Dixie Mafia

There is a Mafia in the southern states known as the Dixie Mafia haven't heard too much about them recently, also they were allied with the New Orleans Crime Family.

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.

Dixie mafia as of today are in drug running they are around Florida that's where the kingpins have their houses, espically in Alabama down I-95 in Alabama it's called cocaine valley, Missisippi, Louisiana and other southern states. The leader of this group is said to be Carlton "The General" Russell

The term "Dixie" or "Southern" mafia have been used interchangeably by various reporters, as the name given to a group of criminals originating mainly in the Appalachian states, although members are of many different ethnicities. I dont believe they were ever as formally structured as LCN, or if tenuous links to the Marcello organization really mean anything more than opportunistic activities.

I've know squat about Carlton Russel, but Kirksey McCord Nix is an interesting guy, still serving a life sentence for murder.

I've been doing some research about the K&A Gang. For a while in the 60s and 70s alot of core members left Philly and pillaged in Southern States.

The so-called Dixie Mafia, which I believe is just a media term for a loose network of Southern gangsters in the "good ol' boy network", was heavily into fencing at using many fronts.

I read somewhere that the K&A Gang has or had ties to Carlton Russell, whom apparently runs a crew called the Celtics who was put in power down south by the New Orleans Commission (whoever they are)

The book "The Bluegrass Conspiracy" by Sally Denton touches very obliquely on some of that history.

Intriguing. Why haven't we heard more about the "Celt" crew in the "Dixie Mafia"

Also on another note related to Southern organized crime. State Line Mob and "Cornbread mafia" anyone? I'm sure they could be labeled as part of the "Dixie Mafia" tradition in the "Good Ol' boy network" sense.

I think Dixie mafia, Celt or whatever you want to call it was started by southern men who are of irish or scots-irish descent. the kingpins in this organization have houses in Panama city beach Florida.

I'm from Georgia Columbus to be exact right across the bridge from Phenix City Alabama which in the 50s used to be called The South's Sin City and if I'm not mistaken it was either members of the Dixie mob or the State Line Mob that was responsible for alot of what was going on at that time. This whole term Celts is something new to me if anybody can kind of fill me in or send a link my way Id appreciate it.

celts its probably another name for the dixie mafia.

Isn't I-10 Not I-95 ?

could be its one of them interstates.

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.

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.



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.

Noone prolly cares much about a ring of corrupted Southern cats but here you are:

Milton McGregor cleared of electionf raud and plans to reopen casino despite his machines being illegal:
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/03/milton_mcgregor_5_others_acqui.html

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/arti...ing-VictoryLand

DOn't forget the Cracker Mob, the Florida-based criminal organization run for decades by Harlan Blackburn.

The cracker mob was extremely close with the Trafficante family, often sharing personnel in gambling operations. Guys like Sam Cacciatore, Sam Mondello, and Nick Furci were heavily involved in bookmaking and bolita in the rural counties of Florida.

Santo Jr was also tied in with members of the Dixie Mafia, like George Fuqua.

And the Trafficantes also had business interests in Phenix City.

I have an article on the Cracker Mob in the new issue of Cigar City Magazine (www.cigarcitymagazine.com)

Good Ol' Boy Networks is a good way to describe the "Dixie Mafia". Here is a study I found on vice and corruption in rural areas I found. It's kind of old but gives a good insight into how things work in Kentucky sticks. It actually sounds a lot like characters in that show Justified. Worth a look.

http://encompass.eku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=cjps_fsresearch

You know, I find the Dixie Mafia extremely interesting. Maybe it has to do with the fact that, just like the African-American groups, the Dixie Mafia is a criminal organization formed by a group of people 'unique' to the United States : the Southerners ( you can't deny the fact that the African-Americans, Native Americans and white Southerners are the three peoples most unique to the USA). But I don't really know what the state is on them know or what to make of them. They are said to be extremely ruthless and violent. They are also said to be still very active. Some even say they are a very large group.
But then again, if you count every Southerner that trafficks drugs and weapons, does contract hits, extorts businesses,...as a member of the 'Dixie Mafia' then yeah, of course you will get a large number of members lol

Bunch of rednecks I say. Never liked the south. Lived in South Carolina for a time, then moved back to Massachusetts. I have no intention of ever going back.

Yeah, those white protestants from the south are real unique. Nobody like them in this country.

For anyone interested in white trash gangland, check Frank Bill's Crimes in Southern Indiana. Gory and openly over-the top.

Thnx for the tip Luan ! I mostly love these kind of books

This has nothing to do with Southern OC, but for those interested in British crime firms I can recommend Judas Pig. It is a nightmarish look at the East End London crime firms. Stuff that happens in this book is said to be real.

i have alot of friends in west virginia and spend time there whenever i get the chance and i brought this topic up to a few people there before. in terms of a structured organization, forget it, more like a guy who knows a guy type of thing. for anyone who has ever watched moonshiners, think of the "connects" that they would unload there shine to, kinda a loose confederation of people who are involved in making money illegally. believe it or not, moonshining still goes on in may parts of appalachia and having tried it before, its quite good, much better than you would think. in west virginia i could get a quart for $8-10.

Pell City, Alabama. That's where you want to research info about the Dixie Mafia. They were a real entity.

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2012/september/murder-and-the-dixie-mafia

relatively new retrospective on the DM and the Sherry murders.

Thanks for the lik looks interesting. For anyone from Britain it says this on the books amazon page BANNED BY THE RICHARD AND JUDY BOOK CLUB!

According to Wikipedia it is a Mississippi crime family. Kirksey Nix was a former leader and knew Sammy Giancana through bootlegger Darrel Ward. Jeffery Carter was known for doing the murder contracts in Louisiana and in Mississippi and seen as a caporegime in Florida along with Bobby Fabian. Peter Mule gave orders to Carter and Fabian so Mule must of been seen as a consigliere or underboss to Kirksey Nix. It seems Louisiana State Penitentiary is the "family'" HQ.

Cam whats the Richard and Judy Book Club ? Like a Goodhousekeeping Seal of approval >>??

They're a married couple who used to be early morning tv presenters in the UK. Which implies they read the book then banned it from their book cllub

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnFktxDOZhc

You should turn the vid off after a couple of seconds because they're incredibly dull

That's funny I mean that's kind of narrow-minded to ban true-crime books from your club because its part of what goes on in society.

One of my good friends grew up there and moved to the Philadelphia Area when he was 12 or 13 his grandmom is getting senile and will call the parents saying that there is black people outside her window

Wasn't one of the roadies for the Allman Brothers involved with the Dixie Mafia ? I think I've read that his involvement was a major reason as to why Greg left the band .

Also is there any current news about the so called Dixie Mafia ? Or has this crime network/alleged organization completely disappeared ?

They're still around according to Wikipedia but I haven't been able to find any present day news about them .

They were never really much of an organization. Dixie mafia or hillbilly mafia is just a term used to describe southern criminality. Much like the term mafia is used everywhere else i guess.

They are really not organized any more, and never really that organized to begin with. Really their "highlight" so to speak was from the time just before they killed Albert Patterson in Phenix City to right when they killed the judge and his wife in Biloxi in the 80's.

Like king said though, they were never much of an organization.

I think you mean Phenix City. Never heard of them being in Pell City.

As for botz saying I-95 in Alabama, we ain't close to I-95.

And for Milton McGregor it would surprise me if he wasn't connected to someone. He is back up and running now, he got a favorable ruling that if the Poarch Creek Indians could have machines then so could he.

Here's a recent article that deals with how Gregg Allman rubbed shoulders with the Dixie Mafia : http://gangsterreport.com/gregg-allman-t...sters-in-1970s/ Also here's the court case for the JC Hawkins trial : http://openjurist.org/571/f2d/880/united-states-v-elliott-j-c

I was under the impression that the Dixie Mafia in Macon was connected to the more famous one out of Biloxi , but there seems to be no connection .

Looks like this " Dixie Mafia " terms is definitely a catch all used to describe various crime networks based in the Southern US .

2a,

There was a strong connection between Georgia members and Biloxi. The hitman used for the Sherry murders came from Georgia. There was a couple of hitmen from Georgia that were used over the years. Towns like Macon was prime spots as they were small towns where they could use their power to get out of about anything. Much like Marcello with JFK, once they hit the Sherry's things went downhill and they never truly recovered and when Mr. Mike Gillich turned Fed that was the end for them. IIRC, Mr. Mike was the one that turned to Georgia after the first man turned down the hit on the Sherry's.

But yes the Dixie Mafia was a loosely affiliated group but there was some structure in there at one point. Nothing big and wide of course, but many knew who and where to go to get things done. Outside of Biloxi there was not much "tribute" going to anyone though it seems.

Yes I know John Ransom was out of Georgia , but I don't recall reading anything about there being a connection between the Macon bunch and the ones down in Biloxi . Then again it doesn't seem strange , since Little Henry did do lots of jobs in Georgia ( Atlanta in particular ) after all .