Fame and Infamy in Louisiana

‘All Power to the People.’ The Black Panthers Desire Stronghold in New Orleans

The Black Panthers Desire Stronghold in New Orleans

“Death to the pigs!” “Death to the pigs!” “Death to the pigs!”

It’s fall 1970, and the folks who live in New Orleans’ Desire Housing Project are verbally unloading on police officers who have shown up 250 strong in an effort to forcibly evict the local chapter of the Black Panther Party.

Little kids are chanting, middle-aged folks are hollering, and old folks are shouting as well. The crowd is determined to drive the police out of their neighborhood, and in a result that seems shocking a half-century later; they did just that. The cops withdrew. Continue Reading

Fame and Infamy in Louisiana

The Louisiana Pizza Kitchen Massacre in New Orleans

The Louisiana Pizza Kitchen at New Orleans’ French Market

“Trip and get flipped. Like a pancake. Thinking this man a fake. Now they bringing flowers to you (sic) wake.”

These are the words a murderer has scrawled on a greaseboard inside the Louisiana Pizza Kitchen prep area shortly after he killed three of the company’s employees and attempted to kill a fourth.

His crime netted him and his accomplices about $2500. Continue Reading

Fame and Infamy in Louisiana

X-New Orleans Police Officer Len Davis Was The Terrorist of Desire

New Orleans police officer Len Davis

Len Davis was a cold-blooded killer, a bodyguard to drug traffickers, and most importantly, a New Orleans police officer with such a fearsome reputation that he was known as “the Desire Terrorist,” an appelation he earned by cracking skulls and robbing drug dealers in the Desire Projects of New Orleans 9th Ward. Continue Reading

Fame and Infamy in Louisiana

Mother Catherine Seals And The Temple Of The Innocent Blood

Mother Catherine Seals And The Temple Of The Innocent Blood

As you walked through the mud and dirt streets in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans in the 1920s you may have come upon a massive, wooden-walled compound looming over Charbonnet Street near Bayou Bienvenue.

Inside you would have found hundreds of adherents to Mother Catherine Seals, the Black founder of one of the largest religious movements of the early 20th century. Parrots squawked about, alleycats were underfoot and a resident donkey had the run of the grounds. A goat ambled among the chickens pecking the turf. Continue Reading

Fame and Infamy in Louisiana

Dixie Mafia: Stickup Men, Car Thieves, Drug Runners, And Contract Killers

Meet The Dixie Mafia by rl reeves jr

The Dixie Mafia were a roving gang of sadistic killers who did dirty business in the Deep South for the oldest reason of them all: money.

Powerboats, high-performance Cadillacs, and turbo-prop airplanes criss-crossed Louisiana, and the rest of the south as the cartel waged a reign of terror that saw dozens of killings, and enormous amounts of money go into the gang’s coffers Continue Reading