. Then through KaStel
he controlled an important seq.
ment CT the areas slot machine
ard gambling casino racketS anc
effected a working partnership
with local criminal, Carlo!
Gittle Big NAM Marcello. Mar
cello, reputed Mafia leader o.
Louisiana. is building a crimina
dynasty that one day may riva
AL Capone's.
In every line of inquiry we pur-
sued we found Marcello's trail
The Little Big Man with some
of his brothers and aides owned
all or part of more than 40 enter
prises-all but a few of them
illegal. These included gambling
casinos, an interest in the local
wire service, horse parlors and slot
machine companies.
Our report stated: The COM
mittee had information that Car
los Marcello and his brother, An
thony, owned boat used in run
ming narcotics into the port of
New Orleans" Carlos had been
convicted in 1888 of narcotics
peddling and had served time for
it.
We also established beyond
doubt that the out-of-State gang
sters who came to Louisiana de-
pended on the negligence. the ac-
tive support, or the participation
of some local law enforcement
officials.
On the day in l946 that John
J. Grosch took Office as sheriff
of Orleans parish New Orleans
local newspapers RAM picture
captioned Just a Gift for John
ME" 1t showed the new sheriff
standing alongside a brand-new
Cadillac limousine presented him
by unnamed friends"
Divorced Wife TeStifieS.
We heard from the sheriff S
divorced wife, Mrs Viola Grosch,
a woman who holds a responsible
position at the Tulane University
Hospital, that in the last six years
of their married life together, end
ing in 1910, when he was chief
of New Orleans detectives. Grosch
had accumulated $150.000 which
he kept at home n steel box.
She said she had seen him receive
money weekly from a local slot
machine dealer, and another char
acter. who reputedly ran a house
of prostitution. bought all the food
for the week.
Frank Costello, later in New
York City, claimed that it was the
late Huey Long who paved the
way for Costello slot machines.
1-e testified that Lons sought his
advice on how much revenue the
State could raise if it "legalized"
slot machines. Costello sent Dan
dy Phil Kastel to make a survey.
Long was asSasSinatec shortly
after, and the State never got into
the slot machine business, but
Costello and Kastel did.
They created a virtual slot ma
chine monopoly in New Orleans,
with profits than ran into the
millions.
Such organizations always need
characters" to help them. We
questioned one such character,
212-pound James Brocato, who
calls himself Diamond Jim Moran.
Brocato likes to bedeck himself
with diamonds. He conflded to a
committee Investigator that he
even had a diamond pendant at
tached to the Upper of his trous-
erS.
Brocato said he had been asso-
ciated with Costello's slot ma
chine enterprise from 1885 until
Mayor Morrison put them out of
business. His job was spreading
good will" Describing the fa-
miliar one-armed bandits, Brocato
solemnly said that pulling the
handle on the machine is good
exercise"
Outside of New Orleans in the
rural parishes, slot machines con-
tinued to operate as openly as if.
they had been Stamp-vending
machines in post Office. The
willy sheriff of jefferson parish,
white-haired Frank J. (King)
Clancy, would not quarrel with
our estimate Of 500 machines in
his jurisdiction.
No Confined to Slot Machines.
The Costello -KaStel-LanSky in
terests in Louisiana were not con-
fined to slot machines. They ac-
quired the luxurious Beverly Club
gambling casinoHan night club in
Jefferson parish, just outside of
New Orleans.
Another huge gambling casino
operating wide open in King
Clancy's Jefferson parish was Club
Forest. A former dice man and
cashier at Club Forest gave the
committee evidence of the prac-
tice, which we long had suspected,
of Juggling of figures and keeping
Of books which did not accurately
reflect the facts"
He admitted that on occasions
when Sheriff Clancy'S deputy
Paul Cassegne, entered the club,