Phillip Kastel
Phillip Kastel | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 2, 1893 New York, New York |
| Died | August 16, 1962 New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Cause of death | Gun shot |
| Occupation | Crime |
| Spouse(s) | Elsie Conner d.; Margaret Dennis |
| Parent(s) | Solomon Kastel and Rachel Rosenthal |
| Relatives | Brother: Allen. Sisters: Florence, Ida and Rose Kastel |
Phillip "Dandy Phil" Kastel (April 2, 1893 – August 16, 1962) was a Jewish-American organized crime figure, gambler, and longtime associate of both the Genovese and New Orleans crime family.
Early life
Phillip Frank Kastel was born to a
In 1917, upon the
From New York to New Orleans
Following Rothstein's death in 1928, Kastel went to work for former Rothstein associate and Luciano crime family acting boss Frank Costello and later moved to New Orleans to establish gambling operations, primarily slot machines, during the mid-1930s. Between 1935 and 1937, the Costello-Kastel partnership earned an income of over $2.4 million from slot machines alone, according to federal authorities. Although both were charged in 1939 for tax evasion, Kastel and Costello were both acquitted.
By the 1940s, with control over the majority of gambling in Louisiana, both legal and illegal, Kastel, Costello and the New Orleans crime family's acting boss Silvestro Carollo began to expand their operations into high class gambling casinos in New Orleans, which earned millions. It was during this period that Frank Costello was allegedly claimed to have committed his only act of violence when Kastel, in daily contact with the New York boss, reported his suspicions that one of the casino employees had been holding back money from the slot machine skimming operation. Costello was said to have replied he would handle the matter personally and, flying down to New Orleans, called for a sit-down between Kastel's entire organization and New Orleans crime family. Calling the accused employee forward, he was asked to explain the unusual shortages in his collections. As the employee was explaining, Costello was said to have reached under the podium and knocked the man unconscious with a monkey wrench. When he had regained consciousness, Costello told the man to return to his seat and told the audience that if anyone were caught trying to steal from the both crime families there would be worse treatment. Kastel also attended the Havana Conference that began on December 20, 1946.
Final years
Kastel continued to run the organization throughout the 1950s and, due to considerable financial contributions to local politicians (including $750,000 to the campaign fund of Governor Earl Long, the younger brother of former Governor Huey Long, from Kastel, Costello and Frankie Carbo in 1955), without interference from city officials.
However, as Costello was replaced by new acting boss Vito Genovese, Kastel was forced to hand over control of his illegal gambling operations in Louisiana to the New Orleans crime family and its new acting boss Carlos Marcello. In failing health, having lost his sight in one eye and worsening vision in the other, Kastel remained in his apartment at the Claiborne Towers in New Orleans until August 16, 1962, when he was found dead in his apartment from a gunshot wound to the head. His death was ruled a suicide.[2]
See also
- Sylvestro Carolla
References
Notes
- ISBN 9780874177374.
Most of the hotel builders were Jewish Americans: ...and Ben Jaffe, Phil Kastel, and J. Kell Houssels (the latter of Anglo-Saxon background) with the construction and the operation of the Tropicana.
- ^ Kastel, Philip (1893-1962). The American Mafia Blog.
Bibliography
- Fox, Stephen. Blood and Power: Organized Crime in Twentieth-Century America. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1989. ISBN 0-688-04350-X
- Kelly, Robert J. Encyclopedia of Organized Crime in the United States. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000. ISBN 0-313-30653-2
- Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia. Boston: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8160-5694-3
- Sifakis, Carl. The Encyclopedia of American Crime. New York: Facts on File Inc., 2001. ISBN 0-8160-4040-0
Further reading
- Mafia: The Government's Secret File on organized Crime
- Bernstein, Lee. The Greatest Menace: Organized Crime in Cold War America. Boston: UMass Press, 2002. ISBN 1-55849-345-X
- Capeci, Jerry. The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia. Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002. ISBN 0-02-864225-2
- Fried, Albert. The Rise and Fall of the Jewish Gangster in America. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1980. ISBN 0-231-09683-6
- Katcher, Leo. The Big Bankroll: The Life and Times of Arnold Rothstein. Boston: Da Capo Press, 1994. ISBN 0-306-80565-0
- Messick, Hank. Lansky. London: Robert Hale & Company, 1973. ISBN 0-7091-3966-7
- Pietrusza, David. Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2003. ISBN 0-7867-1250-3
- Piper, Michael Collins. Final Judgment: The Missing Link in the JFK Assassination Conspiracy. Washington, D.C.: Wolfe Press, 1993. ISBN 0-935036-47-4
- Reid, Ed and Demaris, Ovid. The Green Felt Jungle. Montreal: Pocket Books, 1964.
- Reppetto, Thomas A. American Mafia: A History of Its Rise to Power. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 2004. ISBN 0-8050-7798-7
- Turkus, Burton B. and Sid Feder. Murder, Inc: The Story of "the Syndicate". Boston: Da Capo Press, 2003. ISBN 0-306-81288-6
- United States. Congress. Senate. Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce. Investigation of Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce. 1951.
External links
- Philip Kastel: Perfecting the Number Two Spot by Allan May
