The Cornbread Mafia: A Homegrown Syndicate's Code of Silence and the Biggest Marijuana Bust in American History (66 page)

This is to all my writing teachers, without whom this book would have been impossible: Suzie Smith and Lynn D. Farris from Marion County High School; Anne Shelby and John Maruskin at Governor's School for the Arts; George Ella Lyon, Tan Lin and Milton Reigelman at Centre College; Forrest Gander, C. D. Wright, Meredith Steinbach, Bob Arellano and the Peter Kaplan family at Brown University; Sandy Padwe, Sree Sreenivasan and Sam Freedman at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and my peers along the way. Thanks, y'all.

To my parents, Jane and Jimmy Higdon, I owe a great deal. They have put up with quite a bit as I assembled this book, and now they are likely to deal with its consequences. Sorry about that.

Additionally, I'd like to thank George Spragens, Cliff Todd and Curtice Taylor for their support during the reporting phase of this book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

JAMES HIGDON studied English and art at Centre College, writing at Brown University and journalism at Columbia University, where he graduated with honors in 2005. He has worked for the Courier journal in Louisville and the New York Times, contributed material to The Prairie Home Companion and researched the New York Police Department counterterrorism and intelligence divisions. He is currently an editor at PBS Frontline's Tehran Bureau. His reporting relationship with Johnny Boone landed him in the crosshairs of a federal manhunt, making him the first journalist subpoenaed under the Obama administration. He lives in Lebanon, Kentucky, and Brooklyn, New York.

Otis Redding (right) with Obie Slater (left), manager of the Club Cherry and the Club 68 in Lebanon, Kentucky. The photo was taken approximately in 1964 inside the Club Cherry, a regular stop on the Chitlin' Circuit and a primary cause for the Courier-Journal to label Lebanon as the "Ft. Lauderdale of central Kentucky." Note the "Ladies" sign above the restroom in the background; that's the men's room. PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF OBIE SLATER

Photo of Charlie Stiles, the top Marion County outlaw from the generation between Prohibition and marijuana. Stiles was killed by the Kentucky State Police in 1971; his death marks the unofficial beginning of the Cornbread Mafia. This photo comes from Stiles's KSP police file, which was saved by reporter Al Cross. AUTHOR'S COLLECTION