Willie Vincent Piazza (c. 1865 – November 2, 1932) was a sex worker and brothel proprietor in the Storyville area of New Orleans, United States, during that red light district's period of legal operation.
[1] From 1898 until the district's closure in 1917, Piazza worked as a madam and specialized in providing octoroon women for her clients; she herself was mixed-race.
Her parents, Italian immigrant[3] Vincent Piazza and woman of colour, Celia Caldwell, were both still teenagers and unmarried at the time of her birth.
[1] Purchasing her 317 N. Basin Street premises for $12,000 in 1907, she spent an additional $30,000 on furnishings and other upgrades;[3] the brothel was immediately successful, allowing Piazza to pay off the mortgage within two years.
[10] Piazza was one of the main characters (played by Virginia Mayo) in the 1978 Dennis Kane film French Quarter.