Sylvestro Carolla

Sylvestro or Silvestro Carolla or Carollo (June 17, 1896 – 1972) was a leader of the New Orleans crime family who was nicknamed "Silver Dollar Sam". He transformed Charles Matranga's Black Hand gang into a Cosa Nostra crime family.

Born Silvestro Davide Carollo in Terrasini, Sicily, Carollo immigrated to the United States in 1903 to join his parents in the French Quarter of New Orleans. By 1918, Carollo was a high-ranking member of the New Orleans Black Hand gang. In 1922, Matranga retired and Carollo became gang leader. Taking over Matranga's minor bootlegging operations, Carollo waged war against rival bootleggers. In December 1930, with the murder of rival William Bailey, Carollo gained full control of bootlegging in New Orleans

Carollo was married to Caterina Carollo and had three children, Anthony, Michael, and Sarah. Carollo owned several businesses in the New Orleans area, including the St. Charles Tavern, and a cafe in Terrasini.

As his power increased, Carollo gained considerable political influence in New Orleans. In 1929, boss Al Capone was trying to force Carollo to supply Capone's Chicago Outfit with imported alcohol and cut off Joe Aiello, a rival bootlegger in Chicago. Arriving by train in New Orleans with several Outfit mobsters to press his case, Capone's party was intercepted at the station by Carollo and several New Orleans policemen. Carollo's cops reportedly disarmed Capone's henchmen and then broke their fingers. Capone was forced to immediately board another train to Chicago without any concessions from Carollo.

In 1930, Carollo was arrested for the shooting death of federal narcotics agent Cecil Moore during an undercover drug buy. Despite testimony by several New Orleans policemen that Carollo was in New York at the time of the murder, he was sentenced to two years in prison.

Released in 1934, Carollo negotiated a deal with two New York mobsters, Frank Costello of the Luciano crime family and Phillip "Dandy Phil" Kastel of the Genovese crime family, along with Louisiana Senator Huey Long, to bring illegal slot machines to New Orleans. The new mayor of New York, Fiorello La Guardia, had started attacking mob gambling establishments in that city, and Costello thought that New Orleans might be a safer environment for them. Therefore, it was arranged that Carollo and his lieutenant Carlos Marcello would run illegal gambling operations in New Orleans undisturbed for several years.

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