When the water rose in 2005, Ray Nagin became the face of a city underwater. You probably remember the image: the mayor of New Orleans, looking exhausted, sounding furious on the radio, demanding that the federal government "get off their asses" and help his people. It was a raw, human moment in the middle of a bureaucratic nightmare. But then came the books and the trials. Specifically, his memoir, Katrina's Secrets: Storms after the Storm, which promised to pull back the curtain on what really happened behind closed doors at City Hall and the Superdome.
People still argue about Nagin. Honestly, his legacy is a messy mix of tragic heroism and federal prison time. To understand the "secrets" he wrote about, you have to look at the timeline. He published this book in 2011, just a few years before he was indicted on a massive list of corruption charges. He wanted to set the record straight before the legal walls closed in. He talked about "shadow governments" and the friction between himself, Governor Kathleen Blanco, and President George W. Bush.
What Nagin Really Meant by Katrina's Secrets
The "secrets" weren't just about the weather. They were about the political infighting that arguably cost lives. In Katrina's Secrets: Storms after the Storm Ray Nagin claims that the response was slowed down because the state and federal governments were playing a game of chicken over who would get the credit—or the blame.
Nagin writes about a "shadow government" that he felt was trying to take over New Orleans. He describes meetings where he felt sidelined while FEMA and the National Guard tried to figure out the chain of command. For a guy who was a former cable executive, the lack of efficiency was maddening. He basically says the "secret" was that the system didn't just fail; it was designed in a way that made failure inevitable once race and poverty entered the equation.
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One of the most striking parts of the book is his chapter on the "Radio Cuss Out." That wasn't a planned PR move. It was a total breakdown. He explains that he had just seen things in the city that no leader should see—people dying in the heat, waiting for buses that never came. He felt like the "John Wayne dude," General Russel Honoré, was the only one actually getting things done.
The Storm After the Storm: Corruption and Conviction
It’s impossible to talk about this book without talking about what happened next. While Nagin was writing about the failures of others, federal investigators were looking at his own bank accounts. In 2014, Nagin was convicted on 20 counts of bribery, wire fraud, and money laundering. The "storms after the storm" weren't just political—they were criminal.
The feds proved that Nagin took hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks. This wasn't just pocket change. It involved granite for his family business, Stone Age LLC, and free trips to Hawaii and Jamaica. This happened while the city was still trying to scrape the mold off its walls. Prosecutors pointed out that while Nagin was preaching about the "Chocolate City" and rebuilding, he was busy signing off on city contracts for people who were lining his pockets.
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He was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.
He served much of that at a minimum-security facility in Texarkana. However, in April 2020, he was released early to house arrest due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He finally finished his supervised release in March 2024. Seeing him post "Free at last" on social media felt like a bizarre final chapter for many New Orleanians who never got their homes back.
The Controversy of the Mandatory Evacuation
One secret Nagin constantly defended was the timing of the evacuation. Critics say he waited too long. They say he was worried about the city's liability for closing businesses and hotels. In his book, he pushes back hard. He claims he got 80 percent of the people out and that the mandatory order—the first in the city's 300-year history—actually saved thousands of lives.
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But the 20 percent who stayed? They were the ones without cars. The ones who lived in the Lower Ninth Ward. Nagin's book tries to frame this as a failure of federal resources, but locals often point to the rows of flooded city buses that could have been used to get people out before the storm hit. It's a "he said, she said" that has lasted two decades.
Why the Story Still Matters in 2026
We're now over 20 years past the storm. Why do we still care about Katrina's Secrets: Storms after the Storm Ray Nagin? Because New Orleans is still a blueprint for how things can go wrong. When you look at his claims of being "scapegoated," you see a pattern that repeats in every major disaster.
Nagin recently reappeared in New Orleans in late 2025, speaking at a church. He didn't sound like a man who had changed his mind. He claimed the media and the feds were "in cahoots" against him. He compared his situation to other local politicians facing legal trouble. It’s clear that, in his mind, the secrets he wrote about in 2011 are still the "real" truth, even if a jury of his peers felt differently.
Actionable Insights for Disaster Awareness
The story of Ray Nagin is a cautionary tale about leadership and accountability. If you're looking to understand the mechanics of how power works during a crisis, here is what you can do:
- Read the Primary Sources: Don't just take the media's word for it. Look at the 2006 "A Failure of Initiative" report from the House of Representatives alongside Nagin's memoir to see where the narratives diverge.
- Audit Local Emergency Plans: Check your own city’s mandatory evacuation protocols. Find out specifically how they handle residents without private transportation.
- Follow the Money: Recovery funds are a magnet for corruption. Use sites like FollowTheMoney.org to see how disaster relief and infrastructure contracts are awarded in your area.
- Support Local Accountability: Organizations like the New Orleans Office of Inspector General were born out of the post-Katrina chaos. Support similar oversight groups in your own community to prevent "storms after the storm."
The real secret isn't in a book. It's in the way a city chooses to remember its history and how it holds its leaders accountable when the cameras are gone and the water finally recedes.