By the 1960s, organized crime gangs were well and truly already becoming a presence across the north of the United States, as underworld figures fought for sole control over highly lucrative gambling, illegal alcohol, and prostitution rings. Down south, things were done a slightly different way. But even though one criminal network in particular didn’t have a strict code, this didn’t make them any less dangerous. Based out of Biloxi, Mississippi, they soon monopolized the control of many illicit activities across numerous states where big profits could be made, but only by those willing to be uncompromisingly ruthless. This is the history of the Dixie Mafia. 

 
 

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Show Notes

Hosted and produced by Erica Kelley 

Researched and written by Gemma Harris

Original Graphic Art by Coley Horner 

Original Music by Rob Harrison of Gamma Radio 

Edited & Mixed by Brandon Schexnayder & Erica Kelley 

Suggested reading: 

‘Wicked Phenix City’ by Faith Serafin, ‘Last Gangster in Austin’ by Jesse Sublett, ‘The Twelfth of August: The Story of Buford Pusser’ by W.R. Morris, and of course, ‘Mississippi Mud, Southern Justice, and the Dixie Mafia’ by Edward Humes.

Sources:

  1. https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/copy3_of_a-byte-out-of-history 

  2. https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/dixie-mafia-murders-article-1.347104 

  3. https://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/29/us/biloxi-s-tale-of-murder-extortion-and-racy-photos.html 

  4. https://www.nytimes.com/1982/12/18/us/new-criminal-class-is-flourishing-in-sun-belt.html 

  5. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/90-years-later-prohibition-officially-ending-in-mississippi/2020/07/02/19f02478-bcb0-11ea-97c1-6cf116ffe26c_story.html 

  6. https://greydynamics.com/the-dixie-mafia-bloody-cornbread-in-byzantium/ 

  7. https://allthatsinteresting.com/dixie-mafia 

  8. https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1992/02/16/two-mobs/ 

  9. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/12/us/politics/edwin-edwards-dead.html 

  10. https://www.ajc.com/blog/politics/remembering-the-assassination-floyd-hoard-years-later/u9hLPqHzyJiBZ0DNr3D1wI/ 

  11. https://allthatsinteresting.com/buford-pusser 

  12. https://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/2013/dec/02/dixie-mafia/ 

  13. https://crimecapsule.com/the-dixie-mafia-the-mob-you-never-knew/ 

  14. https://biloxihistoricalsociety.org/casinos-gambling-liquor-and-vice  

  15. https://www.insideprison.com/prison_gang_profile_DXM.asp 

  16. https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/11/us/north-carolina-cold-case-killing-solved/index.html 

  17. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/09/us/dixie-mafia-murder-durham-north-carolina.html 

  18. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/14/business/bright-spot-on-gulf-as-casinos-rush-to-rebuild.html 

  19. https://www.nytimes.com/1974/04/19/archives/georgia-hunt-for-bodies-is-linked-to-dixie-mafia-100-yards-of.html 

  20. https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/whistling-dixie-6390380 

  21. https://classic.esquire.com/article/1991/9/1/the-life-and-crimes-of-the-dixie-mafia 

  22. https://www.wgauradio.com/news/local/dixie-mafia-figure-dies/CIDmKLzoMd7Kq2gDNO2okO/ 

  23. https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/local/criminal-histories-floyd-hoard-dixie-mafia-murder/93-5953e876-8dc3-4218-a53b-36bd5c56e1e1 

  24. https://www.insideedition.com/tip-dying-witness-leads-arrest-1973-cold-case-slaying-man-associated-dixie-mafia-50764

  25. https://www.biloxinewsevents.com/the-little-known-story-of-the-dixie-mafia-the-cornbread-cosa-nostra-of-the-south/ 

  26. https://www.sunherald.com/news/local/crime/article271118732.html 

  27. http://newsmine.org/content.php?ol=cabal-elite/cia-drug-mafia/mississippi-sheriff-tied-to-mafia-drugs-murder.txt 

  28. https://www.newspapers.com/article/7861931/dj_venus_sentenced_to_20_years_on/ 

  29. https://www.newspapers.com/image/277491819/?terms=venus%20blackwell%20hobbs%201983%20cocaine&match=1 

  30. https://www.newspapers.com/image/743989518/  https://www.newspapers.com/image/743989597/?terms=dixie%20mafia&match=1 

  31. https://www.newspapers.com/image/335000142/?terms=dixie%20mafia    https://www.newspapers.com/image/335000201/?terms=dixie%20mafia&match=1 

  32. https://www.newspapers.com/image/335000519/   https://www.newspapers.com/image/335000656/?terms=dixie%20mafia&match=1 

  33. https://www.newspapers.com/image/625295024/?terms=dixie%20mafia&match=1 

  34. https://www.newspapers.com/image/689471334/?terms=dixie%20mafia&match=1 

  35. https://www.newspapers.com/image/335011721/?terms=dixie%20mafia    https://www.newspapers.com/image/335011761/?terms=dixie%20mafia&match=1        https://www.newspapers.com/image/335011782/?terms=dixie%20mafia