Marco Albori, better known by his alias Albert Marco, was an Italian bootlegger who was active in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 during the Prohibition Era

Prohibition in the United States

Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...

 in the 1920s. He is said to be the first to transport Canadian whiskey to Los Angeles. Marco worked closely with Charles H. Crawford

Charles H. Crawford

Charles H. Crawford was an American political figure. In the 1920s, his loosely organized crime syndicate in Los Angeles, California was known as the “City Hall Gang.” Crawford was reportedly a model for some of Raymond Chandler’s villains.-Early years:In the early 1900s, Crawford operated...

, who ran city politics along with Kent Kane Parrot

Kent Kane Parrot

Kent Kane Parrot was an American political figure and attorney who was considered the "boss" of municipal politics in Los Angeles, California, in the 1920s.Kent Kane Parrot Kent Kane Parrot (c. 1882 - March 11, 1956) was an American political figure and attorney who was considered the "boss" of...

.

Biography

Marco was born in 1887 in Italy. Marco came to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 through Ellis Island

Ellis Island

Ellis Island in New York Harbor was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States. It was the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954. The island was greatly expanded with landfill between 1892 and 1934. Before that, the much smaller original island was the...

 in 1908. He started off as a pimp

Pimp

A pimp is an agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings. The pimp may receive this money in return for advertising services, physical protection, or for providing a location where she may engage clients...

 and con man

Confidence trick

A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. A confidence artist is an individual working alone or in concert with others who exploits characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty and honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility,...

 in Nevada

Nevada

Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

 and Washington. In 1919 he served a brief prison sentence for burglary in Sacramento

Sacramento, California

Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...

. Crawford, an old friend from their days in Seattle convinced Marco to move to Los Angeles. In the early 1920s Macro drove to L.A. in a Cadillac

Cadillac

Cadillac is an American luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors . Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mostly in North America. Cadillac is currently the second oldest American automobile manufacturer behind fellow GM marque Buick and is among the oldest...

 transporting alcohol to a Long Beach

Long Beach, California

Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...

 warehouse. The political connections created by Crawford's political machine

Political machine

A political machine is a political organization in which an authoritative boss or small group commands the support of a corps of supporters and businesses , who receive rewards for their efforts...

 let Marco operate without much fear of prosecution for his crimes. In 1925 Marco pistol whipped

Pistol-whipping

Pistol-whipping is the act of using a handgun as a blunt weapon, wielding it as if it were a club or blackjack. "Pistol-whipping" and "to pistol-whip" were reported as "new words" of American speech in 1955, with cited usages from 1940s...

 an LAPD

Los Angeles Police Department

The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...

 officer and was given a $50 fine and his gun back. According to the IRS

Internal Revenue Service

The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...

, between 1922 and 1924 Marco earned $500,000 from bordello

Brothel

Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...

 prostitution.

On June 28, 1928 Marco was arrested and put on trial for assault

Assault

In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...

 with a deadly weapon when he shot Dominick Conterno and Harry Judson. He was found guilty on two counts and was sentenced to two seven-year terms by judge William C. Doran

William C. Doran

William C. Doran was an associate justice of the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division 1, from October 14, 1935, until 1958...

. On April 1, 1929 Marco was sent to San Quentin State Prison

San Quentin State Prison

San Quentin State Prison is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men in unincorporated San Quentin, Marin County, California, United States. Opened in July 1852, it is the oldest prison in the state. California's only death row for male inmates, the largest...

 to serve his sentence. Marco appealed the ruling, but was denied a second trial. On April 1, 1923, Marco began serving his sentence. He was paroled on April 7, 1933. Marco was deported to Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

in November 1933. 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.