Convictions in Louisiana. After convictions in both Sherry trials, Nix was transferred to a maximum-security federal prison in Florence, Colorado. More to come. Halat's daughter, Brandyn Halat Skeen, tells WLOX TV in Biloxi that the family has been "impatiently waiting for this day for 15 years, 9 months, and 7 days.". and was involved as far as having first hand knowledge to the Sherrys murders, and it got him killed. Harvey is a keen blackjack player, but evidently not a particularly good one, for he lost another $1.5 million at Caesars joints in his home state. These people are scum and need to know it. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your California Privacy Rights (User Agreement updated 1/1/21. The biggest loser snared by this unholy alliance in New Orleans is John Harvey, a car dealer from Mississippi, who owes $1.5 million to Harrahs. where Bobby Joe Fabian and another guy kidnapped and shot a state trooper and the town night LEO. I followed the link in your article and I see where your information came from. I live in Delhi, La. Simpson trial and other cases for Vanity Fair magazine. Gerald Blessey was an honest, progressive Mayor who sought to shed Biloxi of the Dixie Mafia. Vince also enjoyed the local wildlife he found in that underground culture and that has in turned caused speculation Mrs Sherry had very practical reasons to take on the strip clubs when she was on the Biloxi City Council. There was no sign of forced entry to the house. In the television interview, Mr. Fabian also charged that Mr. Nix's longtime lawyer, Mayor Pete Halat of Biloxi, was the banker for the extortion scheme, and that it began to fall apart when $500,000 of the money was found to be missing. See Photos. Nix is still alive today, and is imprisoned at the Federal Correctional Institution in El Reno, Oklahoma. Mayor Halat has vehemently denied any link to the scheme or the slayings, and called Mr. Fabian's story 'an outright lie.". Mr. Fabian named a fellow inmate, Kirksey McCord Nix Jr., 48 years old, as the mastermind of the scheme and the murders. In the 1980s, Bobby Joe Fabian, Dixie Mafia kingpin Kirksey McCord Nix Jr. and other inmates at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola began running lonely-hearts telephone scams that mainly targeted homosexual men who sent thousands of dollars, thinking they were helping young men get out of minor scrapes with the law and join them. A Tool Of God Sherry Sheri Bahm's psychic journal illustrates the growin. For reprints, email [emailprotected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. Attacks by people who we now know were on the Dixie Mafia payroll. I have been quite busy and I will be in touch. How does one go from vice representing attorney to appointed Judge. Mob members outside the prison, threatening to expose the letter-writers as homosexuals, would demand money, the authorities said. Your email address will not be published. He was convicted of the 1972 murder of his former associate and Winder resident Donald Chancey as well as the 1973 slayings of an elderly couple in Wrens. The couple, Vincent Sherry of the Second Mississippi District Circuit Court, and his wife, Margaret, were found dead in their home in a quiet north Biloxi neighborhood on Sept. 16, 1987. Halat's lawyer, David Chessnoff, said Halat had . [4] Dixie Mafia killings Through his association with Mike Gillich, a leading Biloxi underworld figure, Halat became the attorney for Kirksey Nix, a Dixie Mafia criminal serving life in the Louisiana State Penitentiary for the 1971 murder of New Orleans grocer Frank J. Corso. Former Biloxi striptease lounge owner Mike Gillich was the chief prosecution witness when Halat and three others were convicted in 1997. Heres more. If convicted, the four defendants could face up to 30 years in prison and fines exceeding $1 million. The truth is going to be told. Biloxi's Tale of Murder, Extortion and Racy Photos Angola Calling Dixie Mafia Kirksey McCord Nix Jr Wikipedia: Pete Halat United States of America v Sheri LaRa Sharpe 1999 (conviction and sentence affirmed) Figure in Coast judge's slaying dies Find-A-Grave: Thomas Leslie Holcomb Find-A-Grave: John Elbert Ransom. Please e-mail m also [emailprotected]. It tell the hole story about the Dixie Mafia. 4. Fabian, who had congestive heart failure and other health problems, died in June of 2012 in the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman. Neither contained anything and both had last been gone into to be inventoried upon my grandmothers and great aunts deaths some years earlier. See Photos. John Ransom, Kirksey McCord Nix Jr., Sheri LaRa Sharpe, and former Biloxi mayor Pete Halat. ALSO KNOWN AS SAXON TALES SAXON CHRONICLES IN THE USA AND THE WARRIOR CHRONICLES AND SINCE. Harveys case has completely flown under the radar here in Mississippi, where the media has been silent on Harveys legal problems with Leon Cannizzaro but to the extent Mississippi has a larger casino market, I wonder if there is asimilar, silly law here in Mississippi. Ransom, 64, also a reputed Dixie Mafia member, is serving a 12-year sentence for manslaughter at a Hardwick, Ga., prison. Here is a list of some of the key players in the murders of Vincent and Margaret Sherry and where they are now: Pete Halat, one of six people convicted in the 1987 murders of Vincent and Margaret Sherry, had his claim rejected by the U.S. Court of Appeals in December 2005. These were prominent people, said Dunne, who has covered the O.J. Federal prosecutors dropped those charges and Gillich was the chief prosecution witness when Sherrys former law partner, former Biloxi Mayor Pete Halat, and three others were convicted in 1997. The authorities had hoped to find massive sums of scam money in the boxes. We can now extend to other conditions that may be part of your everyday lives and help you on a broad level if that is what you need. The story is out there and by story I dont mean Mississippi Mud, the Sherry family sourced book which unfairly IMHO impugned former Biloxi Mayor Gerald Blessey due to his prior history of locking horns politically with Margaret Sherry when she was on the city council. A Tool of God book. The house in o.s. JACKSON An inmate who linked prison telephone scams in Louisiana to the murders of a Mississippi judge and his wife has died at a Mississippi prison. Some honest people have come forward and shared information that I feel is credible. He was trying to earn enough money to buy his way out of prison. Instead, we chose to persevere and overcome an injustice that no family should ever have to experience.". Modesto Bee, The (CA) - Thursday, June 21, 2012 Dec 2, 1945 -- June 14, 2012 Bobby Joe moved to Riverbank in 1948. The Sherrys were shot to death on Sept. 14, 1987, in their North Biloxi home. That is the 100,000 dollar question. Whistleblower in slayings of judge and his wife dies | The Greenwood Commonwealth Skip to main content FacebookTwitterInstagram Theme Please select your theme Standardon/off Flexon/off But, more than simply viewing their criminal defense work as just a job, Pete Halat and Vince Sherry seemed to move comfortably among the figures of Biloxis shadowy underworld. Halat was elected mayor 1989 and lost a re-election bid in 1993. In Louisiana over the past year, a number of prison inmates, along with mob members and relatives on the outside, have been convicted of theft in the extortion scheme. The 70-year-old Halat left a Montgomery, Ala., federal prison in March of 2012. My brother & my daddy were murdered by a member of the Dixie Mafia. Sheri LaRa Sharpe - convicted, INMATE INFORMATION PETER HALAT Register Number: 20918-077 Age: 75 Race: White Sex: Male Released On: 04/24/2013 INMATE INFORMATION Name: KIRKSEY MCCORD NIX Register Number: 20921-077 Age: 79 Race: White Sex: Male Release Date: LIFE Located At: FCI El Reno INMATE INFORMATION MIKE GILLICH Register Number: 02624-043 Bobby died in Mississipp. My personal recommendation and one to which I adhere is to not set foot in a casino and Id especially avoid the ones in places like Louisiana where the strong arm for the local casinos is the local DA. All rights reserved (About Us). Allain did not run for reelection in 1987., WOW it just so happens a well known cruising spot for gay men is right by his old crib. The casinos modern enforcer is the district attorney. That said, with the descendants of Pete Halet proclaiming his innocence in the storys comments, I thought this comment was most appropriate to highlight here on Slabbed: Indeed they did and daughter Lynne Spositos son Thomas commented on my last post on this topic taking umbrage with me terming his granddad dirty as the day is long. So I repeat: WHO STOLE NIXS $100,000? Thomas Leslie Holcomb was given the handgun with a homemade silencer which he used in the killings by Kirksey Nix's girlfriend Sheri LaRa Sharpe, who in turn had received the gun from an enforcer for the Dixie Mafia named John Ransom who told her to give the gun to Holcomb for the hit on Mr. and Mrs. Sherry. Marcus Wright speaks, Timeless counsel from our revered Dr. Rev. It took thorough investigative work and Mike Gillich Jr. telling all to take Halat down. She said she did not sleep a single night in the 10 years after her parents death, until Halat was finally convicted for his role in plotting the murders of his friends and neighbors. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. History. I truly thank you. The corruption was so severe that in 1983 federal authorities designated the Harrison County Sheriffs Office a criminal enterprise. 1993) (" Sharpe I"). Dr. Sheri Lense - University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. My dad died some year back. Dixie Mafiosos of yore needed lawyers too and after a life of crime that culminated in the hit on Italian Mobster Frank Corso, whose descendants ran money laundering rackets along the coast based out of Bay St Louis, Kirksey Nix Jrs life of crime seemingly came to an end. Halat held the inmates scam proceeds in a trust account. Consequences also could have flowed from fooling around with Gillets strippers, and those consequences could have come from a number of directions. Please see https://gofundme.com/murdered-in-mississippi, Seeking Justice For Ronnie & [emailprotected], Reward offered for any information on the unsolved murders of Ronald Wayne Anderson & Lt. Dan Anderson murdered in Gulf Port, MS. And we do it knowing that the tragic deaths of our friends, Vince and Margaret Sherry, remains unfairly clouded.". Halat had accused Vincent Sherry of taking the money and also offered to pay half of $20,000 of the hit man costs, Gillich testified. All rights reserved, SpaceX Agrees to Have Starlink Avoid Interfering with Astronomical Work, Elon Musk Files Bid to Move Shareholder Fraud Trial to Texas, SpaceX to Raise $750 Million at $137 Billion Valuation. Biloxi Confidential focuses on Pete Halat, who took office as Biloxi mayor in 1989, less than two years after the murders. Martin Luther King, Jr. Rediscovering Lost Values. Halat and Vincent Sherry had been law partners, starting in 1981. Nix and his prison syndicate placed ads in gay-focused magazines. "Today, our family moves farther away from a disastrous period in our lives by celebrating with our friends the re-establishment of long-suppressed relationships. Anite Lee with said I like see post something back to me. Biloxi's Sherry murders will be featured on Court TV. I was told by Cold Case Unit in MS. they was 99.9 % sure my brother was murdered by member of Dixie Mafia.. 2002-2018 redOrbit.com. Vince was often the one who banked the money for Nix. denied, 510 U.S. 885 (1993). It is clear once Vince Sherry drank of that cup, he was sucked in like so many of the subjects in our Louisiana Political Corruption coverage never to remain the same as I continue: Maybe its the element of chance and excitement that comes from living on the edge that draws normally straight-up people to the outlaw culture. Gillich was released from prison in July 2000, after serving nine years of a 20-year sentence. Sherry Sharpe . One access was with Lara Sharpe who borrowed money on at least one occasion and told Nix who decided she did not need to enter the box. Mr. Fabian said that when members demanded an explanation from Mayor Halat, he told them the money had been taken by his law partner at the time, Mr. Sherry, who became a judge shortly afterward, in July 1986. This comment sums the whole deal upsave for Margaret Sherry IMHO, who paid with her life for her husbands prior legal associations. Jan. 30BILOXI Novelist, journalist and television show host Dominick Dunne takes on Biloxis most notorious murder case Wednesday night on his Court TV show, Power, Privilege and Justice.. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. SHERI LARA SHARPE; THOMAS LESLIE HOLCOMB; PETER HALAT, JR.; AND KIRKSEY MCCORD NIX, JR. also known as J R, also known as Junior, also known as Kirk, Defendants-Appellants. Decided: October 20, 1999 Before POLITZ, JOLLY and DUH, Circuit Judges. When money came up missing, Halat blamed Sherry, who had by then left their Biloxi law practice for his Circuit Court judgeship. When my family was clean out the house they found the big brown envelope. . Keep up to date with the latest news, forecasts, & weather alerts with WJTV. From Wikipedia. Sharpe, 995 F.2d 49 (5th Cir. Vince got up to answer the door and moments later was lying dead on the floor, felled by shots fired from a silenced.22-caliber Ruger automatic. Thomas Leslie Holcomb, the triggerman in the 1987 Sherry murders, died April 8, 2005, while serving a life sentence in federal prison in Beaumont, Texas. Several seemingly promising leads led the authorities to mob figures who refused to talk. Aaron Broussards ghost is alive and well at Kenner City Hall, BREAKING: Louisiana Ethics Board files charges against, a link to an extensive account of the murders and history of theDixieMafiososthat felt free to greenlit a sitting Circuit Court Judge written for TRU TV and for those with some time to kill is also a must read, after a life of crime that culminated in the hit on Italian Mobster Frank Corso, Sir James over at the T-P wrote a column yesterday, John Harvey, a car dealer from Mississippi, who owes $1.5 million to Harrahs, https://gofundme.com/murdered-in-mississippi, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, Please Support Journalism in the Public Interest, Other Voices | Tom Callaghan: DeSantis Stars; Pelosi Exceeds; Trump Irrelevant, Other Voices | Tom Callaghan: Still Catholic Despite the New York Times. All of the same great people, writers and editors but now with more firepower. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. When: 9 p.m., Wednesday, Dominick Dunne's "Power, Privilege and Justice" will feature the Sherry murder case in a segment called "Biloxi. Officials said Nix took over the scam when it was unsuccessful and turned it into a huge moneymaker in hopes of somehow buying his freedom. I do not want to bring up old memories of hurt but I feel I have the proof after all of these years as to who murdered Judge Sherry and Margarett- They also murdered my dad on April 18, 2003 because he was getting old and starting to expose them. Refine Your Search Results. Former U.S. Attorney George Phillips, whose office first prosecuted the case, is also featured. John Roberts, Aaron M. Appel and Wendy J. Shaw, "Incorporating Amino Acid Esters into. But Mr. Fabian was not called to testify because of what the authorities said was his penchant for self-publicity and because of his lifelong record of crime and double-dealing. SHERI LARA SHARPE A. Biloxi's Tale of Murder, Extortion and Racy Photos, https://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/29/us/biloxi-s-tale-of-murder-extortion-and-racy-photos.html. Sherry and Halat had been law partners starting in 1981. That one was closed out and another opened. Many viewers will hear for the first time from the lead investigator on the Sherry case, retired FBI Agent Keith Bell, who is interviewed at length. (As a point of disclosure I am personally fond of one of Franks descendants and I do not blame the guy for the sins of his forefathers.) I mention all this because Sir James over at the T-P wrote a column yesterday that has me wondering if we simply did not replace one mafia with another as the legal concept of debtorprisonsis evidently alive and well when those that are owed the money run a casino: No need to break legs these days, though. Mr. Nix, who admitted at the trial in November that he had authorized the scheme, denied involvement in the slayings. By the way Governor Allain denied and provided evidence that he did not pay for cross dressing black underage boys to have sex with him. involved in making the series'Sharpe novel series Wikipedia . The case had frustrated investigators until two years ago. There was no obituary for him posted on the funeral homes website. Mrs. Sherry was shot four times in the head by the same .22-caliber pistol, authorities said. Please see Seeking Justice For Ronnie & [emailprotected]. He knew getting rid of the Mafia would help spur economic development and open up Biloxi to outside investors. http://www.murderedinmississippi.com. AnonymousDecember 06, 2017 7:37 PM Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. The phone number they obtained for her turned out to be the number of the Halat & Sherry firm. I dont have any tolerance for those who get in bed with the Mafia at the expense of the rest of the community. I do appreciate you getting back to me. Indeed the Biloxi Beachfront of the 1980s was both seedy and run down. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. So savage has the atmosphere become, Blessey said, that he is the subject of constant rumors of the most lurid sort, including suggestionspublicly rejected by the policethat he was linked to the unsolved, hit-style slayings of a Biloxi judge and his politically active wife in 1987., http://articles.latimes.com/1988-12-21/news/mn-662_1_city-council. ), cert. After convictions in both Sherry trials, Nix was transferred to a maximum-security federal prison in Florence, Colo. Jeffrey Walker sentenced for fraud scheme, Funeral held for states first black female Republican mayor.