The Dixie Mafia | FULL EPISODE | The FBI Files

Biloxi Mississippi a quiet southern town with a burning core of corruption in 1987 its secret bursts violently to the surface leaving two prominent citizens dead and ripping the top off a grand conspiracy [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] I'm Mississippi's Gulf Coast a judge and his politician wife are murdered in their home the killer left few clues it looked like a professional hit and the investigation led nowhere but the FBI refused to give up I'm Jim Kallstrom former head of the FBI's New York office until we could prove that federal laws have been broken our hands were tied it would take years to break the conspiracy of silence and reveal the tangled tale of corruption Biloxi Mississippi Monday September 14th 1987 it was a typically warm summer night in this quiet Gulf Coast town the workday was over and most residents had retreated to the tranquility of their homes like most of their neighbors state Circuit Court Judge Vincent sherry and his wife Margaret were unwinding after a long day Vincent sherry was a prominent judge in Biloxi Margaret was making plans to run for mayor books were fixtures it Biloxi's social and community functions they were a happy couple with raised three grown children tomorrow they plan to visit their daughter out-of-state their life together seemed ideal they were just settling in for the night when an unexpected visitor came to the door and brought their perfect world to an end the Sherry's were supposed to be with their daughter so no one realized anything was wrong until two days later when the judge failed to show up in court on Wednesday September 16th calls to the Sherry's home went unanswered his colleagues at the court phone Pete halat Vincent Sheree's friend and former law partner morning he died but he hadn't seen or heard from the judge either he's supposed to be in court I don't know no way you let me call him at home and I'll figure out where he is after he left a concerned message on the Sherry's answering machines halat felt he'd better check on his friends personal machine judge judges Pete they're looking for you in court is everything okay on his way out he asked his junior partner Charles lazier to write I need some help we go together as they drove lazier tried to make conversation that seemed distant perhaps concerned about the judge both of the Sherri's cars stood in the driveway well the cars here pelant asked lazier to go to the house while he asked a neighbor if she'd seen the companies as you rang the doorbell but no one answered we saw that the last two morning newspapers hadn't been picked up the neighbor told her let she hadn't seen the Sherry's for a couple of days but she thought was odd since both of their cars were in the driveway unless you tried the Sherry's door he found it unlocked something wasn't right ilat concerned by the open door cautiously stepped inside a few steps in he made the gruesome discovery judge sherry had been gunned down in his own [Music] they called the police authorities arrived to find the body of Vincent sherry at the front of the house in the back bedroom they discovered Margaret because the couple was so covered the murder investigation became top priority detectives contacted the FBI's Biloxi fielder's though the FBI would not yet be officially involved they offered the use of their agents and forensic laboratory inside the police began scouring the crime scene for clues they conducted blood spatter analysis to determine projectile angles if they could figure out where the murderer had stood when he fired the shots they might be able to reconstruct the crime inspector Robert Burris a crime technician with the Biloxi Police Department helped process the scene he discovered a possible clue in the den there was blood trailing from his feet actually going down between his legs a little ways back to where he was laying there was blood spatter on a double sliding glass door there was right beyond his head and further examination in this room I found some small pieces of foam rubber Burress didn't see where the foam-rubber could have come from a search of the house led him to one conclusion this foam-rubber had to have been brought into the house we examined every piece of material in this house in every room of the house all pillows mattresses everything else there's no foam rubber tore up in this house it was brought into the house it does have gunshot residue on it and basically about the only way you can get there is for a bullet to be fired through it for Burris the significance of the foam rubber was obvious the killer had used a homemade silencer investigators dusted for fingerprints but found none of any value they found nine spent 22 caliber shell casings from a semi-automatic pistol as well as the bullet seems to murder the sheriff's the position of the shells indicated that the shots had been fired in rapid succession but most striking was how well the killer had covered his tracks nothing at the scene pointed to the killer's identity he did his job well and his mission was clear the lack of evidence in this house such as items stolen a struggle occur in the absence of forced entry no ransacking going on in the house whatsoever a person came there for one thing that was to kill the two sherries Special Agent Keith Bell from the Biloxi FBI field office agreed that this was a professional job the Sherry's had been assassinated and the crime scene appeared to be very limited as far as evidence remaining which meant it was well-planned well-executed and professionally done a small caliber weapon had been used the foam rubber indicated that perhaps a silencer had also been used and the Sherry's had been shot in the head so it seemed to be a very professional job a multi-agency task force was assembled with Special Agent Keith Bell among its members investigators would spend days processing the crime scene they grappled with a single question why had the Sherry's been murdered that was one of the main questions that being Hawaiian were both judge Harry and Margaret sherry murdered because it was fairly obvious that judge sherry could have been killed during his morning or afternoon jogs around the neighborhood so it was a real mystery why Margaret had been killed investigators believe the answer might lie in the controversy over Biloxi's future some civic leaders hope to transform the sleepy southern town on Mississippi's Gulf Coast into a flashy resort where casinos would attract tourists dollars [Music] but with strip clubs already established in town Margaret sherry felt Biloxi's small-town charms were threatened and the casinos would attracted criminal [Music] as a candidate for mayor she had made powerful political enemies by trying to keep gambling out agent bill wondered if Margaret was killed to silence her protests Margaret had been so outspoken politically in the community she was known to be anti gambling and if elected mayor in 1989 she'd planned to close down the remaining strip clubs in Biloxi so there was always the possibility that she might have been the target rather than judge sherry [Music] the task force would investigate Margaret's political enemies but first they'd question the Sherry's friends and neighbors someone in the neighborhood must have seen something but even people who've known the Sherry's for years were reluctant to talk fearing the specter of Biloxi's emerging criminal under Ronald the sherry murders brought a dark cloud over the city of Biloxi many of the citizens in Biloxi were afraid to openly express their opinions they saw that Margaret sherry who had been quite vocal and quiet outspoken in political circles had ended up dead has had her prominent husband judge sherry so many citizens after these murders were hesitant even to be interviewed by FBI agents or by local police officers because they basically did not want their names tied into anything to do with this case if people wouldn't talk to the authorities perhaps they would talk to Lin spies Ito the Sherry's daughter after being notified of her parents murders Lin rushed to Biloxi from her home in North Carolina determined to find justice she questioned everyone in the neighborhood one family friend gave her a crucial piece of information he described a suspicious car and driver in the neighborhood on the night of the murders [Music] she took the lead to the police they identified a man who had seen a suspicious Ford Fairmont driving in front of the Chery home on Monday night September 14th 1987 investigators tried to determine the identity of the driver based on the witness's description their search came up empty but a few days later not far from the Sherry's home investigators found an abandoned car like Ford Fairmont a check on the vehicles identification numbers showed it again reported stolen the day before the murders police also learned that the tags on the car were not registered to the car realizing that this vehicle was probably the killer's getaway car investigators towed it to a police garage to examine it further somewhere in the car they hope to find a key to the killer's identity less than a week after the brutal murders of Biloxi couple Vince and Margaret sherry investigators received their first promising lead they recovered an abandoned car matching the one witnesses described seeing the night of the murders after contacting agent keith bell about the discovery investigators processed the car for clues inspector Robert Burris found something peculiar I was processing this vehicle and one of the things I noted the dome light had been dismantled in the bulb taken out of it in other words if you opened the door you ain't got no light both of the Sun visors were in the down position whether you're riding around daytime or nighttime you'll be able to see the people's face in it very well investigators believed more than ever that this was the car used by the Sherry's killer anything found inside it was labeled packaged and shipped to the FBI labs in Washington DC but FBI lab examiner's would find nothing of evidentiary value after agent Bell arrived he examined the license tag more closely he discovered it had its own story to tell it was determined that the tag on the ford fairmont had been stolen from an abandoned vehicle in 1984 actually three years before these murders occurred so what it meant was someone had removed the license plate likely in 1984 had kept the license plate and then when this major crime in the city of Biloxi was to occur they pulled it off the shelf so to speak with no other solid evidence investigators hope that following the trail of the stolen tank might lead to the killer it was traced to an apartment complex where the original car had been abandoned three years earlier investigators contacted the apartment manager who told them that prior to having the vehicle towed he called a friend to come and strip it for parts the managers friend was a man that agents knew by name and reputation Biloxi locksmith Lenny Swetman he was the last person to be seen near the car Swetman belonged to a loosely organized group of criminals the FBI was investigating in connection with another case the group was known as the Dixie Mafia FBI agent Keith Bell had connected the car used in the Sheri killings to Lenny Swetman now Belle wondered if the Dixie Mafia was linked to the sherry murders [Music] if Swetman had a part in it Belle believed that other Dixie Mafia members couldn't be far behind he began looking into Sweatman's associates what that meant to us immediately those of us familiar with the criminal associations on the ghosts was that if Lenny Swetman was involved in getting the tag for the hit car then quite likely his close personal friend and longtime associate mike gillich the strip club owner in biloxi might also be involved in these murders gillich who owned three strip clubs in Biloxi was well-known to local law enforcement he was currently under investigation by the FBI in connection with a Dixie Mafia operation known as the Lonely Hearts cam but Special Agent Bell needed a thread that connected the two investigations together he started by familiarizing himself with a lonely heart scan it was run out of angola prison in louisiana by a man named Kirksey Nix the incarcerated kingpin of the Dixie Mafia first model Nix with run ads and gay magazines asking for money to help fictional gay men get out of trouble with the law through the scams Nix was hoping to generate enough money to solve his own legal problems he was serving a life sentence for murder from his jail cell at Angola he coordinated what we've been referring to as the homosexual scam which generated hundreds of thousands of dollars from individuals around the country and as well as some people in Canada with this money he intended to buy his way out or attempt to buy his way out of his Louisiana prison sentence believing that they were helping gay men out of trouble people who read the magazine ads would wire or mail money to a nearby Western Union Knicks would then call his contact on the outside Mike Gillis Gillis would then dispatch his bagman to retrieve the money Gillett made sure that the scam money was distributed to Dixie Mafia members and safely stashed away for Kirksey Nix in the coming months investigators developed more evidence in the Lonely Hearts camp but still had no direct link between these conspirators and the Sherry's killers a year into the investigation the murder case threatened Easter as the years stretched to 16 months the Sherry's daughter Lynn's busy dough grew increasingly frustrated in January in 1989 she hired a private investigator to rev up the inquest into her parents murder [Music] the family had wanted very much to have a quick resolution to the case but by early 1989 there'd still been no arrest and of course at this point the FBI had not formally entered the case [Music] the lack of official FBI involvement hampered Belle's investigation so when the private investigator paid him a visit Belle welcomed his assistance hoping they could share information the two were old acquaintances from the private investigators days in law enforcement [Music] since agent Belle was unable to act officially the private investigator would pursue a lead that looked promising he would interview another angola inmate the private investigator and Belle hoped the inmate at Angola could finally link the lonely heart scam and the sherry murders he met with all the right people and because of his knowledge of the Dixie Mafia and from what he had learned from law enforcement authorities on the coast he did go over to Angola and did talk to the right person over there the inmates name was Bobby Joe Fabian he was another known member of the Dixie Mafia doing time for kidnapping and shooting a state trooper Fabian claimed he had not been involved in the sherry murders but he had learned that fellow inmate Kirksey Nix had been fabian told the private investigator that Nix it had judge sherry killed because sherry had allegedly stolen money from Nyx's Lonely Hearts scam that wasn't all he said Nix had been told of the theft by none other than Pete halat Sherry's former law partner the lat the man who had delivered the eulogy at the Sherry's funeral was now implicated in their murders Pilat officially represented nix on legal matters but Fabian said halat's role in the Lonely Hearts scam was criminal not legal halat was one of the people receiving money from Nix for safekeeping through mike gillich 'as bagman and the ties between the outlaw and the lawyer went deep Kirksey Nix his girlfriend and accomplice the race shark worked in halat's office Fabian said both Lara Sharpe and Pete halat were stashing money from the scam in a safe deposit box for Kirksey Nix and he said the amount had reached six figures thanks to Fagin the link between the murders and the Lonely Hearts cam had been made and not only had Fabian given investigators a possible motive for the killings he was also able to supply the name of the alleged hitman an ex-con named John ransom who was believed to be living in Georgia but tracking down ransom would take time anytime law enforcement people get together and start talking about notorious Dixie Mafia members John ransom comes up quiet early in the conversation he's a longtime alleged hitman for the Dixie Mafia in August of 1989 two years after the sherry murders agent Bell now had enough evidence to warrant a full FBI investigation into the killings accompanied by the Sherry's daughter Lynne's boozy dough he approached the United States attorney and the FBI with a demand to officially open the case so with the tying in of the scam to the murders we knew we had some federal violations involved we have wire fraud we had mail fraud and we perhaps had a hit man traveling from Georgia to Mississippi to kill the Sherry's it was decided to open an official FBI investigation and join with local authorities in the investigation [Music] bye now however suspect Pete halat judge Sheree's former law partner had been elected mayor of Biloxi with a key suspect in such a high position investigators encountered new robots it became very difficult for the FBI to share all of its information with the local authorities we were not saying that the local police were corrupt what we are saying is that mayoral at put his own people in as Director of Public Safety and as police chief so we were somewhat circumspect on what we were shared with local authorities during that time period in August of 1989 as investigators attempted to unravel the truth about the Sherry's murders informant Bobby Joe Fabian made a surprise move he told his story about the sherry murders to the TV news Fabian hoped that by bringing attention to himself Kirksey Nix would be less likely to have him killed for cooperating with authorities along with the report the station broadcast a mug shot of John ransom the alleged hitman in the sherry case when Charles lazier pete halat's junior partners saw the photo it surprised him he recalled seeing ransom outside the sherry halat law offices a few weeks before the murders the years shared his information with the test [Music] major Randy cook at the Harrison County Sheriff's Department took this year's statement lazier said the reason he remembered ransom was ransom stepped off of a curve and came up to him and asked him where it's been Sherry's off a set when lazier was interviewed Jimmy he recalled there was something unusual about the way ransom stepped off of the curve ransom had a prosthesis on one leg [Music] investigators learned that ransom was now in a Georgia prison serving time for another murder when questioned about the sherry murders he refused to cooperate as cooked further question lazier about the day he and halat had found the bodies an important detail the she remembered that halat had walked into the Sherry's living room scene judge Sherry's body and said Vince and Margaret are dead cook relayed this to agent Bell what was interesting was that Margaret's body was in the far back bedroom of the residence and according to chuck lazier Pete halat did not have time other than to briefly enter the front of the house and would have no way of knowing that Margaret's body was also in the very back bedroom in October of 1989 two years after the murders agent Bell knew halat was involved but he still lacked enough evidence for an arrest even so he felt it was time to confront mayor halat it would be a quiet warning man to man and I let me or her let know that I thought his knowledge of the sherry murders was much greater than what he had shared with law enforcement authorities up to that point and I recall also telling him that the FBI would continue working on this case until it was totally solved my recollection is he smiled and did not have much else to say as a lawyer a lad new bill would need more concrete evidence in order to secure a conviction what he likely didn't realize was the depth of Belle's commitment to bring him to justice three years had passed since Judge Vincent sherry and his wife Margaret were murdered in their Biloxi Mississippi home FBI Special Agent Keith Bell had connected the killings to members of the Dixie Mafia and to judge Sherry's friend and one-time law partner Pete halat the alleged triggerman John ransom was refusing to talk in January of 1990 agent Bell and major Randy cook the Harrison County Sheriff's Department drove to the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary to question another possible compass a man named Bill Rhodes Rhodes a known associate of John ransom was willing to cooperate he told them that in early 1987 ransom had contacted him about driving the getaway car in a crime to take place in Southern Mississippi ransom had said a judge would be murdered and that the pay was $10,000 there were certain promises made to Rhodes that by ransom that I know certain people in Biloxi that if you'll help me on this and you'll have the run of Biloxi anytime you want it so in March of 1987 Rhodes went to Biloxi and met with ransom and a man named Peter it was Pete who specifically asked Rhodes and ransom to do the hit rohde said he also met with mike gillich say biloxi strip level who would supply the money once the hit was done but five months later before they could do the job Rhoads was arrested on an unrelated bank robbery charge and ransom got cold feet afraid Rhodes would turn on him the information help the case inch forward but agent Bell and officer cook still felt that ransom held the missing pieces another year would pass without much progress [Music] in late 1990 the investigators went to the Bostick Correctional Institute in Georgia where ransom was serving time finally ransom agreed to talk he admitted that he delivered a 22 caliber pistol to larae sharp curtsy mixes girlfriend but ransom insisted that he did not do the job based on what ransom said the raised involvement was starting to look bigger than simply stashing scam money in a safe deposit box through his contact with sharp Nicks learned that the investigation was heating up he worried that his girlfriend might talk so he tried to head off the problem by putting out a contract on her life he pellet but in late 1990 agent Bell arrested Lee who participation in the murders inadvertently saving her from Nyx's gunmen during a polygraph test Sharpe denied her involvement in the lonely heart scam and the sherry murders weapon but the Machine called her Bluff when Bell and his team added her statements to their existing stacks of evidence they were ready to bring indictments against several key players mike gillich john ransom array Sharpe and Kirksey Nix were charged as conspirators in the sherry murders notably missing from the list was PETA lat the case against a lab would have to wait until they had enough evidence for a murder conviction for now the FBI would look to convict the others on conspiracy to commit murder so many of the questions came up why didn't yell indict people that early on when you indicted everybody else well at the time we didn't have the hard evidence that you would have to have to arrest a mayor and prosecute the conspiracy trial produced several key witnesses that would help investigators piece together the complex scheme Robbie ganz Gillis's bagman for the Lonely Hearts scam testified for the prosecution his testimony helped prosecutors linked the sherry murders to the scam all four defendants were found guilty Nix was given 15 years in addition to the life sentence he was already serving for murder gillich also received a 15 year prison term ransom got 10 years and the race shark with these conspirators behind bars and the Lonely Hearts scam no longer operational Belle moved on to his next objective we decided not to end the sherry investigation after the 1991 initial convictions because at that time we had not proven who had actually shot the Sherry's and also Pete halat had not been indicted or convicted at that point and we all felt strongly that fetal at had played a major role in the scam and in the murder plot so we were determined to continue the investigation to see if we could get enough evidence to indict and convict mr. halat and the actual shooter in late July of 1992 agent Belle got the break he was looking for following the conspiracy trial Mike Gillis was desperate to find a way out of prison he contacted one of his associates in Biloxi and asked him to approach Robbie Gant with an offer [Music] Gant told agent Bell about it and the associate had offered Robby Gantt $20,000 if Kent would recant his testimony against Gillick and sign a false affidavit stating that he had been threatened by me to testify against Gillick to testify falsely against Gilles Gant agreed to wear a wire and get the offer from Gila jizz accomplice on tape Gant met with him in Mississippi this time Gant's tape was rolling when Gil urges associate reiterated the bribe Gant accepted as Belet instructed [Music] now Belle had the evidence he needed to turn up the heat on Gillis just the man who could tell the story from the inside by 1993 six years after the double murder of Vince and Margaret Sherry's FBI agent Keith Bell had put four members of the Dixie Mafia behind bars but he still had no formal murder convictions against those involved and Mayor Pete halat the suspected mastermind of the case was still free and running the city of Biloxi in fact the year before mayor Holland broken ground on a city's first big casino victory the press still found it glad about his involvement in the sherry murders but he remained adamant about his innocence bail continued to work his plan he used the bribe Robert Gant had recorded on tape to level another charge against mike gillich already in jail now bail indicted Gillett for witness bribery and witness tampering for trying to buy off Gant and that did the trick no doubt the most important turning point was in October of 1993 when mike gillich finally decided to cooperate and tell the story of this whole case from an insider's point of view and that's what really allowed us to bring final resolution to this investigation after the years of the painstaking work belen spent on the case it was a satisfying moment finally it seemed his patience and ingenuity were paying Gillis was in no hurry to accrue more jail time the bills relentless pressure had persuaded him to cut a deal before the bribery trial even began the Dixie Mafia member would tell what he knew about the murders mr. Gillis maybe now bail could get the convictions he knew were long over but for a career criminal like mike gillich adjusting to life on the right side of the law wasn't easy at first he tried to bluff his way out of course it always takes some time a period of weeks to develop some degree of trust and to be able to communicate with someone like this who for the first time has decided to leave his lifelong role as a criminal and start cooperating with the FBI when deception didn't work gillich had no alternative he had to tell the truth now for the first time Belle heard the story from an inside source Gil 'its knew all the details Mike was the center point Mike knew Kirksey Nix Mike knew Pete halat for years and in fact when Kirksey Nix was looking for an attorney over in the coast area to represent him on various matters mike gillich introduced nix and to Pete halat he confirmed that pete halat's was indeed behind the plan to murder the Sherry's and that the plot grew directly out of the lonely hearts cam of angola prison inmate Kirksey Nix some months before the Sherry's deaths Collette had closed the safe-deposit box he and Nyx's girlfriend larae sharp had access to effectively cutting off her access to the money he then transferred the money into a box only he and judge sherry could use motivated by greed he stole $100,000 cash from their as Nyx's trusted accomplice a lot could blame the theft on judge sherry next he went to my Gillett with news of the theft mr. gillich stated that peatonal ad approached mr. gillich himself in late in 1986 and told mr. gillich that much of the money was missing supposedly around a $100,000 and mr. elad blamed judge sherry for taking the money mr. halat knew that Kirksey Nix would be very furious about this [Music] it is not known who ordered Margaret's death but as a fierce opponent of corruption of it she posed a threat to the underworld forces hoping to control Biloxi with Margaret dead a lot could be free to run the town Gillett said that he and halat planned the murders ransom and Rhoads provided the murder weapon but when they passed on doing the hit Gillett found a replacement a texas-based petty criminal named Thomas Holcomb Holcomb would be paid twenty thousand dollars to murder judge sherry and his wife Gila Chad also helped provide the car with the help of locksmith Lenny Swetman [Music] [Music] in October of 1996 agents arrested hitman Thomas Holcomb in Texas on murder charges that same month also saw the arrest that agent Bell had anticipated in work nine years to achieve the arrest of Pete halat for the murders of the Sherry's [Music] curtsey Nixon larae sharp were indicted on 52 counts including fraud money laundering and murder [Music] Alette was tried and convicted in the summer of 1997 a full decade after that crimes were committed he was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison also tried and convicted were Kirksey Nix and Thomas Holcomb the hit man both were sentenced to life the race sharp Nyx's girlfriend got five years I think a lot of citizens in Biloxi now realized that there are a lot of dedicated professional law enforcement people who will do everything they can to protect the community and work hard to solve major crimes perhaps the legacy you might say of the case for the criminal element is that they realize after seeing this case that they can commit a crime one day and think they're getting away with it a year later but it could come back ten years later and get them while the Sherry's killers were finally brought to justice Margaret Sherry's dream of a Biloxi free of gambling was never realized instead Biloxi has become a resort town filled with casinos and neon lights the sleepy southern town is gone forever along with the woman who lost her life trying to save it [Music] [Applause] you [Music]

Channel: The FBI Files

Views: 1,305,055

Rating: 4.5675135 out of 5

Keywords: FBI, FBI Files, FBI Documentary, Documentary, Crime, Crime Documentary, Crime Patrol, True Crime, True crime daily, Unsolved, Crime Stories, Crime Documentaries Full Episodes, Full Episode, unsolved true crime, fbi files full episodes, we got him, mystery, solved, investigation, police, criminal, prison, jail, Biloxi, mississippi, dixie, mafia, Vincent Sherry, Margaret Sherry, Peter Halat, Kirksey Nix

Id: gdNGsXdHsvs

Length: 49min 53sec (2993 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 27 2020