The history of piracy in New Orleans goes back to the beginning of the 19th century. This can be traced to Jean Lafitte, a French-American who hailed as the Louisiana purchase was becoming official. However, Lafitte created his own intricate method of piracy. While he hailed from New Orleans and spent his younger years exploring the wetlands and bayou country south of New Orleans, he would soon use the city to house a port that facilitated the trading and exchanging of smuggled goods. The pirates were men he employed to be enforcers and a sales force. Lafitte is a legend in his own rite, as 1825 (only 2 years after his death), piracy along the Gulf of Mexico had essentially been eradicated to this day, as well as legends about his life story leave him compared to the likes of King Arthur and Robin Hood.

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