The Marseille Connection

The Marseille Connection [Bryant Park Press – May 2023] by renowned attorney and Yale-educated historical expert Kenneth Foard McCallion is a riveting work of historical nonfiction about Patricia Richardson, a gorgeous young woman who started life as a dirt-poor orphan in the French Caribbean island of St. Martin before rising through the ranks of an international Marseille-based drug cartel, Unione Corse, to become part of the inner circle of leadership in the organization. 

For several decades in the second half of the twentieth century, under Richardson’s leadership, Unione Corse had a virtual monopoly on the distribution of heroin in the United States and elsewhere around the world. Patricia and her well-heeled mobster associates provided much of the illegal financing for President Richard Nixon’s successful presidential campaign in 1968 and outsmarted every U.S. law enforcement and Congressional investigation that sought to expose her.

Based on years of painstaking research and top-secret documents and evidence The Marseille Connection reveals never-before disclosed details of one of the most successful, yet largely unknown, criminal organizations of the 20th century. Using his decades of legal knowledge and personal experience prosecuting the mob, McCallion gives a thorough examination of the fascinating life and crime of Patricia Richardson and her associates, exploring the untold backstory and little-known details of this fascinating case. 

Kenneth Foard McCallion received his BA in history from Yale University and his JD from Fordham Law. McCallion was recruited by the U.S. Department of Justice’s iconic Brooklyn Organized Crime Strike Force, which handled some of the most important political corruption and organized crime cases of the 1970s and 1980s, including the ABSCAM case and the Lufthansa Heist at JFK International Airport on December 11, 1978. Ken also led the investigation and prosecution of John A. Cody, the notorious New York union leader and racketeer who was the president of the Teamsters union Local 282 between 1976 and 1984. Cody and his organized crime-controlled union were notorious for using extortion, mafia intimidation and “sweetheart” contracts with real estate developers, including Donald J. Trump to siphon off millions of dollars from large construction projects in the New York area.

In addition to The Marseille Connection, McCallion is the author of several other well-received law and history books including Saving The World One Case at a Time, Shoreham and the Rise and Fall of the Nuclear Power Industry, The Essential Guide to Donald Trump, Treason & Betrayal: The Rise and Fall of Individual-1, COVID-19: The Virus That Changed America and the World, and Profiles in Courage (and Profiles in Cowardice) in the Trump Era.