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Lad Castle was born Eladio Del Castillo, in the old section of Tampa, Florida known as Ybor City. It was different then. It wasn't unfamiliar for the cobble stone streets to echo the burping sounds of a Tommy gun or to hear of somebodyıs head being blown off by a shotgun blast.

They called us Little Chicago you can hear some of the old timers say. Bolita was the big game in town for the peasants anyway. You could play fifty cents or a dollar. There were bigger games but you had to know where to look. Much like Miami, Tampa was the stomping ground of the Mafia. The name Mafia still strikes fear in the hearts of men.

Yet at night the people would walk the streets of Ybor City, families hand in hand amongst the bad it was the best of times. The businesses and shops with doors open and lit like Vegas beckoned come and visit-come and see. The buckeyes as they were known were small family owned and operated cigar factories. They could etch out a good living in spite of the giant conglomerates. This was the backdrop of Lad's beginnings working in the backroom of his families Buckeye rolling cigars at the tender age of eight.