Empire of Sin (67 page)

34
“all decent, self-respecting citizens …”
Stanonis,
Creating the Big Easy
, 106.

35
maintaining pressure on the new administration …
 Stanonis,
Creating the Big Easy
, 112.

36
didn’t rest on the eugenics issue …
 Gordon advocating for state sterilization law per Carrasco, “Gift House,” 323.

37
“When Jean was convinced …”
Carrasco, “Gift House,” 311.

38
proved to be an inept politician …
 McShane and ODA coalition collapse per Reynolds,
Machine Politics
, 216.

39
winner was none other than Martin Behrman …
 Martin Behrman’s return per Reynolds,
Machine Politics
, 216–23.

40
out of politics—and out of the vice business …
 Details of Tom Anderson’s later history (including all quotes) are mainly from
Succession of Anderson
.

41
Irene was in fact the issue of a legal marriage …
 The 1880 US Census lists Thomas and Emma Anderson living together at 253 St. Louis Street.

42
remarked on the startling resemblance …
 Judge’s remarks on family resemblance per
Succession of Anderson
.

43
the night of December 9, 1931
 … For story of Anderson’s death, see the NODS and NODI of December 10, 1931.

44
“Mr. Anderson …”
Quotes from obituaries in the NOTP, NODI, and NODS editions of December 10 and 11, 1931.

45
tried to reinvent New Orleans yet again …
 New Orleans troubles in the 1930s per Souther,
Parade
, 3.

46
restored as an intriguing holdover …
 For the restoration of French Quarter, see Ellis’s
Madame Vieux Carre;
also Souther,
Parade
, 7–8.

47
something to be revived and promoted …
 For the jazz revival, see Stanonis,
Creating the Big Easy
, 195–234; Souther, “Birthplace,” 42–48.

48
forced to stay at a “colored hotel” …
 Stanonis,
Creating the Big Easy
, 239.

49
“still shackled by the iron grip …”
Souther, “Birthplace,” 66.

Afterword: Who Was the Axman?

  
1
Monfre’s killer was another ex-New Orleanian …
 For Esther Albano’s slaying of Joseph Monfre, see the NOTP and NODI editions of December 15 through 17, 1921.

  
2
“I grabbed my revolver …”
is from the NOTP of December 16, 1921.

  
3
investigators noticed a pattern …
 Police compare Monfre’s prison admissions and releases to axman crimes per the NOTP of December 15, 1921, and the NODI of December 16, 1921.

  
4
the paper ridiculed the theory …
 as per the NODI of December 16, 1921.

  
5
records are “muddled” …
 McQueen on Monfre’s prison records in McQueen,
Ax man
, 51.

  
6
If I were to hazard a guess …
 My speculations at the end are based principally on the Police Homicide Reports and the newspaper reportage of the crimes published in the days after they occurred; much misinformation was introduced by reporters (for example, that the Pipitone murder was an ax crime) in later articles about the axman phenomenon.

Acknowledgments

My family sometimes accuses me of choosing book topics based on where I want to spend time doing research, and in the case of
Empire of Sin
, there’s more than a little truth to the charge. New Orleans, as anyone who knows it can attest, has a kind of insouciant charisma that no other American city can replicate, and the prospect of immersing myself in such a place was undeniably appealing. An unexpected bonus was discovering that so many of the caretakers of the city’s history—whether native-born New Orleanians or transplants—had an insouciant charisma all their own, not to mention a willingness to share their expertise that made my job a whole lot easier.

I’d first like to thank Irene Wainwright and the staff of the Louisiana Division/City Archives at the New Orleans Public Library. Irene and her crew (including Cheryl Picou, Christina Bryant, Greg Osborn, Nancy Aloisio, Stephen Kuehling, and Yvonne Loiselle) fielded countless questions, unearthed numerous old documents and court transcripts, and resuscitated many a reluctant microfilm printer for me over the years. A special hat-tip goes to Yvonne and to Wayne Everard, former head of the Louisiana Division, for reading and commenting on the finished manuscript.

I had plenty of help Uptown as well. At Tulane, particular thanks go to Bruce Raeburn, director of the rich and valuable Hogan Jazz Archive, as well as the archive’s knowledgeable and always companionable staff—Nicole Shibata, Lynn Abbott, and Alaina Hébert. Also at Tulane, Leon C. Miller, Ann E. Smith Case, Sean Benjamin, Jeffrey A. Rubin, and the staff of the university’s Louisiana and Special Collections earned my gratitude for numerous acts of kindness and scholarly guidance.

Down in the French Quarter, I owe thanks to the entire staff of the Williams Research Center at the Historic New Orleans Collection, but in particular to Mark Cave, Daniel Hammer, Eric Seifert, Jennifer Navarre, and Bobby Ticknor. Eddie Gonzales, Deputy Clerk of the Louisiana Supreme Court, was instrumental in locating and making available the full transcript of the Anderson succession trial, one of the most critical (and difficult to locate) documents I needed for this project. Meanwhile, up toward Lake Pontchartrain, Florence M. Jumonville and the staff of Special Collections at the University of New Orleans were also extremely helpful.

For various assistance, guidance, and other favors, I’d also like to thank Sheila Lee of the Louisiana Newspaper Project at LSU; the staff of the library at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans; organized-crime expert Richard Warner; Kathy and Kevin Laborde; author Emily Epstein Landau; restaurateur Joanne Clevenger; the staff of the Mormon Family Research Center in Kensington, Maryland; and (for reasons too complicated to outline here) President Wallace D. Loh, Timothy Hackman, and Patricia Steele of the University of Maryland. Special mention must go to Richard Campanella of Tulane, whose brilliant work in the past and present geography of New Orleans greatly enhanced my understanding of the city. And as always, thanks to my pal Lisa Zeidner for her keen editorial eye.

I’d also like to express appreciation to the friends I’ve made in New Orleans, especially writers Moira Crone and Rodger Kamenetz, historian Judith K. Schafer, and lawyer Tim Schafer (who is a great-grandson of Thomas C. Anderson). And probably my biggest debt is to Alecia Long, author of the superb book
The Great Southern Babylon
, reader of the finished manuscript, and someone I’m now proud to call my friend. How I will miss dinners in New Orleans with Alecia.

At Crown, I feel incredibly lucky in my wonderful new editor, Domenica Alioto, who stepped in when my former editor, the similarly wonderful Sean Desmond, left the company midway through the project. Thanks, too, to Molly Stern, Dyana Messina, Stephanie Knapp, and many others at Crown. A big fist-bump as usual goes to my friend and agent, Eric Simonoff at William Morris Endeavor, and to his assistant, Kate Barry.

Finally, as ever, I owe the deepest thanks to my family—my wife, Elizabeth Cheng Krist; my daughter, Anna Krist; and, yes, even Lily, my constant and delightful canine companion during the long days of writing this book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

G
ARY
K
RIST
has written for the
New York Times, Esquire, Salon
, the
Washington Post Book World
, and elsewhere. He is the author of the
New York Times
bestselling
City of Scoundrels
and the acclaimed
The White Cascade
, as well as several works of fiction. He has been the recipient of the Stephen Crane Award, the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a Lowell Thomas Gold Medal for Travel Journalism.

Table of Contents

Cover

Other Books by This Author

Title Page

Copyright

Author’s Note

Epigraph

Afterword    Who Was the Axman?

Bibliography

Notes

Acknowledgments

About the Author