The evolution of southern crime.
NO CHARGES FILED – Investigation Concluded November 2024 The GBI investigation into Jason Bragg concluded with no criminal charges being filed. District Attorney Billy Joe Nelson Jr. of the Atlantic Judicial Circuit issued a letter…
In the shadow of one of Alabama’s most significant military installations, a little-documented scandal allegedly unfolded in the 1960s that would tie together a local Romeo, a powerful congressman, and international arms dealing. The case…
The Core Story In 2022, Stephen Yekel was elected State Court Judge in Effingham County, Georgia. Within his first term, he identified what he explicitly termed a “conspiracy scheme” involving systematic manipulation of DUI cases.…
A comprehensive examination of the events surrounding Judge Stephen Yekel’s death and the investigation of Clerk of Court Jason Bragg Executive Summary On December 31, 2024, Effingham County State Court Judge Stephen Yekel, 74, died…
The Setup The State Line Mob operated in the 1950s and 1960s at the Mississippi-Tennessee state line in Alcorn County, Mississippi, and McNairy County, Tennessee, along U.S. Route 45, engaging in bootlegging, gambling, prostitution, robbery,…
Executive Summary An investigation into the Athens-Clarke County Police Department reveals a troubling pattern of lawsuits alleging misconduct since 2015, coupled with concerningly low crime clearance rates and a significant lack of public transparency regarding…
The Nine-Year Billionaire: Jimmy Zhong’s Athens Party Life, Gainesville Lake House, and the End of an Era Fifty-five years after dynamite killed a Georgia prosecutor fighting bootleggers, a different kind of crime was brewing in…
The first installation of Infamous America’s coverage of the Dixie Mafia, 6 episodes focused mostly on the Georgia side of the group, is some of the best work ever done on them. The second installation…
When “To Protect and Serve” Meant Something Altogether Different In the annals of American corruption, few stories match the brazen audacity of Phenix City, Alabama’s law enforcement in the 1940s and early 1950s. While most…
Background Lamar Reid was a 28-year-old Birmingham attorney who served as the chairman of the Jefferson County Democratic Executive Committee in 1954. He became entangled in one of Alabama’s most infamous political corruption scandals connected…
