Originator: HSCA
Document date: 1/11/78
Document type: PAPER-TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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JFK Assassination System

Identification Form

Agency Information

Date:

10/14/20

AGENCY :

RECORD NUMBER :

RECORD SERIES :

AGENCY FILE NUMBER :

HSCA

180-10118-10067

BRIEFING BOOKS

Document Information

ORIGINATOR :

FROM:

TO:

TITLE :

HSCA

DATE: 01/11/1978

PAGES:

32

SUBJECTS:

MARCELLO, CARLOS, BACKGROUND

DOCUMENT TYPE: BRIEFING BOOK

CLASSIFICATION: Unclassified

RESTRICTIONS: Open in Full

CURRENT STATUS: Redact

DATE OF LAST REVIEW : 09/20/1993

OPENING CRITERIA :

COMMENTS : Box 2. MLK material withdrawn.

19.1

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SENSITIVE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PROCEDURAL OUTLINE:

BACKGROUND:

KENNEDY SUBCOMMITTEE

OBJECTIVE I:

OBJECTIVE II:

Outline for Conducting Both -

Kennedy and King Subcommittee

Hearings

Biography Of Carlos Marcello and

General Objective of Hearings

1.3

To determine whether Carlos

Marcelle and other organized crime

figures, because of their business:

interests in Cuba prior to the rise

of Castro, were involved in killing

the President in order to reverse

American policy towards Cuba.

To determine whether Marcello, either

alone or with other Organized Crime

figures, killed the President because

of a crackdown against Organized

Crime initiated by the Kennedy

Administration.

KING SUBCOMMITTEE

OBJECTIVE III: To determine the extent Or a riberto's

Marcello's knowledge of

alleged participation in the assassina-

tion of DI. King:

OBJECTIVE IV:

To determine the extent of

Marcello's knowledge of James Earl

Pay's activities in New Orleans.

OBJECTIVE V:

To determine the relationship of

Marcello with associates or relatives

of James Bart Ray

OBJECTIVE VI:

To determine Marcello's association

with or knowledge of the possible

participation of white hate groups

in the assassination of Dr. King.

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PROCEDURE FOR KENNEDY AND KING

SUBCOMMITTEE HEARINGS

1.

The Chairman should recognize Elizabeth Berning,

Clerk of the Committee, to read for the record those Members

who are officially designated to be on the Subcommittee

today, pursuant to Committee Rule 12.3.

2.

The hearing should go into Executive Session.

There should be a motion:

that today's hearing and one subsequent day

of hearing be held in Executive Session

since on the basis of information obtained by

the Committee, the Committee believes the

evidence or testimony may tend to defame, degrade..

or incriminate people, and consequently Section 2(K) (5)

of Rule ll of the Rules of the House and Committee

Rule 3.3(5), require such hearings be in Executive

Session.

There must be three Members present to vote on this motion.

A rollcall vote should be taken.

3.

The Chairman should swear the witness at this

time. He should state that he understands a copy of our

Rules have already been given to the witness.:

He should

ask the witness if this is true. The Chairman should

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Procedure for Kennedy and King Subcommittee Hearings

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state that the witness is appearing pursuant to subpoena.

4.

The Chairman should give a brief statement con-

cerning the subject of the investigation. He should state

that House Resolution 222 mandates the Committee

"to conduct a full and complete investigation

and study of the circumstances surrounding the

assassination and death of President John F.

Kennedy" /Dr. Martin Luther King, JI./, including

determining whether the existing laws of the United States

concerning the protection of the President and the

investigatory jurisdiction and capability of agencies

and departments are adequate in their provisions and

enforcement, and whether there was full disclosure of

evidence and information among agencies and departments of

the United States Government, and whether any evidence

or information not in the possession of an agency.or

department would have been of

assistance in investigating

the

assassination, and why such information was not

provided or collected by that agency or department, :.

and to make recommendations to the House . . . if the

Select Committee deems it appropriate for the amendment

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Procedure for Kennedy and King Subcommittee Hearings

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of existing legislation or the enactment of new

legislation.

5.

The questioning of the witness may now

proceed.

6.

If the witness

takes the Fifth Amendment to

a question, and the Committee desires to immunize the

witness, the Chairman should give the witness a copy

of Judge Bryant's order immunizing the witness and

compelling testimony from him. The witness should now

be directed to answer the question that was propounded.

7.

Pursuant to Committee Rule 3.5, any objection

of the witness or witness' counsel must be specifically

ruled upon by the Chairman. The witness should be

directed to answer the question if the Chairman believes

the witness is improperly refusing to answer. Should

the witness object on the grounds of pertinency, he

should be given a brief explanation of the pertinency

of the question and then directed to answer it.

8.

At the conclusion of the questioning of the

witness, pursuant to Rule 3.6 of the Committee, the

Chairman should offer the witness and/or his counsel

five minutes to explain or amplify the witness' testimony.

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Procedure for Kennedy and King Subcommittee Hearings

Page 4

9 .

The witness should be informed that he is

under the continuing subpoena of the Committee, and

subject to the call of the Chair at a future date.

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GENERAL OBJECTIVE OF HEARING

This first session with Marcello has the

limited purpose of obtaining Marcello's direct testimony

in each of the areas in which he may have been involved

or of which he may have knowledge. No detailed cross-

examination will be attempted. If deemed appropriate,

Marcello's answers will then be tested by further

investigation over the course of the next six months.

At that time, Marcello may be recalled to probe the

veracity and accuracy of his testimony at the first

session.

GENERAL BACKGROUND ON CARLOS MARCELLO

Carlos Marcello is reputed to be, as he was at

the time of both the Kennedy and King assassinations,

the head of organized crime in the New Orleans area.

The bulk of Marcello's income during the period of the

assassination derived from gambling and real estate

investments. Marcello is also alleged to have had

substantial control over state and local government

officials in Louisiana. A number of law enforcement

officers in Jefferson

Parish are considered to be on

his payroll.

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Marcello was born on February 6, 1910 at Tunis,

Africa.

The failure of his parents to have Carlos

naturalized when they arrived in New Orleans on October 11,

1910 has left Marcello vulnerable to possible deportation,

a battle he has been fighting since 1952. Marcello grew

up in Jefferson Parish, on the outskirts of New Orleans,.

as a petty hoodlum. He was convicted of assault and

robbery in 1929 and of the sale of marijuana in

1938.

Since that time, Marcello has not been convicted of a

crime except for 1968 when he was convicted of assaulting

an FBI agent.

It has been alleged that Marcello received his

first opportunities in organized crime from Meyer Lansky,

who gave him a percentage of the slot machines in New

Orleans. In the forties, Marcello used the Jefferson

Music Co. as a front for handling the distribution of

slot and pinball machines. Along with Mafia members

Lansky, Phil Kastel, and Frank Costello, he also obtained

an interest in the Beverly Club, a plush gambling casino

in Jefferson Parish. In 1947, when New Orleans Mafia

boss Sam Corollo was deported, Marcello acceded to Corollo's

throne.

FBI files indicate that Marcello's primary source

of illegal revenue was a local gambling network operated

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by his six younger brothers - primarily Joseph and

Vincent - and lieutenants Joe Porretto and Nofio

Pecora. Surprisingly, however, the preponderance of

material in the FBI files on Marcello in the late fifties

and the sixties pertains to Marcello's ostensibly legitimate

real estate transactions. The files reflect relatively

little organized crime activity,although it is alleged

his investments in real estate are a method of "laundering"

money for other mafia families.

When Robert Kennedy became Attorney General in

1961 under his brother's administration, Marcello was

targeted as one of the organized crime figures against

which the Justice Department was to launch an unprecedented

onslaught. On April 4, 1961, Marcello was deported to

Guatemala in a manner which he allegedly described to

associates as

a "kidnapping." Approximately 2 to 3 months

later, he clandestinely re-entered the United States.

The crackdown of the Kennedy Justice Department allegedly

infuriated

Marcello.

At his retreat at Churchill Farms

in September of 1962, Marcello is alleged to have complained

to a meeting of his associates that Bobby Kennedy was a

"stone" in his shoe and to have assured the group that

both Kennedys would be killed.

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OBJECTIVE I. To determine whether Carlos Marcello and

other Organized Crime Figures, because of their

business interests in Cuba prior to the rise

of Castro, were involved in killing the President

in order to reverse American policy towards

Cuba.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

A.

Organized Crime Interests in Pre-Castro Cuba

Although there are numerous rumors to the contrary,

there is no firm evidence that Marcello had any sub-

stantial business interests in Cuba. If Marcello had

business interests in Cuba, they would most likely

involve gambling or narcotics. It is known that two.

of his closest associates in the Mafia, Meyer Lansky

and Santos Trafficante, had substantial Cuban business

interests. It will be necessary to probe Marcello's

relationship with them to determine both whether

Marcello had Cuban business interests or whether they

solicited Marcello's aid in an attempt to recover their

financial losses in Cuba.

B.

Marcello's Participation In or Awareness of

Assassination Plots Against Castro

The Schweiker Report emphasizes that the

Mafia-CIA plots against Castro suggest the possibilities

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that either (1). Castro used organized crime in the

assassination of President Kennedy as a form of

retaliation or (2) that organized crime was

motivated to assassinate President Kennedy as an

alternative method to effect a change in the Cuban

government.

To probe hypothesis number 1, Marcello

will be questioned about his relationship, if any,

with Castro.

To probe hypothesis number 2, Marcello

will be questioned to determine whether he was involved

or knew of CIA-Mafia plots to assassinate Castro.

There is

no firm evidence that Marcello had a relation-

ship with Castro or participated in the Mafia-CIA

plots.

C. Marcello's Participation In or Knowledge of

Anti-Castro Groups Based in New Orleans

New Orleans was a center of anti-Castro activity.

Several groups of anti-Castro Cubans trained at Lake

Ponchartrain for raids on Cuba.. Marcello's close

friend, Nick Popich, owned land along the lake which

was used as a training camp. Furthermore, it is

alleged that organized crime supplied guns to many

of the anti-castro groups.

It is rumored that Marcello's

criminal attorney at that time, G. Wray Gill, SI. supplied

funds to some of these groups. In addition to the

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groups actively training at Lake Ponchartrain,

Marcello appears to have associates who have ties

to New Orleans Cuban exiles.

Marcello should be

questioned about his relationship with these individuals

and organizations. :

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A. Organized Crime Investment in Pre-Castro Cuba

47.362

B.

1. Visits to Cuba prior to 1960

2. Nature and Extent of Business Interests,

Including Partners

a. gambling-casinos, dog or race tracks

b. hotels

c. narcotics

1) meeting with Carl Noll discussing

shipments of heroin to Norman Rothman

at Sans Souci

2) : meeting with Joe LaPiccolo in 1956

regarding Cuban/Guatemala heroin

3. Nature of Relationship with Organized Crime

Individuals Who Had Substantial Investments

In Cuba

a.

Meyer Lansky

b. Lewis McWillie

c. Mike and William McLaney

d. Norman Rothman

e. Santo. Trafficante

- La Stella meeting

- Doctor in New Orleans

f. Frank Sturgis

g. Charles Tourine

Marcello's Participation In or Awareness of

Assassination Plots Against Castro

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1. Knowledge of Mafia-CIA Plots

a. . from

Santo Trafficante, John Roselli,

Sam Giancana, Robert Maheu

b.

awareness of any U.S. government plot

to assassinate Castro

2.

Awareness of other plots to assassinate.

Castro

a. Knowledge of Sam Benton, Ed. Arthur,

Marcus Perez Jimenez (alleged meeting in

Miami to discuss hit on Castro. Benton

says must check with man in New Orleans)

Nature and Extent, if any, of dealings with

Castro 1960-1963

a..

personal

b. business

-Cuba as narcotics supplier

-arms shipments

Marcello's knowledge of or participation in Anti-

Castro groups based in New Orleans

1. Training Camps at Lake Ponchartrain

a.

7 Crowns Ranch (owned by Nick Popich in

b.

1963, subsequently by Sam Marcello)

Supplying arms

-Munitions raid on Bill McClaney's

property - Sam Benton arrested

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c. Supplying funds

-G. Wray Gill allegedly transferred

funds to Cuban groups.

2. Association with groups based in New Orleans

a. Cuban Revolutionary Democratic Fund (FRD)

1) Arcacha Smith - (head of FRD, associate

of David Ferrie)

2) William Dalzell

3)

Proposed trade: Cuban citizenship and

gambling concession for $200,000

b. Cuban Revolutionary Council (CRC)

Manuel Gil (head - arranged Oswald -

Carlos Bringuier debate)

c. Information Council of the Americas (INCA)

1) Ed Butler (head, participated in

Oswald-Bringuier debate)

2)

Seymour Weiss (charter member, Director

of Standard Fruit)

3) William I. Monaghan (Oswald associate,

Standard Fruit)

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OBJECTIVE

II. To determine whether Marcello, either alone or with

other organized crime figures, killed the President

because of a crackdown against Organized Crime

initiated by the Kennedy Administration?

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

A. Organized Criminal Activity

The Kennedy Administration crackdown on organized

crime was focused on targeting particular individuals

for investigation and prosecution. To evaluate Marcello's

reaction to being made a "target" of the Kennedy Adminis-

tration, it is necessary to determine what the loss to

Marcello and other organized crime leaders would have

been had Kennedy succeeded..'

Marcello's illegal activities

were allegedly centered around gambling and possibly

narcotics.

He is alleged to have said he could close

down

"50 - 75%" of the handbooks in Jefferson Parrish

if he so desired.. FBI informants indicate he may have

extensive dealings in narcotics, particularly from

Guatemala and Honduras.

B. Marcello Deportation Case and David Ferrie

The aspect of the Justice Department's crackdown

on organized crime which would have most obviously

raised the ire of Marcello towards the Kennedys was

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Marcello's deportation to Guatemala. The Immigration

and Naturalization Service in 1952 first began its

efforts to deport Marcello as an undesirable on the basis

of his 1938 marijuana conviction. The dilatory legal

tactics of Marcello's attorney, Jack Wasserman, enabled

Marcello to remain in the United States until 1961.

Since the status of "deportability" requires that a

country be willing to accept a deportee, Marcello

directed much of his delaying tactics to assuring

that no country would accept him. He initiated legal

proceedings in Italy, bribed Italian attorneys and

officials, and

allegedly submitted a forged Guatemalan

birth certificate to the Italian Counsul in New Orleans

as a last-ditch

effort to forestall deportation to

Italy.

When Robert Kennedy became Attorney General at

the outset of 1961, stories appeared in the New Orleans

press that Kennedy would act to expedite Marcello's

deportation. INS finally seized on the forged

Guatemalan birth certificate to effect his deportation

to Guatemala.. On April 4, 1961, Marcello was driven

by his attorney, Phil Smith, to the New Orleans INS

office to make his required quarterly report on his

whereabouts.

When Marcello entered the office, he

was handcuffed by two agents, driven to the airport,

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placed alone on an INS plane, and flown to Guatemala.

Although his attorney was permitted to accompany

Marcello to the airport, Marcello's plane took off

while the attorney was running across the runway

in an effort to make a phone call to set in motion

legal proceedings.

Marcello re-entered the United States approximately

two

months after his deportation; his method of

re-entry remains a mystery. Marcello alleges he took

a commercial flight through Miami, but INS officials

doubt this. It is alleged he may have been flown in

from Guatemala by David Ferrie in a private plane.

Ferrie did work as an investigator for Marcello's

attorney on Marcello's case after he re-entered the

country.

David Ferrie has been a central figure in the

assassination case. Two days after the assassination,

he was arrested in New Orleans based upon allegations

that he knew Oswald, trained him for the assassination,

and was to fly Oswald out of the country after the

assassination. Oswald had David Ferrie's library card

in his possession when he was arrested.

Ferrie also has been linked to Jack Ruby. On

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September 24, 1963, Ferrie called Jean West in Chicago.

On November 21, 1963, Ruby met Jean West and Lawrence

Mayers in Dallas.

Ferrie also has significant ties to the Cuban

groups in New Orleans.

He worked as an investigator

for Guy Bannister at 544 Camp Street.. Bannister had

substantial involvement with Cuban groups.

544 Camp

Street was the headquarters for several Cuban groups,

including FRD, CRC and others. It also was the address

listed on the Cuban literature Oswald distributed in

New Orleans.

C. Financing of Marcello's Real Estate Transactions

Through Teamster Pension Funds

A major aspect of the Kennedy Justice Department's

offensive against organized crime was Robert Kennedy's

indefatigable effort to prosecute Jimmy Hoffa.. The

Teamster Pension Fund was a primary source of capital

for projects constructed by organized crime,

and it was

Hoffa who controlled the diversion of those funds.

If organized crime was motivated to order the assassina-

tion as a response to the Justice Department crackdown,

Bobby Kennedy's drive against Hoffa to deprive the

Mafia of its source of funds would have been a component

element of that motive.

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There is some reason to suspect that Marcello

participated in an organized crime effort to save

Hoffa.

First, there are allegations that Marcello

spearheaded a massive effort in the mid-to-late

sixties to free Hoffa, including offering a million

dollar bribe to Edward Grady Partin, the main witness

against Hoffa, to change Partin's testimony.

second,

Marcello, with his many investments in motels, clubs

and restaurants, is alleged to be organized crime's

"real estate man." It is likely that when Teamster

Funds were channeled to organized crime, Marcello

would have received a piece of the action, especially

in New Orleans projects. While the FBI files do not

reflect an influx of Teamster money behind Marcello

acquisitions prior to the assassination, there are

isolated reports that Marcello obtained a piece of

the

Fontainebleu Hotel in New Orleans with a $2,000,000

Pension Fund loan.

To evaluate this hypothesis, it is necessary to

ascertain Marcello's relationship with Hoffa and his

lieutenants, examine a sample of his real estate holdings

prior to the assassination, determine whether he received

Teamster funds to obtain those holdings and probe

Marcello's machinations to save Hoffa subsequent

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to the assassination. It may also be fruitful to

determine whether Marcello knew the myriad of

Teamster lieutenants who were associated with Jack

Ruby, particularly those with whom Ruby was in

telephonic communication a month before the assassination.

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A..

Organized Criminal Activity

1.

Marcello's perception of himself as "target",

1960-1963

a..

increased surveillance

b. discussions with Giancana, Roselli,

Trafficante, Angelo Bruno, Sam Mannarino,

Joe. Civello, Nick Civella re: Kennedy's

program

verify or deny Churchill Farms threat

against Kennedy

2. Extent of Gambling Activities

a. verify or deny remark to Edmonds

(President of Jefferson Parish Racetrack)

that he could close down 50 to 75% of

handbooks in Jefferson Parish)

3. Nature and Extent of Dealings in Narcotics

in Guatemala and Cuba.

a ..

Knowledge of James Culotta - owner of

American Analytical Laboratories.

Alleged meeting dealing with narcotics

4. Extortion.

a. Jukeboxes

b. Explore allegation that Eastern Airline

pilots delivered protection money to him

from Chicago and New York.

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B. Marcello Deportation Case and David Ferrie

1.

Background of Deportation Case

a. narrate protracted litigation

b. no country would accept him -

use of Guatemala birth certificate

2. Events of deportation day

3.

Return to U.S.

a. legal claims filed by Marcello

b. legal claims filed against Marcello

c .

Method of re-entry

1) nature of relationship with Felice

Golino (shrimp boat owner)

2) nature of relationship with Leon

Porier (accountant for Marcello, pilot)

3) Did David Ferrie Fly him back

4) Nature of relationship with Ferrie

5) Marcello aid in Eastern Airline suit

of Ferrie?

6) Ferrie in court with Marcello on day

of assassination

4. Nature and Extent of Marcello's relationships

with Ferrie Associates

a. Guy Bannister (private investigator,

office at 544 Camp, worked with Gill and

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Ferrie on Marcello's defense to charge

of defrauding the government; active with

Cuban groups in New Orleans)

b. Clay Shaw (businessman indicted by Garrison)

c. Jack Martin

(detective in Bannister agency;

originally implicated Ferrie in assassination)

a. Dealings of Marcello with Unions located

at 544 Camp Street

1) local AFL - CIO Hotel and Restaurant

Employees and Bartenders

2) AFL-CIO Retail and Wholesale Department

Store

3) . Transport Workers Union of America

AFL - CIO

4) United Packing House Food and Allied

Workers Union Local 591 AFL-CIO

e. Jim Braden (alleged courrier for Meyer

Lansky; arrested in Dallas as "suspicious"

the day of assassination; worked in New Orleans

in same building as Ferrie)

f. Lawrence Meyer (visits Ruby with brother

Ed Meyer and Jean West night before assassina-

tion. Ferrie had phoned West September 24,

1963.)

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9. Jack Ruby

1)

relationship with Peter Guarisco

lowner of Hub Club, allegedly built

with Marcello loan)

2)

explore allegation Ruby and Marcello

gambled together at Hub Club in Morgan

City

h. Lee Harvey Oswald

i. Explore relationship with Jim Garrison

1)

payment or gifts - Did Frank Occhipriti

(Marcello front man) build home for

Garrison at reduced rate?

• - Knowledge of Mario Marino? Verify or

deny allegation that Marcello instructed

Marino to pick up bill for Garrison's

stay at Las Vegas hotel

- any offers of kickbacks to Garrison

in an effort to keep clubs open

2) Discussions with Garrison concerning

investigation?

- meetings with Pershing Gervais (Garrison

investigator)

3)

Meetings in Las Vegas with Garrison,

Edward P. Morgan, Robert Maheu, Hawk Greenspan,

and John Rosselli. (1967)•

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C.

Financing of Marcello's Real Estate Transactions

Through Teamster Pension Funds.

1. Nature and Extent of Relationship with Hoffa.

2. Particular Real Estate Investments 1955 - 1963.

a. Fontainebleau Hotel

New Orleans, Louisiana

b. Town and Country Motel

Bossier City, Louisiana

c. Holiday Inn Motel

Airline Highway

New Orleans, Louisiana

d.

Holiday Inn Motel

Chef Menteur Highway

New Orleans, Louisiana

3. Efforts to help Hoffa, post-assassination

a. 1967 $1,000,000 bribe offer to Grady Fartin

(chief witness against Hoffa) through

Audrey Young and D'Alton Smith

b.

phone conversation with Mike Miaranda,

Thomas Eboli, Nick Civella, Joe Civello,

James Lanza,

Santos Trafficante

C.

1969 - bribe offer to Grady Partin through

Osie Brown; also 1971 through D'Alton

Smith, Lester May, Gordon McLendon

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4.

Explore Marcello's relationship to Ruby

Teamster's Associates.

a.

Barney Baker

b. Irwin S. Weiner

c. Frank Chavez

d. Leopoldo Ramos Ducas

e.

Gordon McLondon

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