Albert Marco
Albert Marco | |
|---|---|
 L.A. Herald, July 23, 1926 |
Marco Albori, better known by his alias Albert Marco, was an Italian bootlegger who was active in Los Angeles during the Prohibition Era in the 1920s. He is said to be the first to transport Canadian whiskey to Los Angeles. Marco worked closely with Charles H. Crawford, who ran city politics along with Kent Kane Parrot.
Biography[edit]
Marco was born about 1887 in Italy.[1] Marco came to the United States through Ellis Island in 1908. He started off as a pimp and con man in Nevada and Washington. In 1919 he served a brief prison sentence for burglary in Sacramento. Crawford, an old friend from their days in Seattle convinced Marco to move to Los Angeles. In the early 1920s Marco drove to L.A. in a Cadillac transporting alcohol to a Long Beach warehouse. The political connections created by Crawford's political machine let Marco operate without much fear of prosecution for his crimes. In 1925 Marco pistol whipped an LAPD officer and was given a $50 fine and his gun back. According to the IRS, between 1922 and 1924 Marco earned $500,000 from bordello prostitution.[2] He was also associated with Max "Boo Hoo" Hoff of Philadelphia.[3]
On the evening of June 27, 1928, Marco was welcomed to the at the Ship Cafe in Venice by restauranteur and retired boxer Tommy Jacobs. Marco was in the company of three friends. As the party continued, "Marco became embroiled in an argument with other customers that escalated into fist fighting. Outnumbered, the gangster reached for his gun and fired. Two men were wounded."[3] In the wee hours of June 28, 1928, Marco was arrested by officer John Brunty, and eventually put on trial for assault with a deadly weapon in the 1926 shooting of Dominick Conterno and Harry Judson.[4][5] He was found guilty on two counts and was sentenced to two seven-year terms by judge William C. Doran.
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On April 1, 1929, Marco was sent to San Quentin State Prison to serve his sentence.[6] Marco appealed the ruling, but was denied a second trial. He was paroled on April 7, 1933.[6] Marco was deported to Italy in November 1933.[7] He returned to Los Angeles in 1937 hoping to permanently stay in the United States, but he was denied and ordered to return to Italy again.
References[edit]
- ^ "Entry for Marco Albori, 1930". United States Census, 1930. FamilySearch.
- ^ McDougal, Dennis (2009-08-05). Privileged Son: Otis Chandler and the Rise and Fall of the L.a. Times Dynasty. Hachette Books. ISBN 9780786751136.
- ^ a b Moran & Sewell (1979), p. 72.
- ^ "Albert Marco Found Guilty in Shooting". Los Angeles Times. September 8, 1928. p. A5.
- ^ Ship Cafe, scene of the crime, 1928, retrieved 2024-05-07
- ^ a b "Marco Will Obtain His Parole Friday". Berkeley Daily Gazette. United Press. April 5, 1933. p. 5. Retrieved January 16, 2010.
- ^ "Berkeley Daily Gazette - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
Sources[edit]
- Moran, Tom; Sewell, Tom (1979). Fantasy by the Sea: A Visual History of the American Venice. Beyond Baroque Foundation. Culver City, California: Peace Press. ISBN 9780915238392. LCCN 79003058. OCLC 6355708.
- Rayner, Richard (2009). A Bright and Guilty Place: Murder, Corruption, and L.A.'s Scandalous Coming of Age. Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-50970-1.