I don't come over here much, but wanted to toss this subject out and see if anyone had any info.

My father in law has been talking about writing a book for years and hs enlisted me for some help. The subject is a criminal organization - a mafia - that he says operated out of Crockett starting as early as The Civil War and going through into the early 1970s.
He says they had a wide reach throughout Texas, into Mexico and Latin America, and were constantly consolidating a lot of gold coins that had been left / found by the Spanish and then the Mexicans in their retreats from Texas in the 1800s.

I love my FIL to death, but it is somewhat taxing to understand if this is a real thing or something he has invented. Either way it's probably going to be fun to write, but I would definitely appreciate any insight given on if this is based on real events; my minor stabs on Google have produced jack/squat.

TIA

Dixie Mafia maybe?

The Porkchop Express said:

---

I don't come over here much, but wanted to toss this subject out and see if anyone had any info.

My father in law has been talking about writing a book for years and hs enlisted me for some help. The subject is a criminal organization - a mafia - that he says operated out of Crockett starting as early as The Civil War and going through into the early 1970s.
He says they had a wide reach throughout Texas, into Mexico and Latin America, and were constantly consolidating a lot of gold coins that had been left / found by the Spanish and then the Mexicans in their retreats from Texas in the 1800s.

I love my FIL to death, but it is somewhat taxing to understand if this is a real thing or something he has invented. Either way it's probably going to be fun to write, but I would definitely appreciate any insight given on if this is based on real events; my minor stabs on Google have produced jack/squat.

TIA

---

I wish I could help. My great uncle was fairly prominent in Crockett during that time and my dad spent a lot of time in Crockett working for him. Unfortunately, neither is still with us.

My wife's family has been in the Crockett area since the 1870s. Her great great grandfather, RC Spinks, was a jeweler and big landowner in Houston County. All of his seven kids basically lived fully off of the money and land he acquired and never had any real jobs. They were big gamblers and I've heard they were quite notorious back in their heyday. I've heard similar rumblings of mafia like groups back in those days, as well. The story probably has some merit and probably includes some of the Spinks family in there. However, I've never heard anything about a gold coin trade.

Speaking of mafia in small town Texas... My former brother in laws family owned and operated farm land in the Brazos bottoms west of town for many years. He said that you could not fly crop dusters over Hearne without special permission from the Hearne mafia. I had heard this from other sources around Milam County ( directly across the Brazos from Hearne) , one being a crop duster owner whose niece I dated in high school.

Since the advent of the interweb and Google, I have found mention and conversations of it but have never found any hard evidence or reason for the Hearne mafia's existence....

Hearne, the home of John Randall, ( I played against his older brother Ervin, also an NFL lineman). The only place that Walmart has ever closed a store ( now the high school). All the kids that are able go to school Gause or Mumford.

My grandparents lived in Hearne from ~ 1950 - mid-80s. I never heard of the Hearne mafia, but it wouldn't surprise me. Hearne was especially nasty to blacks, for example refusing to pave the streets in the black part of town for decades.

My grandmother had a book entitled "Hearne on the Brazos" which I read out of boredom. It was shocking as a kid to discover a lot of Hearne's history. A lot of the big cotton planters expanded after the Civil War. They wanted to clear the Brazos bottoms so they turned to the prisons for cheap labor, paying the warden something like $0.25 or $.50 per day per prisoner. The warden kept the money for himself, naturally. According to the book, hundreds of prisoners died clearing those bottoms.

That's always colored my attitude toward Hearne. Although I have wonderful memories from my grandparents' place, I also think of Hearne as having been founded on evil and allowing evil to dominate it for decades and decades.

Yep.

Rabid Cougar said:

---

Speaking of mafia in small town Texas... My former brother in laws family owned and operated farm land in the Brazos bottoms west of town for many years. He said that you could not fly crop dusters over Hearne without special permission from the Hearne mafia. I had heard this from other sources around Milam County ( directly across the Brazos from Hearne) , one being a crop duster owner whose niece I dated in high school.

Since the advent of the interweb and Google, I have found mention and conversations of it but have never found any hard evidence or reason for the Hearne mafia's existence....

Hearne, the home of John Randall, ( I played against his older brother Ervin, also an NFL lineman). The only place that Walmart has ever closed a store ( now the high school). All the kids that are able go to school Gause or Mumford.

---

ALSO location of WWII POW camp with 4,700 Italians and Germans from North Africa. There were also some Japanese POWS imprisoned there in 1945. One of the few camps with all three of the Axis countries.

That camp was right across the highway from my grandparents' place. Also, years later, my parents moved to Chattanooga and became good friends with a couple. The husband had been a guard at the camp during World War ii. He always told us that the TV show Hogan's Heroes was based on writings from a German POW at that camp, but with the nationalities reversed for the TV show.

TommyGun said:

---

My wife's family has been in the Crockett area since the 1870s. Her great great grandfather, RC Spinks, was a jeweler and big landowner in Houston County. All of his seven kids basically lived fully off of the money and land he acquired and never had any real jobs. They were big gamblers and I've heard they were quite notorious back in their heyday. I've heard similar rumblings of mafia like groups back in those days, as well. The story probably has some merit and probably includes some of the Spinks family in there. However, I've never heard anything about a gold coin trade.

---

Appreciate it! I had no idea anyone had responded to my thread. My FIL claims he alone knows where some Spanish gold is buried in Crockett but the owners of the property won't let him dig it up. Many times I have offered to jump their fence but he refuses to acquiese.

I have been researching activities linked to Crockett, Tx and a man known as The Kingfish. This individual is linked to a major political cartel confirmed in the website https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKgroup8F.htm. A major source of my information derived from a former resident there who also became a critical participant in a CIA/MI6 operation in the Zagros Mountains of Iran in the 1970's-80's. His activities and relationships have been confirmed by several reliable journalists, intelligence personnel, and media records.For example, The Kingfish was once the mayor of Crockett, was part of the Suite 8f group led by several Texas billionaires, was a subordinate to the lieutenant of this political cartel named Jack Ruby, and was nearly assassinated with a bomb in his Cadillac observed by my source and recorded in the town newspaper.

One of my doctoral students (I am a professor emeritus at National American University - Henley/Putnam School of Strategic Security) and author. Some information of this town I have not confirmed yet know that the NAACP has been investigating over 300 cases of illegal land grabs and murders.

I know this seems like a conspiracy theory, however, the information has been largely cooborated. I am currently completing a biography of my now deceased source for later publication. Feel free with contact me at my email address of hnimon@proton.me.

MajorHin said:

---

I have been researching activities linked to Crockett, Tx and a man known as The Kingfish. This individual is linked to a major political cartel confirmed in the website https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKgroup8F.htm. A major source of my information derived from a former resident there who also became a critical participant in a CIA/MI6 operation in the Zagros Mountains of Iran in the 1970's-80's. His activities and relationships have been confirmed by several reliable journalists, intelligence personnel, and media records.For example, The Kingfish was once the mayor of Crockett, was part of the Suite 8f group led by several Texas billionaires, was a subordinate to the lieutenant of this political cartel named Jack Ruby, and was nearly assassinated with a bomb in his Cadillac observed by my source and recorded in the town newspaper.

One of my doctoral students (I am a professor emeritus at National American University - Henley/Putnam School of Strategic Security) and author. Some information of this town I have not confirmed yet know that the NAACP has been investigating over 300 cases of illegal land grabs and murders.

I know this seems like a conspiracy theory, however, the information has been largely cooborated. I am currently completing a biography of my now deceased source for later publication. Feel free with contact me at my email address of hnimon@proton.me.

---

That like a Redstone post.

Actually his name was Crockett Mayor J. B. Sallas. My source was a nephew to Salas' political boss in Dallas. Benjamin (not his real name) was in a store across from the courthouse when Sallas came out to get into his caddy. It wouldn't start. So Sallas raised the hood and took off running...six sticks of dynomite were wired to the ignition but failed to detonate. It was a message to Sallas to leave Benjamin and his family alone. Ben's mother was sister to the Dallas overboss whose primary lieutenant was Jack Ruby. Ring any bells...

Jabin said:

---

My grandparents lived in Hearne from ~ 1950 - mid-80s. I never heard of the Hearne mafia, but it wouldn't surprise me. Hearne was especially nasty to blacks, for example refusing to pave the streets in the black part of town for decades.

My grandmother had a book entitled "Hearne on the Brazos" which I read out of boredom. It was shocking as a kid to discover a lot of Hearne's history. A lot of the big cotton planters expanded after the Civil War. They wanted to clear the Brazos bottoms so they turned to the prisons for cheap labor, paying the warden something like $0.25 or $.50 per day per prisoner. The warden kept the money for himself, naturally. According to the book, hundreds of prisoners died clearing those bottoms.

That's always colored my attitude toward Hearne. Although I have wonderful memories from my grandparents' place, I also think of Hearne as having been founded on evil and allowing evil to dominate it for decades and decades.

---

TY Clevenger was running a blog up until 2022 called www.lawflog.com that covered all sorts of legal shadiness. One of his frequent topics was a circle of associates in Robertson County that he referred to as the Booger County Mafia. Basically, it had to do with self-dealing at Hearne City Hall and things like shady lawyers coercing little old ladies to sign land titles over to their lawyers.

Did Reba sing a song about all this?