The Dixie Mafia? Probably just a nickname reporters have given in the past to individual crooks down south. Anything from guys running bootleg cigarettes to corrupt politicians.
Yeah very true. Apparently tho the term was first coined by the media as a moniker for a specific network of guys from Biloxi, Missisippi that are no longer active since the mid 80s. Today, however, the term is thrown around to mean any loose confederation or network of Southern criminals, I think.
Actually, I think the "good ol' boys" notion a very apt description. These guys are not criminal masterminds, nor are they some huge organised force. They're a bunch of loosely affiliated criminals, probably more concerned with their own rackets than any real cooperation. Any real power they had is long gone. The term "Dixie Mafia" is just that, a loose term to describe certain organised criminals in the South.
That's exactly how I thought of it. Media sensationalism. There's no real hierarchy. And from what I've read it's more like a network like yous aid of Southern criminals doing favours, as well as crooked civilians helping them out too.
For anyone interested I think the term Dixie Mafia can be applied to several groups
*There's the group that first held the name Dixie Mafia -
Network of burglars who traveled around during the 60's, eventually running into the K&A Gang I believe who did a similar thing down south. They soon returned to their respective homes where they engaged in a wide array of other criminal activities.
*State Line Mob - A loose confederation of SOuthern criminals around the Mississippi-Tennessee state line. Were involved in bootlegging, gambling, prostitution, tourist fleecing, robbery, and murder. Many member were from Phenix. The South's SIn City as someone above said. HEavily active during the 60s, and had a fued with a Sheriff Pusser that became the basis for the movie "Walking Tall"
*Cornbread Mafia -
A marijuana growing/smuggling operation of massive proportions that stretched from Kentucky to several other neighboring states
*Andrew C. Thornton II's "The Company"
A drug smuggling ring also based in Kentucky. Mainly prolifferating COlombian cocaine. The ringleader met his death after a faulty parachuting accident resulting in the death by overdose of a mature bear, amongst other things
*The Celt's Crew
Carlton Russell's little-known group of Irish or Scotch-Irish (most likely) SOuthern criminals with ties to the New Orleans crime family and the K&A Gang
That's all the Dixie Mafia "groups" I could find. Gotta be more out there.
