The Cornbread Mafia, James Higdon
The Cornbread Mafia, James Higdon
6 Rating(s)
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The Cornbread Mafia
A Homegrown Syndicate's Code of Silence and the Biggest Marijuana Bust in American History

Author: James Higdon

Narrator: Paul Boehmer

Unabridged: 14 hr 9 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 06/25/2012


Synopsis

In the summer of 1987, Johnny Boone set out to grow and
harvest one of the greatest outdoor marijuana crops in modern times. In doing
so, he set into motion a series of events that defined him and his associates
as the largest homegrown marijuana syndicate in American history, also known as
the Cornbread Mafia.

Author James Higdon—whose relationship with Johnny Boone,
currently a federal fugitive, made him the first journalist subpoenaed under
the Obama administration—takes listeners back to the 1970s and '80s and the
clash between federal and local law enforcement and a band of Kentucky farmers
with moonshine and pride in their bloodlines. By 1989 the task force assigned
to take down men like Johnny Boone had arrested sixty-nine men and one woman from
busts on twenty-nine farms in ten states, and seized two hundred tons of pot.
Of the seventy individuals arrested, zero talked. How it all went down is a
tale of Mafia-style storylines emanating from the Bluegrass State, and
populated by Vietnam veterans and weed-loving characters caught up in
Tarantino-level violence and heart-breaking altruism.

Accompanied by a backdrop of rock-and-roll and
rhythm-and-blues, this work of dogged investigative journalism and history is
told by Higdon in action-packed, colorful and riveting detail.


About James Higdon

James Higdon has worked for the Courier-Journal in Louisville and the New York Times, contributed to the Prairie Home Companion, researched the NYPD counter-terrorism and intelligence divisions, and is currently a contributing editor with PBS Frontline's Tehran Bureau. He lives in Lebanon, Kentucky, and Brooklyn, New York.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Gary F on January 19, 2013

What a disappointment. What is certainly a fascinating story is all but ruined by an author who did not have the skill set to pull it off. This book literally needed to have around 200 pages removed to make it coherent. Instead it is a repetitive and rambling attempt at telling a story. Incredibly i......more

Goodreads review by Donna on April 28, 2013

The biggest problem with this book is that the writer is clearly biased. The second is the inclusion of extraneous detail and a complicated writing style that makes the story difficult to follow. As a journalist I would have expected more from the author than the bias for a convicted drug grower that......more

Goodreads review by Natalie on July 20, 2023

Interesting book about a topic that I did not know very much about.......more

Goodreads review by Sharon on August 06, 2012

What a story about growing pot in central KY. There were people I knew and names I recognized. Farmers resorted to growing marijuana when regular crops no longer supported their families. Apparently, Marion County is the perfect environment for fine pot. One family spent years developing the perfect......more

Goodreads review by Erin on December 10, 2024

Come for the drama, but leave with a much deeper understanding of the anti-government mindset of middle/southern rural America. The feds did them so dirty; it would be a long time before that could be forgiven. And I am not saying that flippantly; if I lived in Marion Co. KY growing up ... I could n......more