The Boys from Biloxi

by John Grisham

In 1925, Biloxi shipped twenty million tons of seafood to the rest of the country. Demand was so great, and the supply so plentiful, that by then the city could boast of being the “Seafood Capital of the World.”

When Prohibition swept the country in 1920 Biloxi hardly noticed.

A hundred years ago the Gulf Coast became known as “the poor man’s Riviera.”

Criminal activity got a major boost in 1941 when the military built a large training base on land that was once the Biloxi Country Club.

What the Dixie Mafia had was a propensity for violence that often stunned the FBI. Through its history, as it evolved and made its way south to the Coast, it left behind an astonishing number of dead bodies, and virtually none of the murders were ever solved.

When the art deco Broadwater Beach Hotel opened, its lobby was filled with rows of brand-new slot machines bought from a broker in Las Vegas, and still quite illegal.

He came from a colorful family of moonshiners and outlaws and had been raised to hold a dim view of the law.

Corruption never stays in a box. It spreads because greedy men see easy money and there is an endless demand for gratification and the promise of a quick buck.

“I don’t make threats, but sometimes I give warnings.”

for two months things were quiet but tense as the underworld waited for bullets to start flying.

The summer of 1969 was a busy season in the Caribbean, but there was no reason to believe Hurricane Camille would become so deadly.

By August 17, it was a Cat 5 and roaring toward the Coast. All projections were ignored and it took dead aim at Biloxi.

Those who survived would later say they had simply never seen anything like Camille.

At 11:30, Camille made landfall between Bay St. Louis and Pass Christian. It was only eighty miles wide, but its eye was tightly formed, its winds historic. It was a Category 5, the second-strongest hurricane to ever hit the United States.

Experts guessed that the top winds hit 200 mph. They pushed ashore a wall of water twenty-four feet in height.

Virtually every building along Highway 90 and the beach was destroyed.

Mercifully, there would never be another Camille. Her damage was so unbelievable that the National Weather Service retired her name.

Dozens of relief organizations mobilized and sent teams of doctors, nurses, and volunteers. Churches and religious organizations sent thousands of relief workers, most of whom slept in tents. Along with food and water, tons of medical supplies arrived,

He knew from years of experience that rising waters almost always leave a flood line, or a high-water mark, and it is usually easy to determine how much water a building took on.

Career gangsters like Lance Malco went to prison, or took a bullet, or they died in prison. That was Hugh’s future too.

They had come a long way since 1960 and their glory years as all-stars, and the divide between them was deep and permanent.

“They’ve flaunted the law for so long they believe they’re above it. This shocks me, shocks all of us, but it should not be surprising.”

So far, their voluminous filings had produced nothing beneficial for their client.