Anthony Samuel Carollo ( , ; November 24, 1923 – February 1, 2007) was an American

mobster A gangster (informally gangsta) is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level ...

boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, ...

of the

New Orleans crime family The New Orleans crime family, also known as the Marcello crime family or the New Orleans Mafia, was an Italian American Mafia crime family based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The family had a history of criminal activity dating back to the late nine ...

and son of the mob boss

Silvestro Carollo Silvestro Carollo (, ; June 17, 1896 – June 26, 1970), nicknamed "Silver Dollar Sam", was an Italian-American mob boss, and boss of the New Orleans crime family. He transformed the New Orleans's Black Hand gang into a Cosa Nostra crime family, ...

. He led the organization from 1990 until his death on February 1, 2007.

Early life

Carollo was born on November 24, 1923, in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, to Silvestro Carollo and Catherine Tenie Carollo. He had two siblings, Michael Carollo and Sarah Misuraca. At this time his father was the acting boss of the New Orleans Mafia, and he followed him in crime. He served in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and was owner of Venezia Restaurant in New Orleans. Carollo married Mary Evans, and had one son, Sam Carollo and a step-son, Marlon Kenney.

Rise to power

In September 1966, Carollo and other Mafia members attended a meeting at La Stella restaurant in

Queens, New York Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

. When the police raided the building, among those arrested were Carollo,

Carlos Marcello Carlos Joseph Marcello (Sicilian Italian); or-sel-loborn Calogero Minacore ; February 6, 1910 – March 3, 1993) was an Italian-American crime boss of the New Orleans crime family from 1947 to 1983. Aside from his role in the American Mafia, ...

Santo Trafficante Jr. Santo Trafficante Jr. (November 15, 1914 – March 17, 1987) was among the most powerful Mafia bosses in the United States. He headed the Trafficante crime family from 1954 to 1987 and controlled organized criminal operations in Florida and Cub ...

and

Carlo Gambino Carlo Gambino (; August 24, 1902 – October 15, 1976) was a Sicilian crime boss who was the leader and namesake of the Gambino crime family of New York City. Following the Apalachin Meeting in 1957, and the imprisonment of Vito Genovese i ...

. It has been alleged that this meeting was to resolve matters relating to the New Orleans crime family. The meeting was referred as "Little Apalachin".

Boss and later years

When Carlos Marcello went to prison in 1983, his brother Joseph was the boss until 1990, when he stepped down. At some unknown point afterwards, Carollo, described as, "a portly restaurant owner", living in the

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

Slidell, Louisiana Slidell is a city on the northeast shore of Lake Pontchartrain in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 28,781 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the sixteenth-most ...

, became acting boss of the family.Tyler Bridges and Steve Cannizaro, ''Mob Alive in N.O., FBI Says Marcello's Death Didn't Halt Dealings'', ''

New Orleans Times-Picayune ''The Times-Picayune , The New Orleans Advocate'' (commonly called ''The Times-Picayune'' or the ''T-P'') is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ancestral publications of other names date back to January 25, 1837. The cu ...

'', June 1994. Page A1. According to FBI agent Rick McHenry, by the time the Bureau began investigating organized crime infiltration of the

video poker Video poker is a casino game based on five-card draw poker. It is played on a computerized console similar in size to a slot machine. History Video poker first became commercially viable when it became economical to combine a television-like mo ...

industry in 1991, Carollo was the undisputed boss. Metairie resident Frank Gagliano, Sr., was the family's underboss. Agent McHenry described Anthony Carollo as, "an old-style Mafia leader", saying, "He demands and commands respect, but in return treats others very fairly who are within the Family." In May 1994, following an FBI sting dubbed "Operation Hard Crust", Carollo and 16 other persons belonging to the Marcello, Gambino and Genovese families were arrested on charges of infiltrating the newly legalized Louisiana

industry,

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercion, coercive, fraud, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. ...

illegal gambling Gambling law is the set of rules and regulations that apply to the gaming or gambling industry. Gaming law is not a branch of law in the traditional sense but rather is a collection of several areas of law that include criminal law, regulatory law ...

and

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...

. In September 1995, Carollo pleaded guilty to a single count of racketeering conspiracy, with Frank and Joseph Gagliano and associates Felix Riggio III and Cade Carber. Carollo died on February 1, 2007, at Northshore Regional Medical Center,

, of natural causes. He is buried on

Metairie Cemetery Metairie Cemetery is a historic cemetery in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, founded in 1872. The name has caused some people to mistakenly presume it is located in Metairie, Louisiana, but it is located within the New Orleans city limits ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carollo, Anthony 1923 births 2007 deaths 20th-century American criminals American male criminals American crime bosses American gangsters of Italian descent People of Sicilian descent Burials at Metairie Cemetery New Orleans crime family Criminals from New Orleans United States Army personnel of World War II