Between 1935 and 1937, the Costello-Kastel partnership earned an income of over $2.4 million from slot machines alone, according to federal authorities.
By the 1940s, with control over the majority of gambling in Louisiana, both legal and illegal, Kastel, Costello and the New Orleans crime family's acting boss Silvestro Carollo began to expand their operations into high class gambling casinos in New Orleans, which earned millions.
It was during this period that Frank Costello was allegedly claimed to have committed his only act of violence when Kastel, in daily contact with the New York boss, reported his suspicions that one of the casino employees had been holding back money from the slot machine skimming operation.
As the employee was explaining, Costello was said to have reached under the podium and knocked the man unconscious with a monkey wrench.
Kastel continued to run the organization throughout the 1950s and, due to considerable financial contributions to local politicians (including $750,000 to the campaign fund of Governor Earl Long, the younger brother of former Governor Huey Long, from Kastel, Costello and Frankie Carbo in 1955), without interference from city officials.