Beginning in the 1960s, the Dixie Mafia began working as a loosely knit group of traveling criminals performing residential burglary, robbery, and theft.
They were loosely connected individuals of many nationalities with a common goal—to make money and wield control over illegal moneymaking operations by any means, including influence peddling, bribery of public officials, and murder.
"The Strip" in Biloxi, Mississippi, was home base for the Dixie Mafia, and Mike Gillich, Jr., was the group's unofficial but de facto kingpin.
Ward was a noted associate of Chicago Mob boss Sam Giancana, and is thought to have controlled organized crime and bootlegging throughout Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi.
[11] This view that the federal government is oppressive and that criminal enterprise against it is justified spread from its place of origin to wealthier regions where the Dixie Mafia operated; primarily in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama, particularly around the cities of Birmingham, Baton Rouge, Hattiesburg, Corinth, Dallas, and Atlanta.
[9][12] The Dixie Mafia committed most of their crimes in areas that lacked strong, coordinated law enforcement, particularly in small communities throughout the South (such as Andalusia, Alabama).
[citation needed] Small-town and county law enforcement agencies, especially in poorer sections of the South up to the 1990s, were usually inadequately equipped, and rarely had officers with extensive experience in the investigation of homicide or organized crime.
[citation needed] The members of the Dixie Mafia usually created small, seemingly legitimate businesses such as buying and selling junk or antiques.
Therefore, these terms have become a general reference to any illegal enterprise in the Southern states that, for cultural reasons, can expect a certain amount of support, both intended and unintended, from the local population.
[14] The Dixie Mafia was especially notorious for infiltrating law enforcement agencies in many poor Southern counties; members could easily use patronage, influence-peddling, and money to obtain jobs as sheriffs and sworn deputies.
[15] The Dixie Mafia sheriffs and officers loyal to them "were doing anything and everything illegal down [there]... For money, [they] would release prisoners from the county jail, safeguard drug shipments, and hide fugitives.