Bondsman Begins Federal Sentence After Judicial Probe

An interesting article appeared this week in the New Orleans Times-Picayune about the rise and fall of New Orleans’ most influential bondsman. Louis Marcotte, owner of Bail Bonds Unlimited, granted an interview before beginning his sentence in a federal penitentiary after pleading guilty to RICO charges. Also serving time are several judges, sheriff’s deputies, and bondsmen of Bail Bonds Unlimited. The charges came after Marcotte agreed to cooperate in an FBI operation called Wrinkled Robe. Defendants acknowledged heaping rewards on jailers and sheriff's deputies for unfettered access to the courthouse and on now-jailed former Judges Ronald Bodenheimer and Alan Green in exchange for manipulating his clients' bonds to boost Bail Bonds Unlimited's profits, limit liability and hinder competition. Bail Bonds Unlimited also gave $35,750 in campaign donations to at least 56 elected officials in 5 1/2 years. Marcotte will serve far less time than the judges who accepted his bribes. Green is serving 51 months at a low-security prison in Beaumont, Texas; Bodenheimer is serving 46 months at a federal prison camp in Montgomery, Ala. Green became the sole defendant to go to trial in the sprawling case, while nine others pleaded guilty. Lori Marcotte, Louis Marcotte’s sister, served as the government's star witness implicating Green, while her brother didn't utter a word to jurors. Marcotte said, "I think the government was very hard on me, as right they should have been. I've been doing this drill for six years and I've got 16 months to do in jail, six months in a halfway house and three years probation. It's over a decade of my life, plus I lost everything I worked for all my life. . . . I worked the hardest, I lost the most."