Kirksey McCord Nix, Jr. was reputedly the leader of the Dixie Mafia.[1][2] He was a suspect in the assassination attempt on Sheriff Buford Pusser and in the death of Buford's wife on August 12, 1967.[3] In 1972, Nix was convicted of murdering Frank Corso a New Orleans grocery executive in a break-in at the man's home, and began serving a life sentence without parole.[4][5] According to an October 20, 1999 appeal from the United States District Court For the Southern District of Mississippi, "while serving a life sentence for murder at Angola State Penitentiary, Nix built a criminal empire from which he hoped to earn enough money to buy his way out of prison. Although he dabbled in insurance fraud and drug dealing, Nix’s primary money-making scheme was a “lonely hearts” scam designed to defraud homosexual men. Nix and his prison syndicate would place personal advertisements in national homosexual magazines. When men would respond to these ads, Nix or one of his associates would indicate that he was having financial difficulties and needed the respondent to wire money to a Nix associate outside prison. Nix acquired hundreds of thousands of dollars from this scam."[6] Nix is currently incarcerated at a federal facility in Colorado.
References
- ^ The Sun Herald, The Dixie Mafia:Sheriff Leroy Hobbs, Drugs and Murder, Gene Swearingen and Anita Lee, September 15, 1990
- ^ Dixie Mafia: Prison Gang Profile
- ^ The Sun Herald, The Dixie Mafia:Sheriff Leroy Hobbs, Drugs and Murder, Gene Swearingen and Anita Lee, September 15, 1990
- ^ Ibid.
- ^ Dixie Mafia: Prison Gang Profile
- ^ Cases No. 97-60263 and 97-60704, "Appeals from the United States District Court For the Southern District of Mississippi," UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS For the Fifth Circuit, October 20, 1999.
