As Morrow and Cronkite frequently pointed out, the U.S. was in the middle of the cold war with Russia. Most military historians put the start of the cold war at just after the end of the Korean conflict in July, 1953. By 1954 the Soviet Union had established the KGB, followed in 1955 by the establishment of the Warsaw Pact. The Russians launched Sputnik into orbit on October 4, 1957. In November of 1958 Khrushchev demanded withdrawal of U.S. troops in Berlin and threatened military confrontation.
Cuba was taken over by Fidel Castro in January 1959, and soon declared ties with the Soviet Union. In May of 1960, just before the Kennedy election, the Soviets announced the downing of a U.S. spy plane piloted by Gary Powers over Soviet territory. Tension throughout Central America and the Gulf of Mexico increased at an alarming rate, inspired by the buildup of Soviet military personnel and missile installations in Cuba.
The failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, backed by the U.S., occurred in April 1961. The increased tension in Latin America lead to cold war tension in the region brought on by the new Cuban-Soviet alliance and Soviet military aid to Cuba which were suspected to include missiles.
Television was black & white and still somewhat experimental in both technology and programming. There was no cable for TV reception. Reception came through an antenna called, “rabbit ears” which sat on top of the TV console. Constant adjustment of the “ears” was required during many television programs, since reception was at best unreliable and often a mysterious phenomenon. Some individuals, usually adult males of the family, believed they had a special gift for “jiggling the ears” which could make images of random fuzz turn to clear screen images. This “gift” turned out to be questionable at best. Programs like the “Lone Ranger” on Saturday mornings always seemed clear when the chief jiggler was nowhere around.
The Hanna family watched more than just the evening news together. Another program the family watched was the Ed Sullivan Show. The Sullivan variety show featured among other things the changing trends in music capturing new directions in sounds and band groups. At times the Sullivan show was considered inappropriate, controversial, even vulgar by many parents as it brought the faces of new music groups already being heard on the radio right into the living room. Wade loved many types of music. As a young teenager he was on top of music changes while his parents lamented the loss of the big band and swing era.
Wade’s love of music would rarely place him far from a radio. These times of world and national tension would also record the birth of Rock and Roll. That sound and label started with Rock Around The Clock by Bill Hailey and the Comets who first recorded their hit in 1954. Wade was also fond of songs by Elvis Presley, The Four Aces, Johnnie Ray, the Four Lads, Bobby Darin, and Pat Boone. He even like some big band sounds, country and western music along with jazz.
It wouldn’t be until 1964 when the Beatles caused another change in musical direction for teenage youth in America. Wade and the local New Orleans radio stations were also playing Fats Domino, Buddy Holley, The Everly Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis, and a host of country music names.
Famous New Orleans Jazz, which had previously been confined to its cultural roots in the French Quarter, was exported to Chicago, St. Louis, New York and Europe. A few music legends like Pete Fountain and Al Hirt stayed in their night clubs in New Orleans while other jazz musicians spread their music far and wide of their New Orleans home.
During the '50s and '60s, there were no personal computers, no internet, no social media networks, digital watches, or cell phones. The closest thing to a mobile communication device was a pay phone, and every teenager knew from memory where all the pay phones in the neighborhood were located. The cost of a call from a pay phone was ten cents. This made it easy to “drop a dime” and stay in touch with home. For young people, curfew time was when the street lights came on. Long distant communication was still most often accomplished by a letter, which cost five cents to mail.
Movies were also a major part of the teenage culture, and New Orleans was no different than the rest of the country. Tickets ranged from 75 cents to a dollar fifty. Theaters and drive-ins featured movie options ranging from Vertigo, To Kill a Mockingbird, Singing in the Rain, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf, West Side Story, and The Bridge on the River Kwai. Beer was 40 cents a bottle and alcohol drinks were a dollar. Legal drinking age was generally ignored in New Orleans. The saying in New Orleans was, “If you can reach the bar we will serve you, no questions asked.” During this period you were able to get a drivers license at 15 years old if you knew people with the right Department of Motor Vehicles connections. The legal driving age was 16 but no one was checking.
Gasoline was 33 cents per gallon, the price of which included a live attendant pumping your gas, checking your oil and tires, and cleaning your windshield. Most car designs of the day had fins and aerodynamic front-ends which gave the impression that they could fly. Chrome was in, and the most popular teenage cars were Chevys and Fords. For a teenager to have a '57 Chevy was the pinnacle of being cool. The sticker price of a brand new 1957 Chevy two-door sedan with a V8 engine was around $1,800. Most teenagers and their parents couldn’t afford one and were content to drive older model cars. In the 1960s, like today, for a teenager old enough to drive, the automobile was an expression of freedom, a form of transportation, an entertainment center, and, on occasion, a bedroom. Drive-in theaters and burger joints were often preferred dating destinations for young couples with a car. With proper upgrades and adjustments, a car’s performance could be improved and souped-up versions of common sedans suddenly became racing machines.
Most drag racing started on quiet streets and included grudge matches to determine who had the fastest car. A gang element emerged in this street drag racing scene until the sport became organized and officially sanctioned drag strips started to appear. Organized drag strip racing started with the emergence of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). The NHRA set out timing and safety rules, car and engine classification categories, and started to organize what had been a random and increasingly dangerous street event. Officially sanctioned drag racing provided an alternative to street racing and got many racing cars off the streets. It also attracted a more professional crowd and diminished gang activity.
Wade Hanna loved drag racing and followed its growth at a young age. Before he could drive, Wade read everything he could find on repairing and improving the performance of car and motorcycle engines. He worked at service stations to practice his newly learned trade. Drag racing would become a passion which would lead him down alluring but sometimes un welcomed paths.
2
New Orleans is not just any old southern town. It is steeped in history, tradition, lore and mystery. It is a city famous for great food, architecture, its French Quarter, the Mississippi River, gambling, strip clubs, Mardi Gras, Southern bells, Castilian and debutant balls, Dixieland jazz, blues and Cajun music. Wade Hanna was not shy about participating in the city’s preoccupation with fun and celebration, but this didn’t come until his late teens.
With its rivers, lakes, bayous, canals, swamps, and proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, New Orleans is a very water-oriented city. It is known for water sports including fishing and hunting. Flooding is common; the city would be underwater most of the time were it not for the levee system that protects it
Wade loved the outdoors and hunting and fishing, which interested many of the city’s residents. In his early teen years, Hanna was more likely to be found in a duck blind than on a dance floor. His fishing and hunting activities led him to meet individuals from the Southwestern part of the state in Cajun country who shared the same outdoor interests. A phone call from his friend, Dave Comeaux would quickly take him back to his outdoor roots.
Dave asked with his French Cajun accent, “When you com’on down to the Bayou to fish? We can boil some crawfish and crabs. I got some gator tail and frog legs for the bar-ba-cue.”
After Wade politely declined, telling Dave how busy he was getting his c
ar ready for Sunday’s race, Dave said, “You’re always busy doing something. You’d better come down soon or you’ll forget how to fish.”
Wade laughed as he ended the call. It wouldn’t be too long before Wade would be fishing with Dave for speckled trout at a favorite spot near an offshore gas rig. That trip was followed the next day with a wonderful crawfish boil, sautéed frog legs, and speckled trout amandine.
The skyline of New Orleans was considerably different in the '50s and '60s than it is today. There were fewer bridges over the Mississippi, so there were more frequent ferry crossings. During this era, the city was a major commercial port in the South for cotton, tobacco, sugar, bananas and other imported goods from Central and South America and around the world. The riverfront, where gambling casinos and the Riverwalk stand today, was lined with real docks for transferring cargo. As is still the case today, the state was a center for the oil and gas industry with resources both on and offshore.
During the '50s and '60s, New Orleans was completely segregated by race. While racial tensions spread throughout the South, resulting in both peaceful demonstrations and riots, the city maintained a low profile. By comparison to other southern cities, racial tension in New Orleans attracted relatively little attention from the national and local press. Things were handled for the most part quietly without fanfare.
The city has always been operated behind a veil of secrecy. Whether the issue is business, race, justice, or which party wrongly crossed another, the city has been much about maintaining its low-key demeanor. Many residents trace their roots back to the Confederate city during the Civil War. Old family histories involve the legacy of plantation owners and slave traders. During the ‘50s and ‘60s it was not uncommon to hear references to this ancestry.
Gus, an eighty-year-old New Orleans family friend, once explained to Wade the difficulty he was having with a Northern business associate. He said, “The Northerners just don’t get it. The Confederate War ain’t over yet; we’re just in temporary suspense. The South will rise again. We just do business our way. If he wants to do business with me, my friend better get his ass down here so I can explain how business is done in the South.”
New Orleans and southern Louisiana evolved certain practices which governed how people dealt with each other. It can be said New Orleans is a “who you know” town where “favors” are often exchanged for “favors” in return. Many connections that foster this “who you know” principle stem back generations, to family ties that pre-date the Confederate War. The frequently heard Louisiana, expressions, “Who’s your Mama” and “Who’s your Daddy” were as alive in the '50s and '60s as they are today. If you knew the right person, everything from getting a traffic ticket fixed to receiving a major reduction in a prison sentence was possible. Life could be a lot easier in New Orleans if you knew the right people. Certain favors would be extended, handshakes welcomed, and a little lagniappe (bonus or extra) was passed along your way. Depending on your family ties, you might extend or receive some lagniappe. Sometimes these “little extra” favors were not so small and might take the form of a large construction contract or oil drilling concession.
As a dominate southern city on the Gulf of Mexico, New Orleans had strong business and cultural ties to the Caribbean and Latin American countries. Throughout the 1960s, despite civil unrest, social tension, and whatever else was going on in the rest of the world, New Orleans remained a fun-loving city. Publicity promoting the allure of jazz, Mardi Gras, good food, and around-the-clock parties was generated and maintained in a fashion that made and kept the “Big Easy” famous.
Beyond its glamorous and mysterious façade the city also had its seedy and undesirable side. It had its organized crime, mob bosses, street crime, and illegal activities just like all other large U.S. cities of the time. Law enforcement stood laid-back on prosecuting most organized crime activities, and focused more on street crimes and protecting the average citizen and tourist. Politicians at this time were “expected” to receive a part of the cut for handing out favors or turning their heads to questionable practices. Organized crime had been part of the city’s life since the early 1800s. Gambling, like dock workers at the turn of the century and liquor sales during prohibition, were run by the city’s organized crime bosses. Gambling in Louisiana was illegal during the '50s and '60s. City crime bosses ran most gambling and prostitution activities in both city and state, and these activities went on virtually everywhere.
One evening Wade had some relatives and friends in from out of town. They were all sitting around the table after dinner discussing New Orleans and state problems. One relative from the Northeast seemed annoyed by New Orleans’ lack of action over crime and crooked politicians and asked Wade what could be done to prevent it. Wade tried to explain, “New Orleans is surrounded by its own cloak of mystery and secrecy. If you’re on the inside, you might know or understand a few of its secrets. If you’re on the outside, none of it makes any sense. If you dare try to change things, the city shield is impossible to bend, break or move. You just have to live with it.” The other members of the group looked at each other. Wade’s answer didn’t seem to satisfy them. They still didn’t understand, but they didn’t follow his explanation with another question. The topic soon turned to Mardi Gras, which was soon approaching.
Except for the work of a few dedicated law enforcement teams, most organized crime activities in the city were either largely ignored or perpetually “under investigation.” This laid-back law enforcement policy seemed to apply as long as crimes didn’t affect the average law abiding citizen, local and state government officials, influential city families – or the tourists, who brought in large sums of money.
According to some reports originating outside the city, New Orleans, on a per capita basis, was considered, “The murder capital of the world.” It was during this time that mob bosses in New Orleans and throughout the state became targeted by the nation’s new focus on elimination of organized crime.
Senator Robert Kennedy’s investigative committee on organized crime brought New Orleans crime bosses before his committee to testify in Washington. The testimony was broadcast live on television. Most of those being investigated plead the Fifth Amendment, but the investigation brought press and public attention to the problem and put New Orleans and its crime bosses squarely before the national public eye. When Kennedy unleashed his national campaign against organized crime, New Orleans and its crime bosses were singled out as being some of the worst.
Tension among crime bosses, as well as pressure on law enforcement, resulted from the new unwelcomed press attention. During this investigative period, the crime and law enforcement scene was stirred like a pot of hot spicy gumbo. New Orleans was now under increased pressure to do something about its historic crime problem.
The city took the new crime attention in stride, as it did most public concerns. It tried to maintain its crime anonymity and uphold the status quo. There didn’t seem to be any fear regarding the consequences. The city had faced unsettling accusations many times and in many different ways in the past. Instead of facing the issues, then as now, the city’s reaction to controversy was to grab it by the scruff of the collar, stare it in the eye, and then party all night celebrating the good life – as through good times and Fat Tuesday might never come again.
For Wade Hanna, growing up in a tough neighborhood of this city was not what people saw on posters describing life in the Big Easy. The French Quarter of that era was dangerous, and street gang activity was as prevalent as organized crime. Crime also took its toll on local businesses and the tourist trade. Much of local government was strongly guided by certain influential families and organizations. State government was dominated by a host of colorful personalities that included Earl K. Long during the early '50s and '60s, followed by Jimmy Davis in 1964. Tourists in the '50’s and '60’s who traveled or were guided through the beautiful parts of the city and surrounding areas always came away with pleasant stories, histori
cal insights and a good meal.
New Orleans, like most large cities, had gangs within specific ethnic, racial, and geographic territories. If you lived or traveled in certain parts of the city, life could be very dangerous. During the '50s and '60s, the territorial lines separating various areas were clear to local residents, especially teenage males, who were smart enough to stay away from boarders of questionable locations. The most widely-recognized sections of New Orleans were Downtown, the French Quarter, Trumme, Garden District, Uptown, Irish Channel, the Projects, Magazine Street, City Park, Elysian Fields, Lakefront, Meterie and the Riverfront, which included the “docks” area.
With few exceptions, all of these areas were gang territories during the '50s and '60s. Each of the sections had multiple gangs who fought each other over territory in order to maintain dominance. Gang territory boundaries were well known by other gangs. Certain areas like the Projects, and parts of Tumme, were dominated by African-American and Latin gangs. There were also Irish gangs, Italian gangs, and a few ethnically mixed gangs. Gangs in certain territories came in different strengths and sizes and held various levels of control over an area. Some gangs were extremely violent; others were more interested in commerce and in growing their illegal trade of theft or extortion, emulating their more senior brothers in organized crime. During this period, police patrol cars would not venture into the most dangerous and crime infested areas at night, even if they received a call for help.
All of the city areas affected by gangs were not geographically far apart by car. In 1960s, depending on traffic conditions, a person could get from one area to the farthest point of any other by car in less than an hour.
Wade Hanna grew up in an area moderately affected by gangs. In his daily life, he would sometimes encounter and be influenced by their activities, threatened by their leaders, and encouraged many times to join. But somehow, during all of his trying youth, Wade Hanna managed to stay clear of becoming a gang member.
Silent Sanction: A Novel Page 2
