Joseph Macheca

[willychichi]

Was Joseph Macheca the original boss and did he establish the first mafia family in America in New Orleans? The little bit I have been able to find on him said he was clipped by members of his own family after being acquitted for murdering the New Orleans Chief of Police? If he did not establish the first family in America who did and in what city?

[JeremyTheJew]

I thought it was same period except it was his rival. Matranga in NOLA

[Dwalin2014]

Clipped by his own family? But wasn't he lynched by a racist mob storming the prison (Matranga was there too but managed to hide)? I mean, they were anti-Italian, the ones who did the lynching, how would Macheca's family members participate without being recognized?

[willychichi]

Clipped by his own family? But wasn't he lynched by a racist mob storming the prison (Matranga was there too but managed to hide)? I mean, they were anti-Italian, the ones who did the lynching, how would Macheca's family members participate without being recognized?

The book Deep Water had this quote:

However, the authors argue that Macheca's life was ended not through the spontaneous rage of a lynch mob but through a calculated act of betrayal by Macheca's former friends and allies.

Maybe it was just a lynching for the killing of Hennessy? From what I've read he was the founder of the mafia in this country around 1870 not sure if that is historically accurate, I would like to hear what others have to say.

[DPG]

Thomas Hunt wrote the books on him correct?

[willychichi]

Thomas Hunt wrote the books on him correct?

Hunt wrote it along with Martha Macheca Sheldon .

[ledblimp]

Hello. New here, first post. I've done a bit of research into this subject as well as NOLA OC history.

Macheca often gets tagged as a Mafioso but there's really nothing to support this, though he was certainly comfortable around them and shared business deals with Charlie Matranga.

The first recorded guy that you could term a Godfather of NOLA would be Raffaelle Agnello who used his position during the Civil War in a peace keeping brigade to gather power. He was basically The Man though his influence didn't extend much past Little Palermo (basically the French Quarter). He was clipped on April 1 1869 on Toulouse St. in the Quarter. His brother Giuseppe was also clipped in 1872 after taking over operations and trying to stay in power. There was an ongoing war between them (hailing from Palermo) and a faction from Messina and allied with forces from Trapani, at first headed by a guy named Liberto Barba and then Joe Bonano after Liberto was clipped.

In 1868 Macheca had organized a band of Italians named the Inocennti which included members of both factions. The Agnello's viewed Macheca as a threat though he didn't appear to have designs on any type of underworld power. Macheca's motivation was more political. Macheca did appear to show favoritism towards the Messinian faction though and, possibly, may have been involved in setting up Rafaelle to get clipped.

Through all this the Matranga family was a minor faction in goings on and stayed neutral in the feud. After Giuseppe was clipped in 1872 however, Charlie Matranga's father Salvatore started gathering power with his band of Stuppagghieri which hailed from Monreale (small town that sits above Palermo). From then until the late 1880's they slowly gathered strength and influence. During all this time Macheca is nothing more than a businessman who becomes a shipping magnate importing fruit from South America (and possibly running guns between continents) though he almost certainly used connections to improve his business. During these years there are sporadic outbreaks of violence for various reasons.

Forward to the 1890/91 Hennessey incident. Initially upwards of 250 Italians were arrested after he was shot down. Eventually 19 were indicted by a NOLA Grand Jury. The first nine defendants, which included Macheca and Matranga, were put on trial in the middle of February 1891. On March 13 the Jury returned a not guilty verdict on six. Judge Joshua Baker instructed the jury they could not have a finding on the other three due to lack of evidence (Charlie Matranga being one of those). On the morning of March 14 a crowd of people gathered on Canal St. The gathering was not spontaneous at all. The night before an advert was put into the local papers by members of The Committee of Fifty, which was appointed by NOLA Mayor Joseph Shakespeare after Hennessey was killed, calling for the gathering to address the miscarriage of justice in the case. After whipping the crowd up, members of the Committee led the mob on a march to the Orleans Parish Prison where the six defendants from the first trial and five due to stand trial next, were lynched. Macheca was among them. One of the main forces behind the event was a man named William Parkerson. A NOLA lawyer. He led the band of men, his own personal militia he called the Regulators, into the prison. Prior to them entering he gave his men strict instructions on who was to be killed. The three who the judge Baker directed no finding against were not on the list and Parkerson stressed to his men that if anyone tried to harm Matranga that he personally would defend him. The other two were Bastion Incardona, Matranga's right hand man, and Gaspar Marchesi, a 14 year old defendant and son of Antonio Marchesi who was also a defendant and victim of the lynching. This has led to speculation of what the relationship between Matranga and Parkerson was.

One of the theories behind the whole affair, a conspiracy theory, has that the whole thing, including the killing of Hennessey, was part of a plot to take over Machec's business by a NOLA businessman named James Houston. Houston was an influential guy with many connections but one of the problems with this theory is that Macheca was basically broke by this time.

Macheca was of Sicilian decent but born in New Orleans. His real father, Pietro Cavanna, was a minor criminal who went to prison early in Macheca's childhood. Macheca's wife, possibly under the impression that her husband was dead, re-married to a Maltese man named Joseph Macheca. The young Joseph ended up taking his stepfather's last name. The elder Macheca was a businessman and started a business as a fruit importer. As the younger Macheca got older he helped his stepdad build and expand his business into a very successful importing and shipping venture. During this time Joe the elder and his wife had two children of their own, John and Michael and as they grew they got into the family business as well. When the elder Joe died at sea unexpectedly on a return trip from Malta in 1878 it was revealed that Joseph was not his true son when he was completely cut out of the will. Sons John and Michael received everything. Obviously this upset Macheca, understandably so, and in between the years of his fathers death and the lynching in 1891 Joe Macheca had multiple court battles with his step brothers. Being cut out of the family business started the decline in Josephs fortunes. The court battles further drained them as well as lawsuits with other NOLA businesses. Over the years there were periods of reconciliation between the brothers but they never seemed to last too long. During that span of years Joseph also made bad business deals and was sued by others over defaulted loans. Basically by the time of the Hennessey incident he was little more than a pauper living with one of his children in a small house on Bourbon Street. Any money he may have had left would have been spent on his defense and indeed brothers John and Michael chipped in for his counselor. The main basis for this whole theory comes from a book written in the 70's by Richard Gambino called Vendetta. HBO did a movie based on this, also called Vendetta, in the early 90's.

Charlie Matranga gets tagged as the first Godfather of NOLA in the sense that we know it today. He retired in 1922, handing power over to what appears to be a power sharing set up with Carrado Giacona as Boss and Silver Dollar Sam Carollo as Street Boss. Matranga dies in October 1943. Giacona dies in July 1944 and his Underboss Frank Todaro takes over for a short period until his death in November 1944. Officially he died of throat cancer but some theories have it that Carollo helped him out with a little poison. Carollo is deported in April 1947. Carlos Marcello is elected Boss in May 1947, beating out Carollo's son Anthony. There would be a rivalry between them until Marcello's death in 1993. Anthony then takes over until his death in 2007. By the time of Marcello's death however the NOLA family was pretty much depleted. What was left was soon further decimated early on in Anthony's tenure when he, along with other NOLA figures as well as some Gambino and Genovese members, were busted in a video poker skim bust called Operation Hardcrust.

The best info I've heard is that currently there's only a half dozen to maybe fifteen made guys left run by either Joe Tufaro or the son of Frank Gagliano, who was Underboss under Anthony Carollo, Joe Gagliano. But who knows! NOLA definitely isn't what it once was.