Category: Famous People

Believe it or Not, it All Started Here.

While there’s a buttload of awesome things to see in New Orleans and centuries of interesting history the thing that interests me the most about the Crescent City is its Mob history. It’s my hobby, a hobby I spend a good percentage of my free time on and it’s a subject that a lot of people, even locals, don’t know a whole bunch about. Hopefully I can change that a bit.

And so, it’s always best to start at the beginning.

When most people think of the American version of the Mafia 99.9999% of the time New York comes to mind and so most people — should they decide to dig into the subject a little deeper — are surprised to learn that the American Mafia has its roots in New Orleans going back to, at least, the Civil War and most likely a couple of decades before that. It wasn’t what we know as the Mafia of the last century with guys like Capone, Lansky, Luciano or Gotti but probably more akin to the images we were shown in Godfather II explaining Vito Corleone’s origins.

The first guy who gets credit for being the Boss of New Orleans, or more accurately Little Palermo (the area of the French Quarter), was Raffaele Agnello. Raffaele was originally from Palermo Sicily and was among the leadership of the European Brigade, a military style unit made up of immigrants to Louisiana, by the time of the outbreak of hostilities between the north and south. After NOLA was captured by Union forces, the European Brigade was delegated as a security force in the city and this undoubtedly helped Agnello gather power to himself.

After the war, Agnello became more and more powerful but, of course, he had his rivals and one of those was a fruit and produce importer named Joseph Macheca. While Macheca wasn’t thought to have been an actual member of the Mafia (though he had Sicilian roots he was actually born in New Orleans and thus an Americano) he certainly mixed in those circles and though it’s not known if Macheca actually played a part in the incident, Agnello was assassinated on Toulouse Street on the morning of April 1, 1869, not far from Joseph Macheca’s business.

After a tense few months in which there were numerous shootings and at least one death, an associate of Macheca’s named Litero Barba, it appeared that Raffaelle had come out on top and decided to do a victory lap around Little Palermo so his fellow Italians could see who was in charge.

He and Godson/bodyguard Frank Saccaro had just turned the corner onto Toulouse from Old Levee Street (now Decatur Street) when a sound distracted both Sacarro and Agnello. As they turned to look back to see what the commotion was on Old Levee a man named Joseph Florada (he would later be known by the name Gaetano Arditto in the assassination of another individual a decade later) stepped from a doorway where he had hidden himself and raised a blunderbuss and shot Agnello in the head. Four bits of metal penetrated his skull. Sacarro was also wounded but only with a minor wound to his hand. He gave chase to Florada but lost him. It’s almost certain that he knew who had fired the shot but later refused to identify him to the police.

Raffaele’s brother Joseph, known as Peppino, would move into his brother’s spot.

More on Peppino, Macheca, Florada and others in (hopefully) future installments.

Next time in Leave the Gun, Take the Muffuletta: Stories of the New Orleans Mob we’ll see what a Mafia Boss, a stripper and a preacher had in common.

Till then remember, never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut, unless you have something to tell me. I always love hearing NOLA stories on this subject.

By Ron Rawson
Born a Yankee but has lived in the southern USA for decades in between periods spent out west in Las Vegas and Montana and with a (far too) short period spent in Italy. Ron has split his time between New Orleans and Atlanta for the last 13 years. With an interest in the Mafia that goes back three decades he has spent the last ten years researching the New Orleans Family and hunting down the locations around the city where the history happened. Husband to a beautiful wife, father of three great kids and grandfather to a wonderful little girl (soon to be two wonderful little girls) .

Swifties Are Always Welcome

Phenomenal seems to be the most frequently used word by French Quarter businesses to describe the past week of the “Swifties” invasion. Swiftie denotes a dedicated fan of singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, whose three nights of concerts at the Caesars Superdome flooded the French Quarter with her most diehard followers this past weekend. The Swifties quickly gained fans of their own among the local business community, not only for their patronage, but for just being courteous and downright nice people. If a business owner wasn’t a Taylor Swift fan prior to this week, they certainly are now.

Jaded service industry workers in the French Quarter are no stranger to large homogeneous groups and typically expect an aggravating work shift dealing with rude, entitled customers. Not so with Swift fans. In fact, the complete opposite seems to be true. I received nothing but compliments for the sequined customers, who were generally described as “very kind and spending lots of money.”

Cary Thompson, general manager at 13 on Frenchman Street had nothing but praise for the crowds of Swift fans this week. “They weren’t just trying to be kind; they were very genuine and engaged,” he said. “They all seemed very based, happy to be here and really vibing on each other’s fandom and positivity.”

Enormous peaceful crowds packed Bourbon Street for blocks singing Swift songs, dancing, and just being cool and loving. This is not exactly what we are used to seeing on Bourbon Street. There is clear evidence that this group of people seemed to have left the Quarter cleaner and in better shape than they found it.

One of Bourbon’s most hardened and renowned night club managers, Eddie O’Dwyer at The Frat House on Bourbon Street had this to say about this Swifty weekend: “If I could open a strictly Taylor Swift bar, I would. Great crowds and numbers since Thursday. No problems, no headaches, everyone nice and polite. I was like wtf?! I’ll take this 7 days a week, 365. I hope they come back next year!” Eddie added his security staff was extremely bored from all of the politeness.

One shop, Gimme at 713 Toulouse St., was elbow-to-elbow with Swifties for days. The shop, which features accessories best described as pink and glittery, has never seen crowds of customers like this since they opened about three years ago, or at any point in their entire retail experience in the French Quarter. Owner Jeff McCoy and his wife Nikki not only praised the quantity of customers, but the quality of customers.

The bright pink Gimme shop features fun quirky accessories and glittery makeup, a huge draw for Swifties. Several people asked what kind of a shop it is the rest of the year thinking it was Taylor Swift pop-up store here only during the concert. “Nope, this is us year-round,” Jeff McCoy responded.

Excessively polite and courteous patrons filed in and out of the shop as soon as the doors opened. McCoy recalled one incident. “We were just locking up and closing for the night when a couple of customers from earlier in the day started to tap on the window for our attention,” he said.

Somehow the customers had inadvertently received a pair of earrings in their purchase bag that they had not paid for. Since they were leaving the next day, they made a special trip back to the small shop that night to either return or pay for the merchandise.

Overwhelmed with such honesty, Nikki and Jeff said they refused payment for the earnings. “Please just keep them,” the McCoys told the group.

According to Jeff, that incident was the best example of the type of crowds they were serving this weekend.

Turtle Bay on Decatur Street had informally renamed the upstairs as “Taylor Bay” for the concert weekend and decorated wall-to-wall in bright, glittery tassels, just like the kind of dress Taylor Swift wears on stage (in fact, when I Googled the spelling of tassel, the search bar auto-populated with “tassel dress Taylor Swift”). Guests loved it and here’s what owner Steve Smith had to say on this weekend:

“I’ll start by saying, going into the weekend I wasn’t a Taylor Swift fan. Not a hater, just indifferent. As a 54-year-old guy, I wouldn’t have been able to name one Taylor Swift song. I’m sure I’ve heard some just as a member of society, but I couldn’t have told you what songs hers were when I heard them. My wife and I happened to be in Nashville last year when the Taylor Swift tour was in town. We saw how many people it brought there. So, when we found out the tour was stopping in New Orleans we knew it would be a busy weekend and wanted to take advantage.

“We decided to turn the upstairs room at our bar/grill into a Taylor Swift-themed room. We knew with three sold out shows in the Dome, New Orleans was going to get plenty of visitors this weekend. What we didn’t know, was the town was about to be consumed and completely taken over by a seemingly never-ending swarm of ‘Swifties.’

“Every bar, restaurant and shop was filled for three days giving businesses a much-needed shot in the arm after another long summer. But this group brought with it more than monetary gains to the city. They didn’t just spend money around town, they shared their fun loving, friendly, carefree attitude. Every one of the Swifties, young and old, came with excitement and a smile ear to ear. Their attitude was truly contagious. You could feel the excitement and buzz around the city from the tourist to the locals.

“I’ve been in this business for over 30 years in New Orleans and I can’t really remember an event like this not called Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest or French Quarter Fest that brought the same energy. That includes the many Super Bowls, college football championships, concerts, etc. I’ve witnessed. In a town that sees plenty of ups and downs from a very contentious political season, crime, poor infrastructure, and the rest. The Swiftie invasion and shared positive vibes was more than welcome. It was one of the best weekends for the city I can remember, certainly since covid. I know we have the Super Bowl coming in a few months and it will be great. But I would gladly take another Swiftie invasion weekend any day!!“

Thank you, Taylor Swift and your fans, not just for giving New Orleans the huge financial boost we knew we needed, but more importantly the emotional lift we didn’t know we needed.“
-Steve Smith, Turtle Bay.

Regardless of what someone’s opinion is of Taylor Swift’s music or politics, one cannot deny that she boosts the economy of any city she performs in. Not every event or festival here can say that. There have been large groups of fans for events that were way more trouble than they were worth and their return visits are always dreaded.

Summers are always slow and with the current economy, this visit has been a blessing. Jeff McCoy stated: “When she schedules her next tour, I’ll personally go to a council meeting and encourage the city to invite her back.”

Hell, when she comes back, I’ll spend the money and go to a show myself.

Charges dropped against UFC fighter Nate Diaz over Bourbon Street brawl

Picture by Bhenricksen | CC Wikipedia

New Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams said that he won’t be pursuing second-degree battery charges against UFC fighter Nate Diaz stemming from a Bourbon Street fight captured on video earlier this year, local news media reported on Monday.

A video posted to social media showed Diaz allegedly choking out a man following an altercation in front of Crescent City Pizza Works (407 Bourbon St.) on April 21. An arrest warrant was issued for Diaz, although he turned himself in six days later.

Local news outlets, including nola.com and WWL, cited officials in the DA’s office who reviewed the video and determined the evidence is not “sufficient support to prove the alleged crime.”

WWL reported that Diaz’ attorney claimed his client was “aggressively pursued” by a man and that Diaz was merely defending himself. The went limp during the choke hold and hit his head on the curb after Diaz let him go, WWL said.

A video of the incident was posted to social media last April and can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/mpuz35d7.

Trump stopped at Cafe du Monde and gets bag of beignets, tips $100

Donald Trump’s motorcade at Cafe du Monde on Tuesday. Photo credit: Kevin Charles
Former President Donald Trump stopped at Cafe du Monde on Tuesday while en route to a fundraising event and then tipped $100 after receiving a bag of beignets, according to local reports.

The pit stop didn’t appear to be much of a surprise to the local press, since “reporters, cameramen and photographers” were perfectly positioned to capture Trump’s moves as he strolled through the “quintessential” French Quarter attraction, according to nola.com. Locals and passersby seemed to be caught off guard, which could be explained by the fact that these people don’t follow the fucking news.

One of our fans happened to be nearby when Trump’s motorcade came through and snapped a pic, thankfully, and sent it to us. Our loyal fan was driving past the shops in the 800 block of Decatur Street, a few doors down from Cafe du Monde, when he noticed the motorcade.

“So I rode past a bunch of [old people] and I’m like what’s going on with all this fuckery, do you know what’s going on?” said Kevin Charles. “And they were like no so I’m like oh all right. So I start moving in there like I’m pretty sure Trump’s in town and I was like oh all right fucking right man. And they said some snooty remark and I just kept walking, because fuck those old timers.”

According to nola.com, Trump – who is running for a second term as president – was on his way to a campaign fundraiser in Old Metairie when he decided to stop for some white powder-dusted beignets. A server handed him a bag of three beignets, a cafe au lait and Trump tipped the employee $100. His time in the restaurant was about five minutes, according to the newspaper.

The Quarter Rat scopes out Macron visit to the Vieux Carre (PHOTOS)

All photos by Eric T. Styles
The Quarter Rat editor and photographer extraordinaire Eric T. Styles scoped out French President Emmanuel Macron’s trip to the Vieux Carre on Friday, ardently pursuing his entourage to document the once-in-a-lifetime visit from the leader of France as he walked around shaking hands with residents.

Being a French Quarter resident himself, Styles automatically knew where to position himself, fearlessly capturing photos of Macron and his visit with New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell.

Macron’s visit is the third time France’s president has visited the Big Easy. The last time was when Valery Giscard d’Estaing came in 1976. President Charles de Gaulle made a trip in 1960.

The trip was part of Macron’s tour of America and included talks with Cantrell to strengthen ties between France and the city. In addition, Macron met with Elon Musk to discuss Twitter, according to local news reports.

There may be a gonzo story on what happened coming soon from Styles himself, but for now feast your eyes upon a sample of the photos he snapped during the day-long event.

French President Emmanuel Macron plans to visit New Orleans, Vieux Carre