Last December the elder Connick was indicted for returning betting sheets to bookmaker Walton Aucoin following Aucoin’s arrest a year earlier. By so doing, the government argues, Connick allowed Aucoin to continue collecting debts and running his gambling business. Connick says Aucoin had a legal right to copies of his accounting records. He maintains that his accuser, local U.S. Attorney John Volz, has a vendetta against him. The feud goes back to 1974, when Connick became D.A. and demoted Volz, who was first assistant, to an insignificant post. While the two have never made a secret of their mutual disdain, Volz says that he took no part in the decision to indict Connick, which was made by the Justice Department. “He’s reacting the same way he’s always reacted,” Volz says. “By attacking me.” Volz remains part of the prosecution team.
Drab character: By the eccentric standards of Louisiana politics, Connick is a drab character. He was first elected as a reform-minded lawyer, defeating Jim Garrison, who had achieved international notoriety by claiming-though never proving–that a New Orleans-based conspiracy resulted in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Never before touched by scandal Connick in particular seems more suited to Main Street than Bourbon Street, having been a tireless crusader against pornography and prostitution.
Some of his six codefendants, by comparison, are more flamboyant. Among them are the aptly named Aucoin (which comes from the French for “at the corner”) and actor Paul Burke. Aucoin is something of a Bayou legend. Law-enforcement officials say he caters to Louisiana’s high rollers– typical bets on football games are $5,000 and $10,000-and has plied his trade with such panachet thatevenhis arresting detectives described him as a gentleman. He’s also been convicted four times on bookmaking charges, though he has never served time. Burke, who lives in Palm Springs, Calif., starred in “Valley of the Dolls” and the television series “Naked City.” Burke is also charged with lying to the grand jury. The heart of the prosecution’s case against Connick is FBI tapes of him telling New Orleans cops that he had received telephone calls from friends, asking that he return the betting sheets to Aucoin.
Though he has stood by Dad privately, the junior Connick has had little to say about him publicly. But his music may have been prescient. Onn his second album, “2O,” released in 1988, there are these two titles: “Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone” and “Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans.”
