Show Notes
On June 15, 1989, John Bramel got an unexpected phone call. It was the US Attorney’s Office in Louisville, Kentucky, inviting him to a press conference the next day. This press conference was going to be massive, they said, and they really wanted him, the managing editor of the Lebanon Enterprise, to be there. At this press conference, John Bramel heard the term “Cornbread Mafia” for the first time. To outsiders, this story was sensational. Who on earth were these Cornbread Mafia guys? And how did they coordinate a giant network of marijuana farms all in secret? But John Bramel wasn’t an outsider. He was from the place where the Cornbread Mafia planted its seeds: Marion County, Kentucky. So he had a different set of questions. Questions where the answer depended on who you asked. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
More from Cornbread Mafia
If you were looking down at Marion County from a helicopter, the first thing you’d notice would probably be the rolling green hills of Kentucky bluegrass, with two-lane highways curving around the corners. You’d see the black roofs of distilleries, and the spires of Catholic churches. You’d see cows and horses and miles of soybean plants. It looks a lot like other rural parts of the country. Nothing out of the ordinary. But below the surface, there’s a history that makes this place unlike anywhere else in the country. It’s the story of why the Cornbread Mafia happened here, in the center of Kentucky. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Danville, Kentucky, 1964: When Juanita Chester was 16 years old, her oldest brother Charles was murdered by a local man. Juanita’s family never stopped grieving, but eventually people around town stopped talking about Charles’ death. So, decades later, Juanita was surprised to see her brother’s name in a new book. It was about a group of local outlaws called the Cornbread Mafia. As Juanita learned more about this book, she only got more confused. The Cornbread Mafia seemed to be active in the ’70s and ’80s,well after Charles had died. And their crime was growing acres of marijuana in secret. What did the Cornbread Mafia have to do with Charles’ death? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.