Final_Judgment

192 Little Man’s Little Man [131]
machines which paid off in mints as well as cash would not suffice forever.
[Lansky's] brother Jake was listed as an officer of the Louisiana Mint
Company, the new outfit controlling the slots, but something more was
needed.
"In the Algiers section of New Orleans, across the Mississippi, he
found Carlos Marcello. Born in Tunis, he had come to New Orleans in
1910 and made a living in a variety of ways, none of them successful. Nor
had he bothered to become a U.S. citizen.
"Lansky gave Marcello a franchise for the Algiers section, allowing
him to keep two-thirds of the slot profit. By 1940 he had 250 machines in
operation and proved himself as an efficient businessman. Later he was
given a piece of the plush Beverly Club, the biggest rug joint (a posh
gambling casino) in the area and at that time second to the Beverly Hills
Club outside Newport, Kentucky." 351
MARCELLO TOOK THE HEAT
Messick's concluding comments regarding the Lansky-Marcello
relationship, however, are probably the most significant: "As a front man,
Marcello worked out perfectly. In years to come he was touted as the Mafia
boss of Louisiana—despite his birth in Tunis—and resisted all efforts to
deport or jail him.
"With all the heat on Marcello, the role of Lansky was almost
forgotten—exactly what Meyer wanted. Ultimately, Lansky was able to
shift Kastel to Las Vegas and leave Marcello and Weiss to run New
Orleans." 352
"Meyer Lansky once explained why he left New Orleans to Marcello
and others to run. 'There was just too frigging much to do elsewhere,' he
said." 353
As Messick elaborated even further, if only to drive home the point:
Even Marcello's famous Beverly Club was not, in reality, Marcello's
personal fiefdom. According to Messick, "Costello and Kastel were
partners, Marcello had a small piece, but Lansky was the real boss." 354
Aaron Cohn, who was director of the New Orleans Crime
Commission, lends credence to Messick's analysis of the relationship.
According to Cohn, "The Commission had long been suspicious of the
massiveness of Marcello's holdings—which were much too large to be
controlled by a single don—even one as powerful as Marcello." 355
Marcello, in short, was indeed fronting for Meyer Lansky.
All of this, of course, taken together, sheds a more accurate light on the
truth about the Lansky connection and Carlos Marcello.
LANSKY, MARCELLO & THE CIA
There is also evidence that Marcello was working directly with the CIA
in at least one other sphere of influence that also links Lansky, whose own