Monday, March 18, 2024

Reader-Supported Journalism about Louisiana, the Land and Her People. Est. 2017

The Godfather Trilogy

Carlos Marcello and the Making of a Mafia Myth

“I am not in no racket. I am not in no organized crime.” - Carlos Marcello

The American Saga of Carlos Marcello

The final chapter of the Bayou Brief's "Godfather Trilogy" about the life of Carlos Marcello.

Opinion & Commentary

The House That Chep Built

13th Ward Ramblings on former Mayor Chep Morrison, and Mayor Cantrell's proposal to relocate New Orleans City Hall to Treme.

Déjà Vu All Over Again

13th Ward Ramblings on New Orleans elections past and present.

The Stupid Party Rages On

Donald Trump didn't create a "new" Republican Party. He just plastered his brand on a faction of the party already dominant in the Deep South. As history reveals and as GOP leaders in Louisiana continue to prove, this isn't the "party of Lincoln." It's a party founded on and animated by the politics of racial segregation.

‘City of a Million Dreams’ is a Lucid, Lyrical Masterpiece

Award-winning writer Jason Berry's new book is the definitive history of New Orleans, a 300-year-old city that challenges, defies, yet still exemplifies the American mythos. For his final article of 2018, publisher Lamar White, Jr. sat down with Berry for a candid conversation about the past, present, and future of New Orleans.

The Scoundrel: Clay Higgins Turned in His Badge, Twice, Before Campaigning for Congress as a Celebrity Cop.

Clay Higgins rose to power by telling a story about personal redemption, but his former boss, the sheriff of St. Landry Parish, now claims he would have never given him a second chance in law enforcement if he'd known what really happened before Higgins resigned from the police force in Opelousas.

RANKING THE BEST OF LOUISIANA FILM & MUSIC

Louisiana Tunes: The Top 50* Songs About the Gret Stet

* Technically, 59 songs, but what’s wrong with a little lagniappe?

Set in Louisiana: Top 40 Movies, 1938- Present

I'm back with a non-Carnival related piece. It is, however, inspired by the theme of this year's Bacchus parade: Starring Louisiana. It was their best theme in years and...

F#*ck This: Digging for Trouble in North Louisiana

It Starts with F and Ends with C, K

This is the first in a multi-part Bayou Brief series examining the oil and gas fracking industry, and Louisiana’s troubled marriage with it.

Frack Soup

Part two of our series examining the oil and gas fracking industry, and Louisiana’s troubled marriage with it.

Drill, Baby, Drill!

Part 3 of our continuing "F**CK THIS" series.

Editor Recommends

The Godfather Trilogy

Calogero Minacore and the Making of Carlos Marcello

Part One of the Bayou Brief's Godfather Trilogy

Carlos Marcello and the Making of a Mafia Myth

“I am not in no racket. I am not in no organized crime.” - Carlos Marcello

The American Saga of Carlos Marcello

The final chapter of the Bayou Brief's "Godfather Trilogy" about the life of Carlos Marcello.

—The Photojournalism of J.S. Makkos—

The Assassination of Sen. Huey P. Long and the Killing of Dr. Carl Weiss

Captain Clay

The Scoundrel: Clay Higgins Turned in His Badge, Twice, Before Campaigning for Congress as a Celebrity Cop.

Clay Higgins rose to power by telling a story about personal redemption, but his former boss, the sheriff of St. Landry Parish, now claims he would have never given him a second chance in law enforcement if he'd known what really happened before Higgins resigned from the police force in Opelousas.

Captain of the Militia

During his two years in Congress, Rep. Clay Higgins has continually championed violent, anti-government extremists. As he seeks reelection, Louisianians can no longer afford to look the other way.

Clementine's Hunters: A Five-Part Series

Clementine’s Hunters: Prologue

Three decades after her death at the age of 101, Clementine Hunter is now considered one of the most important folk artists in American history. In this multi-part investigative series, the Bayou Brief explores the life and legacy of Louisiana's most consequential painter and the ways in which her work has been both rightfully celebrated and criminally exploited since her death.

Our Disappearing Coast

These Last Days of Now: A Virtual Gallery

In their exhibition hosted at Good Children Gallery, Julie Dermanksy and Michel Varisco offer a glimpse of a world slipping beneath a rising tide caused by a warming planet.

A Trio of Trump Appointees Give Louisiana a Game-Changing Victory in Coastal Damages Suit Against Big Oil

In a terse, five-page opinion, a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reject Big Oil's last ditch effort at avoiding accountability in state court.

As a Divided Committee Advances Bill to Neuter Coastal Lawsuits Against Big Oil, a GOP Legislator Urges the Public to “Raise Hell”

After eight years of legal wrangling, as six coastal parishes stand on the brink of unlocking billions to repair the environmental damages allegedly caused by illegal and largely unpermitted activities of Big Oil, the state legislature considers a bill that would strike down the lawsuits and throw out a breakthrough $100 million settlement already negotiated with one of the companies involved.
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The Kingfish Trilogy

The Kingfish is dead. Long live the Kingfish.

During his brief but extraordinary life, Huey P. Long inspired and enraged, fundamentally reshaping how politics would be defined in his home state for generations. Today, more than 85 years after his death, disagreement about whether this epochal event was an assassination or an accident carries with it assumptions about class and privilege, questions about loyalty versus duty, and competing claims over whom we should entrust to tell historical truths.

The Final Days of the Indefatigable Huey P. Long, Jr.

During the last week of his life, Huey P. Long celebrated the high-life in Manhattan, signed a book deal in Pennsylvania, campaigned like a country preacher in Oklahoma, and commanded Louisiana from his 24th floor private apartment inside of the state Capitol.

Holes in the Story: Huey P. Long, Carl Weiss, and the American Spectacle of Conspiracy

Featuring exclusive, previously unreleased photographs and reports that have been either buried with time or kept hidden from the public, this sweeping conclusion to the Bayou Brief's trilogy on the assassination of Huey P. Long unpacks a conspiracy theory that has persisted for more than 86 years and challenges the portrayals of his alleged assassin, Dr. Carl A. Weiss, Sr., as an innocent victim of a corrupt cover-up.
Presented by the Bayou Brief, with host Frederick D. Bell.

Best of the BriefSince 2017
We share the stories of Louisiana

‘City of a Million Dreams’ is a Lucid, Lyrical Masterpiece

Award-winning writer Jason Berry's new book is the definitive history of New Orleans, a 300-year-old city that challenges, defies, yet still exemplifies the American mythos. For his final article of 2018, publisher Lamar White, Jr. sat down with Berry for a candid conversation about the past, present, and future of New Orleans.

How Louisiana Republicans Trumpeted the Big Lie: Gen. Mayhem

Clay Higgins may have been Louisiana's first "Trumpian" politician, but Landry was its first Tea Party radical.