Jean Laffite was an elegant scoundrel who, with his band of
pirates, plundered British, American and Spanish vessels in the
early 1800s while operating out of his stronghold at Barataria
Bay, south of New Orleans. Laffitte was born in Bayonne, France,
probably in 1780 or 1781, the son of a French father and a
Spanish mother. With his parents and his older brother, Pierre,
the family emigrated to Espanola and then to the Louisiana
Territory, arriving around 1804. Laffite and his brother were
quick studies when it came to the wide-open style of capitalism
practiced along the American frontier, getting involved in
piracy and smuggling and eventually organizing a sophisticated
fleet of “privateers” that preyed on shipping along the Gulf
coast and in the Caribbean. When Louisiana Gov. William C. C.
Claiborne put a $500 reward on Laffite’s head, the flamboyant
pirate responded by posting signed wanted posters offering
$1,500 to anyone who delivered Claiborne to Baratria. The
British sought to enlist Laffite on thei