Deep Water: Joseph P. Macheca and the Birth of the American Mafia

by Thomas Hunt, Martha Macheca Sheldon, Martha Sheldon

Set in the Gilded Age of New Orleans, the historical biography Deep Joseph P. Macheca and the Birth of the American Mafia establishes the factual details of Macheca’s epic life story, the assassination of Police Chief David Hennessy and the Crescent City lynchings. “An excellent, meticulously detailed ... account of the birth of the American Mafia and a wonderful study of New Orleans from the Civil War/Reconstruction periods up through the famous mass lynching. Macheca comes across as a fascinating rogue. Deep Water ... shows a marvelous objectivity.” —Rick Mattix, coauthor, The Complete Public Enemy Almanac “A memorable reading experience... This book will force a reassessment of a famous event in the history of American organized crime.” —Dr. Peter Dale Scott, author, Deep Politics and the Death of JFK “Very interesting and informative. I was also happy to see my own prejudice the Hennessy murder emerges out of the turbid racial and political situation in the city.” —James Fentress, author, Rebels and Mafiosi Through a combination of historical records and family lore, the authors trace Macheca's rise to successful merchant while concurrently describing the political and social changes in New Orleans in the last half of the 19th Century... [A] convincing analysis of the inextricability of organized crime and local politics. —Kirkus Discoveries

Genres: True Crime, History

412 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2007

About the author

I am a writer/researcher on the subject of organized crime (American Mafia). I most recently authored, Wrongly Executed? The Long-forgotten Context of Charles Sberna's 1939 Electrocution. I publish a quarterly true crime journal, Informer, and The American Mafia history website as well as a number of blogs. I co-wrote DiCarlo: Buffalo's First Family of Crime with Michael A. Tona and Deep Water: Joseph P. Macheca and the Birth of the American Mafia with Martha Macheca Sheldon. I contributed the American Mafia history sections to the Australian published, Mafia: The Necessary Reference to Organized Crime. I moderate Mafiahistory.us and Facebook discussion groups on Mafia history. Previously, I served as editor of several dmoz.org categories related to organized crime.

Married with three children and (too) numerous pets, I live and work in the Middlebury VT area.

Reviews

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

On a chilly fall night in October 1891, New Orleans Police Chief David Hennessey was shot by unknown assailants near his home, and died several hours later. After a rumor spread that his last words were “Dagoes did it”, anti-Italian sentiment seized the city. Nineteen men of Italian birth or descent were accused of orchestrating the chief’s murder. When a court of law declared them not guilty, a mob stormed the jail where they were being held and killed eleven of them. Some were beaten and shot, others were hung. This mass lynching remains a dark spot in New Orleans history.

In Deep Water, Hennessy’s assassination and the mass slaying of his suspected killers is revisited from the perspective of J.P. Macheca, a fruit-shipping merchant with intricate ties to the city’s corrupt Democratic ring and evolving American Mafia. Legend has credited Macheca with being the earliest Mafia ‘godfather’. Authors Thomas Hunt and Martha Sheldon make a convincing argument for the theory that the lynching of Macheca and ten of his alleged co-conspirators was not a random and rabid act of mob retribution for Hennessey’s death, but rather a spectacular execution whose victims had been chosen well in advance.

The book is also an engrossing look at Louisiana history during the Civil War / Reconstruction period. J.P. Macheca fought for the Confederacy, and during the postwar years, he behaved less honourably by moving in Sicilian underworld circles and instigating vicious attacks on African Americans. His fortunes declined when he did not soften his rougher instincts to stay in tune with the gentrification of the times. His export business failed, his old friends and allies abandoned him, and the final stop in his downward spiral was a bullet in the skull.

[Walt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the analysis so often lacking in the genre. The authors also offer a large and impressive bibliography. However, I would have preferred footnotes/endnotes for some of the more controversial aspects of the text. It would have made the book much more impressive. While reading it can be a bit difficult with the academic writing style; the sheer volume of primary sources and analysis makes this one of the best books on the American Mafia.