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Speaker 1: Also Media, Harry everyone Robert Evans here and on Thursday

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Speaker 1: September twenty fifth at eight pm, Behind the Bastards is

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Speaker 1: doing a live show. The show itself is in Portland, Oregon,

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Speaker 1: but all of the in person seats have sold out. However,

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Speaker 1: there are live stream tickets available if you go to

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Speaker 1: Alberta Rose Theater t h E A t r E

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Speaker 1: Behind the Bastards on just type that into Google or

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Speaker 1: whatever search engine you use. Alberta Rose Theater, Behind the

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Speaker 1: Bastards you can find a link to buy tickets for

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Speaker 1: the live show. This is to benefit the Portland Defense Fund,

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Speaker 1: which helps bail people out who don't have, you know,

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Speaker 1: resources of their own, so it's a good cause. Tickets

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Speaker 1: are twenty five dollars for the live stream version of

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Speaker 1: the show, So please go to Alberta Rose Theater Behind

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Speaker 1: the Bastards and pick up a live stream show to

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Speaker 1: check it out. On Thursday September twenty fifth at eight pm,

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Speaker 1: and we're back to Behind the Bastards, a podcast about

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Speaker 1: bad people, the worst ones in all of history. This

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Speaker 1: is tart two of our series on Buford Pusser, the

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Speaker 1: man whose family could not give their kids normal names.

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Speaker 1: To save their lives. Also, he committed a bunch of

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Speaker 1: horrible crimes and killed people. Back as my guest.

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Speaker 2: Dan O'Brien, Hello, thank you for having me. There's there's

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Speaker 2: no depths to my appetite for Pusser.

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Speaker 1: That's that's right, I just love Pusser. Beauford. I'm agnostic

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Speaker 1: on Have you ever met a Buford? Do you know

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Speaker 1: a single Buford?

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Speaker 2: The only this is not a person that I know,

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Speaker 2: the only time I've ever heard that name was Benjamin

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Speaker 2: Buford Blue, the full name of Bubba from Forrest Gump.

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Speaker 1: I know that I didn't remember that was Bubba's.

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Speaker 2: Person, I know, but yeah, that's the only other instance

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Speaker 2: of that name I've ever heard anywhere.

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Speaker 1: Huh. Yeah, I know that. I'm actually looking up the

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Speaker 1: name of the shaf from Smoking the Band Yeah, Buford

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Speaker 1: t Justice is the sheriff of Smokey and the bandit Yeah,

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Speaker 1: which I think is probably the first time I heard

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Speaker 1: that name and did not realize that it was. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: That was came out in seventy seven, so he was

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Speaker 1: definitely named after Buford. Pusser because Walking Doll came out

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Speaker 1: in seventy three, kind of a more accurate parody of

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Speaker 1: Buford Pusser as opposed to the version in Walking TLL

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Speaker 1: that's basically a hero.

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Speaker 3: The cool sheriff guy.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, speaking of those movies, if you've watched any

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Speaker 1: of the Walking Tall movies, you're probably aware as I've

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Speaker 1: mentioned that he was. Buford was mostly famous for using

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Speaker 1: a large stick or a bat or piece of wood

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Speaker 1: to beat up gangsters. The original poster, which Sophie's going

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Speaker 1: the show, for those of you watching the video version,

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Speaker 1: is just it looks like he's just holding like a log,

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Speaker 1: but like a trimmed log, like a log someone has

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Speaker 1: processed to be nice firewood, like it's had the bark

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Speaker 1: shaved off at everything. But it does just look like

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Speaker 1: a log.

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Speaker 4: Like he kind of looks like if Javier Bardem was

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Speaker 4: also a zombie.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's how the illustrated Yeah, Buford and Walking

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Speaker 1: in the poster looks. And then, of course the tagline

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Speaker 1: of the original movie, the measure of a man is

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Speaker 1: how tall he walks? What does that mean? I mean

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Speaker 1: you mean that like, the taller you are, the better

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Speaker 1: you are. What is what is that?

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Speaker 2: It's somewhere between literal and poetic, right where like you

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Speaker 2: would measure.

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Speaker 3: I mean, I guess the measure of a man, yes, is.

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Speaker 1: How you literally, Yes, you can measure a man by

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Speaker 1: how tally is. But I don't think like you're saying

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Speaker 1: a lot about the man necessarily, especially since like the

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Speaker 1: fact that a man can walk tall, being six foot six, like,

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Speaker 1: it's that's less impressive. Like if he was a short

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Speaker 1: man who had like his personality, you know, or whatever

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Speaker 1: you're saying, Like he walked tall, that's something. But just

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Speaker 1: being like, yeah, you know, this giant guy, he sure was.

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Speaker 4: Tall, that's just Napoleon Robert, right.

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Speaker 2: If they're going literal, it's very boring and there's nothing

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Speaker 2: more to say about it. You're saying that the tallness

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Speaker 2: is the tallness. If they're going poetic. They also don't

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Speaker 2: do a good enough job defining what walking tall means,

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Speaker 2: Like what.

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Speaker 1: Is it means you beat in a man half to

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Speaker 1: death with lumber?

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Speaker 3: He walks the most tall?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I guess so, But that's not really

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Speaker 1: a point in his favor. He just happened to be big.

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Speaker 3: Now.

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Speaker 1: The more recent reboot featuring The Rock, which was a

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Speaker 1: loose adaptation of the original movie that was not explicitly

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Speaker 1: based on the life of Buford. Pusster shows the rock carrying.

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Speaker 1: It's interesting the differences between these. Instead of carrying like

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Speaker 1: a trimmed log, he's carrying what looks just like a

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Speaker 1: piece of like construction timber. Yes, yeah, yeah, he's just

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Speaker 1: he's just gotten his hand there. And the tagline there

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Speaker 1: is one man will stand up for What's right, which

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Speaker 1: is at least a better tagline than the first movie had,

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Speaker 1: and it notes that it's inspired by a true story,

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Speaker 1: which it wasn't. Yeah, as we'll discuss today, it's the

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Speaker 1: whole myth. As I noted about him using a large

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Speaker 1: piece of wood to fight crime, started when Buford hit

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Speaker 1: Wo Hathcock Junior in the school with a fence post.

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Speaker 1: Buford's daughter noted in her book Walking On, there was

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Speaker 1: a handful of other times when Daddy would find use

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Speaker 1: for a sizeable piece of lumber when going up against

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Speaker 1: bad guys, but as often as not he went in

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Speaker 1: bare handed, or maybe would grab something more like a switch.

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Speaker 1: That's usually all that was necessary. But his first retaliation

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Speaker 1: against the State Line mob was personal and it did

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Speaker 1: indeed require a fence post.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's okay, that's so interesting. To describe a

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Speaker 2: mob fight as personal.

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Speaker 3: They're all personal.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, people are trying to kill you. It feels very personal. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it is funny to me that she's like, there were

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Speaker 1: a handful of times where he'd find a big piece

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Speaker 1: of lumber to fight people with. That was like a

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Speaker 1: thing he did so Normally, the State Line Gang was

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Speaker 1: not the kind of group who would settle a problem

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Speaker 1: by calling in the police because they were a mafia.

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Speaker 1: But in this case, Buford and his friends had committed

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Speaker 1: straight up felony assault against somebody. So Hathcock Junior pressed charges,

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Speaker 1: and Buford was arrested with his buddies and extradited to Mississippi.

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Speaker 1: They were charged with assault with a tent to commit

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Speaker 1: murder and armed robbery, both of which are probably accurate

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Speaker 1: descriptions of what they'd done. Bufert's daughter doesn't write that

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Speaker 1: he robbed Hathcock Junior, but it sounds like he did.

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Speaker 1: And I wouldn't be surprised if, well, they took my

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Speaker 1: money that I gambled away, so I'm going to take

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Speaker 1: whatever's in his wallet, right like I really did. It

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Speaker 1: does sound like he actually also just robbed the guy again,

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Speaker 1: rather than this being he was so upset at all

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Speaker 1: the crime he had to fight against these gangsters. He

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Speaker 1: was like, no, he beat a man after death and

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Speaker 1: took his money.

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Speaker 2: He lost money at a casino and got beat up

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Speaker 2: and then wanted to rectify that specific situation for himself

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Speaker 2: ten days after his wedding.

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Speaker 3: It needs to be repeated.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, right after the wedding. Yeah. So Buford and his

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Speaker 1: friends they get extradited, but they don't wind up getting

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Speaker 1: convicted because again, he's got that, like you said, he's

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Speaker 1: got that cop brain for when he's committing violent crimes.

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Speaker 1: Where he made sure to set up an alibi for

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Speaker 1: himself and his buddies before they went out to attack

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Speaker 1: Hathcock Junior, and their defense hinged on the fact that

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Speaker 1: they worked at a factory together in Chicago, and they'd

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Speaker 1: all filled out time cards and there were time cards

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Speaker 1: for all three men that showed them working on the

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Speaker 1: day of the assault, and then they just had like

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Speaker 1: a friend fake the time cards so they could go

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Speaker 1: out and beat that guy. And Duanna Pusser writes about

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Speaker 1: this in her book About Her Dad and again describes

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Speaker 1: it as like a lighthearted prank as opposed to somebody

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Speaker 1: like consciously trying to evade the law while committing felonies. Quotemeditated, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: very premeditated. Yes. As it turns out, having a friend

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Speaker 1: clock their time cards for them while they were gone

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Speaker 1: proved to be a stroke of really smart planning by

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Speaker 1: Daddy and his friends. That's one way to describe a

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Speaker 1: criminal conspiracy. Yeah, a stroke of really smart planning.

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Speaker 2: God, it's like one of my favorite planners, the Zodiac Killer.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, great at planning. In a stroke of very smart planning,

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Speaker 1: he cut the body up into forty pieces and threw

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Speaker 1: it in a river. So once the trial ended, Beauford

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Speaker 1: and his new wife, Pauline, returned to Chicago, where he

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Speaker 1: started attending a mortuary school to get a proper degree.

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Speaker 1: So he decides to try to make this a career still,

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Speaker 1: and he's kind of like working at a factory. He's

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Speaker 1: going to mortuary school at night, and then on the

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Speaker 1: weekends he starts wrestling. He becomes a pro wrestler as

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Speaker 1: a way to pick up extra money. Now, Buford was

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Speaker 1: good enough that he caught the eye of Jerry Lawler,

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Speaker 1: the wrestling icon who later helped The Rock get started,

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Speaker 1: which is a weird direct an action between the two men.

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Speaker 1: Jerry the King Lawler, Yeah, yeah, Lawler was reportedly a

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Speaker 1: friend of Buford Puster, or like a fan of his

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Speaker 1: when he was a wrestler.

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Speaker 3: That's I mean, there you go.

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Speaker 4: He was.

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Speaker 2: If there's a behind the Bastards on Jerry the King Lawler,

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Speaker 2: that'll be the one episode that I skiw because I

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Speaker 2: love him too much.

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Speaker 1: I don't have any evidence of him doing anything bad,

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Speaker 1: and we don't. I don't actually have proof that he

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Speaker 1: actually was a fan of Buford. He's reported reputed to

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Speaker 1: have been a fan of Buford, but there's a lot

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Speaker 1: like maybe that was a lie.

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Speaker 3: I don't know.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's also not entirely like he was a huge dude.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 1: I could see him being decent at wrestling.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So that said, he's not wildly successful and he does

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Speaker 1: not become a national name. This is never going to

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Speaker 1: be anything that makes becomes a career for him, but

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Speaker 1: it does teach him some lessons that will be useful

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Speaker 1: in his later crimes. As of nineteen fifty eight, it

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Speaker 1: was still mostly a weekend gig. He does do some

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Speaker 1: pretty good size performances, his largest being he wrestles at

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Speaker 1: an event at Comiski Park in Chicago, in front of

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Speaker 1: thirty seven thousand people. So, like, you know, he's not

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Speaker 1: a nobody here. You know, that's not nothing. We don't

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Speaker 1: there's just not a I wish there was more detail

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Speaker 1: about his wrestling career. Basically, the only real documentation we

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Speaker 1: have of it is a nineteen seventy article that Buford

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Speaker 1: wrote after he got famous, for an issue of the

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Speaker 1: men's adventure magazine True Detective. So again not great journalistic

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Speaker 1: reputation True Detective Magazine. But in that article he claims

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Speaker 1: that the hardest match of his wrestling career was in

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Speaker 1: Union City, Tennessee, against a guy named Big Bill Crockett.

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Speaker 1: They both wrestled the night before in Jackson, and Buford

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Speaker 1: had gotten a nashty gash on his forehead during that fight,

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Speaker 1: and so when they fight again the next fight, I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna continue here from Buford's article. When the referee called

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Speaker 1: us out to shake hands in Union City, he hauled

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Speaker 1: off and hit me with his fist, busted open the

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Speaker 1: cut in the night before. When he hit me the

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Speaker 1: second night, that's when the fight come off. We didn't wrestle,

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Speaker 1: we just fought. It was a little makeshift ring and

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Speaker 1: we tore it down. The referee stopped us, got some

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Speaker 1: canvas and lumber and patched it up. Then we fought

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Speaker 1: some more and tore it down again. I don't know

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Speaker 1: how I'd got home that night if I hadn't had

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Speaker 1: a wrestler named Billy Daniels to drive for me. Both

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Speaker 1: eyes were swollen shut, my hands were so sore, my

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Speaker 1: fingers got stiff like claws. I was stiff as a

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Speaker 1: board for days. It was along then that I decided

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Speaker 1: to give up wrestling, So that'll be basically his only

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Speaker 1: rational decision in life.

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Speaker 2: I would argue that makes him a bad professional wrestler.

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Speaker 1: I think that's probably fair, Okay, good, Yeah, yeah, I

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Speaker 1: think when you lose your temper enough that you have

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Speaker 1: an actual fight and destroy the ring twice. Although I

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Speaker 1: do want to see that fight, Like I bet that

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Speaker 1: was a hell of a thing to watch.

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Speaker 2: And like, gosh, whether this is an embellishment or not,

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Speaker 2: it's a really good, legitimate pro wrestling bit. It to

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Speaker 2: fight so bad that the ring breaks and then they

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Speaker 2: rebuild the ring, and.

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Speaker 3: That's excellent.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that is a good wrestling bit. So one of

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Speaker 1: the last things that Bufford and Pauline would do in

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Speaker 1: Chicago before they moved back to Adamsville was have their

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Speaker 1: first child, Dwana, On's January ninth of nineteen sixty one.

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Speaker 1: And it almost immediately after that happens they moved back

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Speaker 1: to Adamsville. And I want to quote now from an

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Speaker 1: article by the McNairy Historical Society. His dad, Carl was

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Speaker 1: chief of police in Adamsville. He was retiring and encouraged

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Speaker 1: Bufford to apply for his job. After a vote from

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Speaker 1: the city board, Buford was made chief of police. Thus

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Speaker 1: began his law enforcement career. Now that's a that seems

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Speaker 1: like it's leaving out a lot.

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Speaker 3: He was made chief of police.

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Speaker 1: He was made chief of police right and the way

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Speaker 1: Dwana describes it, they had to beg him to be

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Speaker 1: the chief of police, Like he really didn't want it

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Speaker 1: and they had to force it on him. There's a

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Speaker 1: lot that we just don't have here, the little bitty

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Speaker 1: details around the edges that get left out that I

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Speaker 1: have been able to find paint to kind of a

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Speaker 1: darker picture. So, among other things, this is back during

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Speaker 1: a time when small town law enforcement was less of

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Speaker 1: like a career track and more like a gig you

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Speaker 1: could fall into by accident, right, Like, if you're in

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Speaker 1: a county and like the sheriff is like an elected

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Speaker 1: position and you're just a popular guy, you might wind

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Speaker 1: up being the sheriff, even if like that wasn't your ambition,

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Speaker 1: you know. But also there's a lot of money being

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Speaker 1: the sheriff in a town that has organized crime in it,

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Speaker 1: And that's kind of this. I can't say this for certain,

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Speaker 1: but I really heavily suspect based on a couple of

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Speaker 1: things I've read that his dad, Carl was crooked and

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Speaker 1: wanted to pass on the job as police chief to

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Speaker 1: his son so that the money from being crooked cops

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Speaker 1: in this mafia town could continue to stay in the family. Right.

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Speaker 1: He becomes the police chief after he's horribly injured in

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Speaker 1: a car accident. There's a lot of car accidents in

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Speaker 1: this story. In a second car no no, no, this

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Speaker 1: is his dad totally separate car. So his dad becomes

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Speaker 1: the chief of police after he gets too hurt to

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Speaker 1: work in a pipeline, which is also weird, and yeah,

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Speaker 1: does the job for just a few years and then

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Speaker 1: decides he's too hurt, and he pushes for his son

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Speaker 1: to take the job. Now, given the reality of crime

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Speaker 1: at the time in McNairy County, this was not an

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Speaker 1: easy job enforcing the law near the state line, and

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Speaker 1: it was made harder by the fact that everyone whose

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Speaker 1: job was to enforce the law in the area was,

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Speaker 1: as best as I can tell, also incredibly corrupt, right, Like,

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Speaker 1: no one was really all that interested in enforcing the law,

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Speaker 1: including Buford. The McNairy County sheriff worked with the state

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Speaker 1: Line Gang to ensure that alcohol kept getting smuggled into

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Speaker 1: the county. And as soon as he became the police chief, Buford,

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Speaker 1: the way he would describe things as like he set

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Speaker 1: himself against these corrupt cops to like fight for justice

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Speaker 1: and fight against the mafia. The way I interpret it

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Speaker 1: and what I think the body of evidence suggests now

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Speaker 1: is he was just kind of trying to edge these

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Speaker 1: other law enforcement guys out of the racket, right because

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Speaker 1: they were all getting cuts and he wanted more money

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Speaker 1: for himself. Because as soon as he becomes the police chief,

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Speaker 1: he runs for constable, and he wins a narrow victory's

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Speaker 1: constable in nineteen sixty two, and after that he's going

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Speaker 1: to immediately like set his sights on becoming the sheriff. So, like,

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Speaker 1: what he's doing here is he's getting rid of the competition.

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Speaker 1: He's trying to make himself the only lawman in town,

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Speaker 1: in part because then the cut only gets split one way.

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Speaker 1: Right now, kind of laying out exactly what happened here

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Speaker 1: is hard because most of what was written during this

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Speaker 1: time period was written from the perspective that, like Buford,

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Speaker 1: Pusser was a hero who was going on a crusade

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Speaker 1: against the whiskey trade. That's how Michael Birdwell describes what

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Speaker 1: he does for the Tennessee Encyclopedia as like a crusade,

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Speaker 1: Like this was a like a almost like a holy

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Speaker 1: war that he was waging against bootleggers.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Those are always good, right.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, we love a good holy war. Yeah. No one's

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Speaker 1: ever done one of those with an ulterior motive.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Anytime someone has committed to something that they've described as

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Speaker 2: a crusade, my immediate thought was like, well, that sounds

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Speaker 2: like they're clear ride and level headed about it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it sounds like you're saying and reasonable and pursuing

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Speaker 1: this reasonably.

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Speaker 3: Now.

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Speaker 1: Again, modern evidence suggests that he was perfectly happy taking

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Speaker 1: money from bootlegging and that his issue was both specifically

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Speaker 1: with the State Lion Gang because they had beef, and

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Speaker 1: with the fact that like he wanted more of the

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Speaker 1: money that was coming in from these illegal businesses, right,

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Speaker 1: rather than he had an issue with the businesses in

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Speaker 1: the first place. So that's why he would go after people, right,

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Speaker 1: He was effectively starting to make people pay protection. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: first as the police chief and then is the sheriff.

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Speaker 1: Right now, we do know that the ever corruption between

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Speaker 1: area law enforcement and the State Line Gang is certainly

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Speaker 1: a lot broader than even just the stories Bufford would tell. Like,

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Speaker 1: there is out He's not the only guy saying that,

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Speaker 1: like the sheriff when he became police chief was crooked.

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Speaker 1: There's evidence for this outside of Beauford. The book Mississippi

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Speaker 1: Moonshine Politics is a great anecdote about Louise Hathcock that

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Speaker 1: really sells how locked down the State Line Gang had

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Speaker 1: things with the cops before Buford got into the mix.

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Speaker 3: Quote.

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Speaker 1: After one particular raid on the forty five grill, a

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Speaker 1: deputy sheriff arrived early one morning at the Halfcock home

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Speaker 1: in Corinth to arrest Luis on liquor charges. Since Louise

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Speaker 1: was still in her bathrobe, she asked the deputy to

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Speaker 1: wait well, she changed into her work clothes, fixed her hair,

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Speaker 1: and applied some makeup. Oddly, the deputy agreed. Once she

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Speaker 1: was dressed for work at the roadhouse, the deputy allowed

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Speaker 1: Luis to drive to the sheriff's office in her own vehicle.

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Speaker 1: Once Louis arrived, she quickly posted a five hundred dollars

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Speaker 1: bail and made it to work before the lunch crowd arrived.

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Speaker 1: And that's that's just you're paying a bribe on your

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Speaker 1: way to work to the cops.

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Speaker 3: Right.

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Speaker 2: I love this woman so so much.

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Speaker 1: It's a shame what happens to her, because she's very

358
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Speaker 1: speaking of things that depress me, not going to ads.

359
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Speaker 1: Every moment of my life is agony, outside of the

360
00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:16,800
Speaker 1: brief periods of time in which products and services are

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Speaker 1: being advertised. On this podcast, we're back and my long

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Speaker 1: nightmare continues.

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Speaker 3: Tragic.

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Speaker 1: So Pusser is going to run for sheriff. You know,

365
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Speaker 1: he becomes the police chief, he becomes the constable, and

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Speaker 1: the next thing he's going to do is he's going

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Speaker 1: to get that crooked McNairy County Sheriff out so that

368
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Speaker 1: he can continue his crusade against Moonshine slash take all

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Speaker 1: of the money for himself. Now, he made some interesting

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Speaker 1: decisions when he started this run, the weirdest of which

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Speaker 1: is that he chose to run as a Republican in

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Speaker 1: what was then a Democratic stronghold. This should have been

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Speaker 1: more of a problem for him, but he got lucky

374
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Speaker 1: because his rival, the incumbent Sheriff James Dickie, died in

375
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Speaker 1: a horrible car accident part way through the election, clearing

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Speaker 1: Bufford an easy path to victory. Now, man, did Bufford

377
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Speaker 1: have anything to do with that car accident?

378
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Speaker 2: And I can I just just on behalf of the

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Speaker 2: audience without any jokes or frills, just say that, yes,

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Speaker 2: you're Dicky and Pusser.

381
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Speaker 3: Dickie is the name. It was Dicky v.

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Speaker 2: Pusser, and Dickie was pulverized and cleared a path or

383
00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:29,720
Speaker 2: Pusser to snatch this victory.

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Speaker 1: All right, Yeah, that's that's the story of Dicky v. Pusser. Yeah, proceed,

385
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Speaker 1: And again we know Buford is willing to kill people

386
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Speaker 1: in stage assassinations to get what he wanted. Like this

387
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Speaker 1: is me speculating. I just wouldn't be shocked if he

388
00:19:47,680 --> 00:19:50,520
Speaker 1: had something to do with Dickie's death. That said, this

389
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Speaker 1: is like the fourth car accident that we've talked about

390
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Speaker 1: in these episodes, So you also have to acknowledge it

391
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Speaker 1: was the sixties. Everyone was drunk and nobody had c else, right,

392
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Speaker 1: So people just die in cars a lot back then.

393
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Speaker 1: So as soon as he gets elected Sheriff, Pusser began

394
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Speaker 1: an immediate spree of high profile raids against State Line

395
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Speaker 1: Gang properties. Local papers reported that he bust into gambling

396
00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:16,600
Speaker 1: dens carrying a pickaxe and use it to destroy tables

397
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Speaker 1: and roulette wheels. In his first year on the job,

398
00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:21,480
Speaker 1: he is said to have rated forty two stills and

399
00:20:21,600 --> 00:20:25,800
Speaker 1: arrested almost twice as many moonshiners. So he's going on

400
00:20:25,920 --> 00:20:28,399
Speaker 1: like a rampage here, right, Like as soon as he

401
00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:30,399
Speaker 1: gets in and he get like the news picks up

402
00:20:30,400 --> 00:20:33,280
Speaker 1: on this, like he gets famous for the way he's

403
00:20:33,280 --> 00:20:35,919
Speaker 1: doing this, because he sometimes he's calling reporters along so

404
00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:38,320
Speaker 1: they can see him busting up stuff with a pickaxe

405
00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:41,240
Speaker 1: or a stick. Now, by this point, the State Line

406
00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:44,120
Speaker 1: Gang that he's declared war against has undergone a change

407
00:20:44,119 --> 00:20:47,400
Speaker 1: of leadership. Luis had decided to end her twenty year

408
00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:50,639
Speaker 1: partnership in marriage with Jack Hathcock, because in nineteen fifty

409
00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:53,760
Speaker 1: seven she'd fallen in love with a different criminal figure,

410
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Speaker 1: a lieutenant from one of the most powerful gangs in

411
00:20:56,280 --> 00:20:58,400
Speaker 1: the area, the Dixie Mafia.

412
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Speaker 3: Now that yeah, yeah, enter John Fullcock.

413
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Speaker 1: It would be that would be pretty funny if she'd

414
00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:12,040
Speaker 1: fallen for John Folcock. No, she keeps going by Hathcock,

415
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Speaker 1: by the way, after she does what she does, which

416
00:21:13,880 --> 00:21:16,360
Speaker 1: is interesting to me, But that's the story we're telling now.

417
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Speaker 1: So the Dixie Mafia where she falls for this guy's

418
00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:21,800
Speaker 1: lieutenant there is based out of the Strip, which is

419
00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:26,040
Speaker 1: this neighborhood in Biloxie that's basically Mississippi's answer to Las Vegas.

420
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Speaker 1: Edward Humes, the author of a book called Mississippi Mud

421
00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:31,840
Speaker 1: that's on the Dixie Mafia, describes the Strip as the

422
00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:35,800
Speaker 1: cancerous heart of Biloxie, and given the rest of Biloxie,

423
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Speaker 1: that's really saying something if you've ever been to that

424
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Speaker 1: fucking town. Per his description, the Dixie Mafia was started

425
00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:45,640
Speaker 1: by a lot of guys you might call rejects from

426
00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:48,760
Speaker 1: East Coast organized crime. Like it was initially a bunch

427
00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:50,800
Speaker 1: of guys who got in too much trouble in night

428
00:21:50,920 --> 00:21:53,520
Speaker 1: like New York or Jersey and had to flee to

429
00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:55,879
Speaker 1: the middle of nowhere so they wouldn't get off. Like

430
00:21:55,960 --> 00:22:00,840
Speaker 1: that's kind of who founds the Dixie Mafia. Yeah, so

431
00:22:00,880 --> 00:22:04,359
Speaker 1: these are these are both tough guys and also maybe

432
00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:07,959
Speaker 1: not quite the top of the game, right because they

433
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Speaker 1: had to flee to Biloxi.

434
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Speaker 2: Yeah right, it's oops, Alfredo's It's not gonna get any

435
00:22:14,600 --> 00:22:16,360
Speaker 2: of the cream of the crop there.

436
00:22:16,760 --> 00:22:20,119
Speaker 1: No, no, no, these guys are like, yeah, the dudes

437
00:22:20,119 --> 00:22:23,840
Speaker 1: who My alternative to moving here was to get murdered.

438
00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:28,560
Speaker 1: So Louise Halfcock, the guy she falls for, is named

439
00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:34,960
Speaker 1: Carl White and he's nicknamed Towhead, a Tallahatchie boy. Yeah,

440
00:22:35,359 --> 00:22:36,679
Speaker 1: Carl Towhead White.

441
00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:39,800
Speaker 3: In these episodes, the names.

442
00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:41,040
Speaker 1: There's some great names.

443
00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:42,520
Speaker 3: I think you're with us.

444
00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:46,040
Speaker 4: You're just like, you're just throwing fake names just to

445
00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:46,480
Speaker 4: see if.

446
00:22:46,359 --> 00:22:49,160
Speaker 1: We catch I was I was worried when we went

447
00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:52,359
Speaker 1: from Pusser's and dickies and half cocks to a white

448
00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:55,359
Speaker 1: you know, boring name, but then nicknamed Towhead. We're back

449
00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:59,800
Speaker 1: in the game, baby, ye Yeah. Toehead was a Talahatchie

450
00:22:59,840 --> 00:23:02,040
Speaker 1: boy and gangster who had risen to the highest levels

451
00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:05,720
Speaker 1: of the Dixie mafia. And yeah, Louise falls in love

452
00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:08,000
Speaker 1: with this guy, and so she's got to split up

453
00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:10,760
Speaker 1: with Jack. Now, she does file for divorce, but that's

454
00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:13,920
Speaker 1: just step one because Jack, like everyone else in the story,

455
00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:17,359
Speaker 1: is a murderous gangster, and Louise and Carl know just

456
00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:19,960
Speaker 1: divorcing him isn't going to be quite enough, right, Like,

457
00:23:20,040 --> 00:23:22,840
Speaker 1: that's not really an option with this kind of crime.

458
00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:23,280
Speaker 3: Marriage.

459
00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:27,600
Speaker 1: Author Janis Tracy summarizes the rest of the story of

460
00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:30,359
Speaker 1: Janis and Luis read like a B movie script. Luise

461
00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:33,439
Speaker 1: divorce Jack, Towhead, and Luis conspired to murder Jack, and

462
00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:36,000
Speaker 1: Towhead shot and killed Jack in a motel room where

463
00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:38,919
Speaker 1: he was enticed by his wife. Luise convinced authority she

464
00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:41,320
Speaker 1: had shot Jack and self defense, and showed bruises to

465
00:23:41,359 --> 00:23:44,080
Speaker 1: authorities that she had allowed Towhead to inflict on her body.

466
00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:46,639
Speaker 1: Although Luis was charged with killing Jack and self defense,

467
00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:49,240
Speaker 1: it was no surprise when the charges later were dismissed.

468
00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:52,159
Speaker 1: Luis and Towhead continued their off and on relationship, at

469
00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:54,800
Speaker 1: least when Towhead was in town. The couple never married

470
00:23:54,840 --> 00:23:57,640
Speaker 1: in part because Louis saw through Towhead's often obvious attempts

471
00:23:57,640 --> 00:23:59,840
Speaker 1: to gain control of her money and her business operation.

472
00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:04,199
Speaker 1: So yeah, this is a smart, tough lay orchestrates the

473
00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:08,679
Speaker 1: murder of her husband and then keeps her boyfriend at

474
00:24:08,760 --> 00:24:10,760
Speaker 1: arm's lengths because she's like, look, man, I like you

475
00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:13,880
Speaker 1: and thanks for help with the murder, but like, you're

476
00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:17,040
Speaker 1: not gonna own my businesses, Like, that's that's my stuff,

477
00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:19,200
Speaker 1: you know, I put up with this guy for twenty years.

478
00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:20,639
Speaker 1: I'm not giving out my business.

479
00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:24,679
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's such a bummer that this was the past.

480
00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:28,320
Speaker 2: If she had waited a few more decades before being alive,

481
00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:33,040
Speaker 2: she'd have been a very powerful figure Governmentstely.

482
00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:35,000
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, yes, she could have. She might have been

483
00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:38,680
Speaker 1: able to win the presidency. Right, She's got that kind

484
00:24:38,680 --> 00:24:43,000
Speaker 1: of ruthlessness and organizational school and apparently a very good cook,

485
00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:46,320
Speaker 1: the whole package. Really, Yeah, if you don't mind getting

486
00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:50,760
Speaker 1: murdered maybe, which I've had worse things happen in relationships.

487
00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:54,679
Speaker 1: So and this is another crucial dimension to the Beeford

488
00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:57,360
Speaker 1: poster story because by the time he declares his war

489
00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:00,480
Speaker 1: on the State Line Gang, their most prominent leader is

490
00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:04,080
Speaker 1: a woman. Right, and it may just be the case

491
00:25:04,160 --> 00:25:07,040
Speaker 1: that why Buford starts going after them is less because

492
00:25:07,080 --> 00:25:10,280
Speaker 1: he hates crime and he's got this vendetta, and more

493
00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:13,399
Speaker 1: he thinks they're weak because a woman's in charge, and

494
00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:16,480
Speaker 1: he can take over control of the business, right or

495
00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:19,439
Speaker 1: at least get a better deal, you know, if somebody

496
00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:21,119
Speaker 1: else winds up in charge, or if he doesn't have

497
00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:24,359
Speaker 1: to like right, he sees weakness here. I think that's

498
00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:27,760
Speaker 1: why he does what he does, whatever the case. In

499
00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:31,920
Speaker 1: late nineteen sixty four, Luis's gang strikes back. Buford was

500
00:25:31,960 --> 00:25:35,440
Speaker 1: ambushed by an unknown number of questionably competent assassins who

501
00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:38,640
Speaker 1: stab him seven times and then leave him for dead.

502
00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:40,920
Speaker 1: They don't take any effort to confirm that he's dead.

503
00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:45,119
Speaker 1: Buford survives, and this obviously makes him famous, right like that,

504
00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:48,359
Speaker 1: There's this law man who's he's been doing all these

505
00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:51,879
Speaker 1: very showy raids, cracking down on bootleggers and you know,

506
00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:55,160
Speaker 1: organized crime in the area, and then he gets ambushed

507
00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:58,600
Speaker 1: and stabbed repeatedly and he manages to survive and continue

508
00:25:58,600 --> 00:26:01,960
Speaker 1: attacking the mob. Know he's becoming a hero. At this point.

509
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:06,159
Speaker 1: The news is covering him like that, And did this

510
00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:09,280
Speaker 1: really he was definitely stabbed a bunch of times. Was

511
00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:13,760
Speaker 1: it an assassination attempt? Or is this something because he's

512
00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:17,600
Speaker 1: later going to injure himself as part of like a

513
00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:21,439
Speaker 1: faked assassination attempt, and so it kind of this is

514
00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:24,359
Speaker 1: probably real because they definitely the State Line Gang had

515
00:26:24,359 --> 00:26:27,520
Speaker 1: a reason to But I can't not doubt it now, right,

516
00:26:28,040 --> 00:26:28,520
Speaker 1: For all.

517
00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:30,280
Speaker 2: We know, he just got tangled up with so many

518
00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:34,520
Speaker 2: fucking volleyball nets again, like, oh no, down.

519
00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:40,399
Speaker 1: Seven down. Yeah, we found him tangled, covered in blood,

520
00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:43,120
Speaker 1: tangled in seven volleyball and that's what happened, Bufort. They

521
00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:45,720
Speaker 1: tried to kill me. It was the mob again, it

522
00:26:45,800 --> 00:26:49,840
Speaker 1: was the mob. It was the State Line Mob. But

523
00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:52,040
Speaker 1: Beuford does like the thing he's best at is he's

524
00:26:52,160 --> 00:26:55,560
Speaker 1: very good at nursing this growing mythos around himself. Right,

525
00:26:55,640 --> 00:26:58,159
Speaker 1: He gives a lot of interviews. He likes talking to

526
00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:01,639
Speaker 1: the press. He's good at working the media such as

527
00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:04,560
Speaker 1: it is in his era, and he really likes the

528
00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:08,919
Speaker 1: image of himself as this badass, log wielding juggernaut of justice.

529
00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:11,920
Speaker 1: So he starts making a point that when he realizes, oh,

530
00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:13,880
Speaker 1: that's one of the things that is really playing well

531
00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:16,720
Speaker 1: with the audience. He starts carrying a hickory stick whenever

532
00:27:16,760 --> 00:27:19,879
Speaker 1: he goes to on raids to bust Moonshine stills, so

533
00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:22,520
Speaker 1: the press sees him with it, right, Even though it's

534
00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:25,360
Speaker 1: not really useful for anything, it's part of his legend

535
00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:28,959
Speaker 1: at this point. In nineteen sixty six, he launches his

536
00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:32,400
Speaker 1: most ambitious arrest yet. He takes a squad of deputies

537
00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:34,680
Speaker 1: to the Shamrock Hotel, which is the center of the

538
00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:39,120
Speaker 1: Halfcock criminal empire. The official story is that during the arrest,

539
00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:42,159
Speaker 1: Luise pulls a gun and Buford shoots her dead in

540
00:27:42,280 --> 00:27:46,439
Speaker 1: self defense. Luis's family will insist up to the present

541
00:27:46,520 --> 00:27:50,399
Speaker 1: day that she was shot in the back and thus

542
00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:55,040
Speaker 1: probably not a self defense case. He just murdered her, right, Yeah,

543
00:27:55,080 --> 00:28:01,040
Speaker 1: and again, I think that's pretty credible that said. Luis

544
00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:03,520
Speaker 1: definitely is not the kind of person who wouldn't pull

545
00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:06,120
Speaker 1: a gun on a law man, right. I just think

546
00:28:06,160 --> 00:28:08,640
Speaker 1: she was probably too smart to have tried to do that.

547
00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:10,960
Speaker 1: Then I think it's likelier that he murdered her.

548
00:28:11,880 --> 00:28:12,240
Speaker 3: Yeah.

549
00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:17,760
Speaker 2: I don't think the woman shrewd enough to keep her

550
00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:21,879
Speaker 2: financials intact, and the woman shrewd enough to like let

551
00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:24,399
Speaker 2: me get changed to put on my makeup and drive

552
00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:27,800
Speaker 2: myself to post my own bail before I go to work. Yeah,

553
00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:31,960
Speaker 2: I think she is also shrewd enough to not shoot

554
00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:35,440
Speaker 2: the famous hero cop that everyone talks about.

555
00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:37,439
Speaker 1: I think's there with all of his cops in a

556
00:28:37,520 --> 00:28:42,480
Speaker 1: daylight raid. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that's how I feel too.

557
00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:46,640
Speaker 1: And there's something very sad about within the criminal underworld.

558
00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:49,840
Speaker 1: Obviously this is like a brutal These are brutal, violent,

559
00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:54,600
Speaker 1: dangerous people. But within that world and its rules, she

560
00:28:54,840 --> 00:29:01,120
Speaker 1: is able to succeed and survive, and taking her out

561
00:29:01,280 --> 00:29:03,760
Speaker 1: requires someone the only kind of person who doesn't have

562
00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:07,400
Speaker 1: to abide by any sort of rule, which is a sheriff, right,

563
00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:10,960
Speaker 1: Like that's the reality of law enforcement then and now.

564
00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:15,160
Speaker 1: But like sheriffs have such a degree of autonomy and power.

565
00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:19,080
Speaker 1: And when Beauford says, oh, yeah, she pulled a gun

566
00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:20,720
Speaker 1: on me, so I had to shoot her, it doesn't

567
00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:22,560
Speaker 1: matter that she was shot in the back, Like no

568
00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:25,960
Speaker 1: one else's version of events is going to carry water here.

569
00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:28,479
Speaker 1: And it's just it's so unfair, Like if you were

570
00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:30,680
Speaker 1: playing by the same rule as Luis was playing, you

571
00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:32,560
Speaker 1: never would have won Buford, right.

572
00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:38,200
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, just such a coward's way to win this war, right,

573
00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:42,320
Speaker 2: and like probably set back women's rights at least in

574
00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:44,640
Speaker 2: crime a couple of decades from.

575
00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:48,080
Speaker 1: Women's crime rights. Yes, yeah, it took decades for them

576
00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:52,840
Speaker 1: to recover. Yeah, I was trying to remember a famous

577
00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:56,080
Speaker 1: lady mafioso, but actually they mostly were in Most of

578
00:29:56,080 --> 00:29:58,480
Speaker 1: the ones I know were from like the sixties seventies,

579
00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:02,440
Speaker 1: Like that lady who invented murdering people using motorcycles.

580
00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:04,640
Speaker 3: That's cool.

581
00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:07,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, we did a bTB on her at one point

582
00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:12,440
Speaker 1: she was great. So yeah, Buford's people write the official reports,

583
00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:14,320
Speaker 1: and so his version of events here is the one

584
00:30:14,320 --> 00:30:16,520
Speaker 1: that history accepted. People who are only now starting to

585
00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:20,440
Speaker 1: really like question it on a white although I should

586
00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:23,400
Speaker 1: point out the Halfcock family has four decades been saying like, no,

587
00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:26,560
Speaker 1: he totally murdered her, right, Yeah, people just didn't listen

588
00:30:26,560 --> 00:30:30,680
Speaker 1: to them because they were famous. Crisis of course. Now,

589
00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:33,000
Speaker 1: over the next couple of years, Buford expanded his war

590
00:30:33,080 --> 00:30:35,560
Speaker 1: on crime across the state line and even into territory

591
00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:38,840
Speaker 1: operated by the Dixie Mafia. His legend grew with him.

592
00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:42,000
Speaker 1: The Buford Pusser Museum lists his greatest hits and a

593
00:30:42,040 --> 00:30:45,160
Speaker 1: bulleted list that I am sure is largely inaccurate, but

594
00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:47,960
Speaker 1: it gives you an idea of how people talk about,

595
00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:50,320
Speaker 1: like the legends that's grown up about this guy. So

596
00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:54,240
Speaker 1: here's the their bulleted list of his accomplishments. Shot eight times,

597
00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:58,440
Speaker 1: knife seven times, fought off six minute once, sending three

598
00:30:58,480 --> 00:31:01,560
Speaker 1: to jail and three to the hospital, destroyed eighty seven

599
00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:05,640
Speaker 1: whiskey stills in nineteen sixty five alone, killed two people

600
00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:08,560
Speaker 1: in self defense, hopped on the hood of a speeding car,

601
00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:11,000
Speaker 1: smashed the window, and subdued the man who had tried

602
00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:11,800
Speaker 1: to run over him.

603
00:31:12,720 --> 00:31:16,160
Speaker 3: Okay, now, could be a little bit of truth in that.

604
00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:19,920
Speaker 2: I mean, it's fair to say that he killing me

605
00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:22,440
Speaker 2: to contact with a car and its window.

606
00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:28,640
Speaker 1: Right. We know that he was stabbed several times. Who

607
00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:29,480
Speaker 1: did the stabbing?

608
00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:30,320
Speaker 3: Was it him?

609
00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:33,720
Speaker 1: Was at other people? Probably a mix. He was shot

610
00:31:33,800 --> 00:31:37,560
Speaker 1: several times. At least one of those times he shot himself.

611
00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:40,400
Speaker 1: Were the other times people shooting him? Or did he like?

612
00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:44,360
Speaker 1: Who knows? He may have fought six minute once, although

613
00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:46,040
Speaker 1: I kind of doubt it, but he was a really

614
00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:46,640
Speaker 1: big guy.

615
00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:50,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it depends on the definite definition of fighting.

616
00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:54,000
Speaker 2: I would believe that he like a crowd of guys

617
00:31:54,040 --> 00:31:57,320
Speaker 2: were around him and he starts hitting, took took a

618
00:31:57,400 --> 00:31:59,600
Speaker 2: stick out and spun in a circle real fast the

619
00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:02,280
Speaker 2: way I think that's viable.

620
00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:05,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, Or he got angry and he started beating on

621
00:32:05,080 --> 00:32:06,840
Speaker 1: some guys and they were like, well, that is literally

622
00:32:06,920 --> 00:32:10,200
Speaker 1: the sheriff, So we probably can't really fight back here.

623
00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:11,680
Speaker 3: We're not allowed to kill him.

624
00:32:12,040 --> 00:32:14,600
Speaker 1: His deputies have guns pointed at us. Maybe we just

625
00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:20,560
Speaker 1: take the beating. Perhaps that's likelier. That said, no one

626
00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:23,360
Speaker 1: doubts that Buford got into a lot of gunfights and

627
00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:26,320
Speaker 1: basically every other kind of fight under the sun. The

628
00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:30,000
Speaker 1: more recent allegations do suggest that he killed more than

629
00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:33,160
Speaker 1: two people, and probably not any of them in self

630
00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:37,280
Speaker 1: defense and what we would call self defense, and modern

631
00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:40,360
Speaker 1: evidence also suggests heavily that he personally profited from his

632
00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:43,240
Speaker 1: crime busting work, and maybe what he was doing was

633
00:32:43,320 --> 00:32:46,200
Speaker 1: less a one man more on crime than demanding protection

634
00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:49,800
Speaker 1: money and busting operations who wouldn't pay him. So this

635
00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:52,880
Speaker 1: next part of the Buford posters story is by far

636
00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:56,200
Speaker 1: the most debated. First, I'm going to give you the

637
00:32:56,240 --> 00:32:59,480
Speaker 1: story that almost definitely didn't happen. But this is what

638
00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:02,240
Speaker 1: everyone believed had happened for decades. Right. This is the

639
00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:05,520
Speaker 1: story that's like the basis for the climactic events of

640
00:33:05,560 --> 00:33:09,280
Speaker 1: the movie Walking Tall. Right. Okay, And according to that story,

641
00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:13,880
Speaker 1: despite Bufford being basically an unkillable law god Toehad, White decides,

642
00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:17,000
Speaker 1: I'm gonna take this guy down from murdering my girlfriend.

643
00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:21,600
Speaker 1: Luis right, that's the story that toe Head is just

644
00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:25,840
Speaker 1: He's trying to get vengeance for his dead lover. So

645
00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:27,880
Speaker 1: White who was known to the FBI as one of

646
00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:30,640
Speaker 1: the top hoods in the Southeast, which I think just

647
00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:32,680
Speaker 1: means top gangsters and not the other thing a hood

648
00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:36,680
Speaker 1: might mean in the rural South. He was furious and

649
00:33:36,720 --> 00:33:38,840
Speaker 1: still grieving over the loss of his lover in nineteen

650
00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:42,440
Speaker 1: sixty six, and he decides to get Buford assassinated. He

651
00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:45,640
Speaker 1: has strong connections to another Dixie Mafia figure, a guy

652
00:33:45,720 --> 00:33:50,920
Speaker 1: named Kirksey mcnord nicks junior. So toe Head White again

653
00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:53,280
Speaker 1: not a normal name in this episode.

654
00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:55,880
Speaker 3: Kirksy mgnord nicks junior.

655
00:33:56,120 --> 00:34:03,280
Speaker 1: Okay, Kirksey mcnord nicks junior. Yes, Kirksey. Now, the reason

656
00:34:03,320 --> 00:34:06,600
Speaker 1: why White needs Kirksy is that White is behind bars

657
00:34:06,640 --> 00:34:08,759
Speaker 1: at this point, he's gotten locked up for one of

658
00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:12,600
Speaker 1: his many crimes. While it, Nix is free and allegedly

659
00:34:12,680 --> 00:34:14,640
Speaker 1: the center of a gang of hitman and hired muscle.

660
00:34:14,719 --> 00:34:16,319
Speaker 1: So Nix is kind of like the guy in the

661
00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:18,600
Speaker 1: Dixie Mafia that you call if you need some wet

662
00:34:18,600 --> 00:34:22,040
Speaker 1: work done, right, he'll ice a motherfucker for you. So,

663
00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:26,960
Speaker 1: from prison, Toehead is alleged to have orchestrated an assassination attempt,

664
00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:29,560
Speaker 1: using Nix to do the on the groundwork Nixon his

665
00:34:29,680 --> 00:34:33,279
Speaker 1: hired goons, So we know that Nix visits the Shamrock

666
00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:37,080
Speaker 1: Hotel the day before. On August eleventh, the day before,

667
00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:40,600
Speaker 1: Sheriff Pusser receives a phone call from an anonymous caller

668
00:34:40,600 --> 00:34:42,920
Speaker 1: who tells him there's a couple of drunks going at

669
00:34:42,920 --> 00:34:45,800
Speaker 1: it out on the edge of town. Someone's gonna get killed.

670
00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:50,120
Speaker 1: So an anonymous caller calls the station and reports these

671
00:34:50,200 --> 00:34:52,560
Speaker 1: drunk guys are like fighting and the police need to

672
00:34:52,600 --> 00:34:54,680
Speaker 1: break it up otherwise someone's going to die, right, and

673
00:34:54,680 --> 00:34:57,000
Speaker 1: they give a location to Sheriff Pusser, who promises to

674
00:34:57,080 --> 00:34:59,839
Speaker 1: drive out and take care of it in the law

675
00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:03,760
Speaker 1: established by Pusser. After this point, his wife Pauline wasn't

676
00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:07,560
Speaker 1: just a good life partner. She was also moderately involved

677
00:35:07,600 --> 00:35:10,279
Speaker 1: in his business as sheriff and regularly rode along on

678
00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:12,960
Speaker 1: calls with him. This is what he claims that she

679
00:35:13,160 --> 00:35:15,320
Speaker 1: loved to go with him as he was fighting crime.

680
00:35:15,640 --> 00:35:18,040
Speaker 1: She was as write or die, and she decides at

681
00:35:18,080 --> 00:35:19,920
Speaker 1: the last minute, as he's heading out to bust up

682
00:35:19,920 --> 00:35:22,239
Speaker 1: this fight between these drunks, to come along with him.

683
00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:24,640
Speaker 1: So the couple hits the road a little after four

684
00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:28,440
Speaker 1: am on August twelfth, nineteen sixty seven. For a summary

685
00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:31,399
Speaker 1: of what happened next from an article on al dot com,

686
00:35:31,640 --> 00:35:34,160
Speaker 1: his wife, Pauline, a thirty three year old mother of three,

687
00:35:34,160 --> 00:35:36,080
Speaker 1: insisted on going with him, and they listened to an

688
00:35:36,080 --> 00:35:38,920
Speaker 1: eight track cassette. He said, we were discussing a vacation

689
00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:40,960
Speaker 1: we were planning to take to Florida the next day.

690
00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:43,840
Speaker 1: Beauford Pusser told The Tennessee in a nineteen sixty nine

691
00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:46,520
Speaker 1: after they passed New Hope Methodist Church, he claimed a

692
00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:49,359
Speaker 1: car pulled up alongside his Plymouth and someone inside fired

693
00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:52,480
Speaker 1: a thirty caliber carbine rifle into his vehicle. I knew

694
00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:55,600
Speaker 1: Pauline was hit. Pusser told the newspaper. I cradled Pauline's

695
00:35:55,600 --> 00:35:57,839
Speaker 1: headed my lap and prayed over and over again, Oh God,

696
00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:00,319
Speaker 1: don't let her die, he told the report. Or He

697
00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:03,120
Speaker 1: never returned fire from the shotgun or handgun by his side,

698
00:36:03,120 --> 00:36:05,880
Speaker 1: and instead drove several miles, waiting until he thought he

699
00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:08,600
Speaker 1: escaped the ambushers to pull over. He then claimed the

700
00:36:08,600 --> 00:36:11,000
Speaker 1: car again pulled up to his and someone fired at

701
00:36:11,080 --> 00:36:13,760
Speaker 1: him at point blank range. I felt my face getting

702
00:36:13,760 --> 00:36:16,200
Speaker 1: torn off, my head, Pusser said. My chin was hanging

703
00:36:16,280 --> 00:36:19,799
Speaker 1: on my chest. I don't see how I lived. So

704
00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:23,879
Speaker 1: that's the story he gives. And this is the story

705
00:36:23,960 --> 00:36:28,760
Speaker 1: that makes him famous. Right now. You might have noticed

706
00:36:28,880 --> 00:36:34,240
Speaker 1: there's a couple of sketchy things there, right, Yeah. First off,

707
00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:37,680
Speaker 1: the fact that he's describing, well, we got shot first

708
00:36:37,680 --> 00:36:39,680
Speaker 1: and my wife was hit, and then I drove and

709
00:36:39,719 --> 00:36:41,960
Speaker 1: I thought I had gotten away from them, and then

710
00:36:42,080 --> 00:36:44,560
Speaker 1: later they came up and shot me. Well, what are

711
00:36:44,560 --> 00:36:48,359
Speaker 1: you establishing that my injuries and my wife's injuries didn't

712
00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:52,880
Speaker 1: happen simultaneously, right right? And that there's multiple locations involved

713
00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:53,480
Speaker 1: in the shooting.

714
00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:57,920
Speaker 2: And I get that he's a law man, but what

715
00:36:57,960 --> 00:36:59,840
Speaker 2: are you're stopping at lights? What do you mean that

716
00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:01,719
Speaker 2: caught up to you and shot you again when you

717
00:37:01,719 --> 00:37:03,480
Speaker 2: were a step and beautiful.

718
00:37:04,680 --> 00:37:05,920
Speaker 3: Bleeding to death or whatever?

719
00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:08,560
Speaker 1: Right, you didn't go straight to a hospital? Like what

720
00:37:08,680 --> 00:37:09,520
Speaker 1: was your plan there?

721
00:37:10,960 --> 00:37:11,040
Speaker 2: Now?

722
00:37:11,080 --> 00:37:13,120
Speaker 1: As far as the injuries Buford got, both he and

723
00:37:13,160 --> 00:37:15,520
Speaker 1: his wife were shot with a thirty caliber.

724
00:37:15,880 --> 00:37:16,000
Speaker 2: Uh.

725
00:37:16,120 --> 00:37:18,839
Speaker 1: I mean it's it's technically a rifle or a carbine, right,

726
00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:21,239
Speaker 1: And most of the articles will describe it as like

727
00:37:21,360 --> 00:37:25,080
Speaker 1: these is high velocity rounds. But in terms of ballistics,

728
00:37:25,520 --> 00:37:28,759
Speaker 1: a thirty caliber is not like a big bullet, right,

729
00:37:28,840 --> 00:37:32,359
Speaker 1: It's closer to like a nine millimeter handgun round than,

730
00:37:32,400 --> 00:37:35,359
Speaker 1: for example, like a five five six the round that

731
00:37:35,400 --> 00:37:38,360
Speaker 1: you is fired by an AR fifteen normally, right. And

732
00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:41,840
Speaker 1: I bring this up not for gun nerding purposes, but

733
00:37:41,920 --> 00:37:44,560
Speaker 1: because it explains how he could survive being shot in

734
00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:47,080
Speaker 1: the face, right, Because people often have that question when

735
00:37:47,080 --> 00:37:49,279
Speaker 1: they hear about this, is like, oh, well, how could

736
00:37:49,320 --> 00:37:51,200
Speaker 1: he how could he? Number one? How could he have

737
00:37:51,280 --> 00:37:53,120
Speaker 1: survived being shot in the face? And also how could

738
00:37:53,160 --> 00:37:55,239
Speaker 1: he have faked something as serious as being shot in

739
00:37:55,280 --> 00:37:58,160
Speaker 1: the face? Well, because he was shooting himself in a

740
00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:01,120
Speaker 1: place and with a bullet that was survived, right, Okay,

741
00:38:01,600 --> 00:38:03,000
Speaker 1: that's the reason I'm bringing that up.

742
00:38:03,400 --> 00:38:03,560
Speaker 3: Now.

743
00:38:03,600 --> 00:38:06,360
Speaker 1: The only parts of this initial story that have proven

744
00:38:06,480 --> 00:38:09,400
Speaker 1: accurate with time is that Pauline Poster was shot and

745
00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:14,440
Speaker 1: killed and Buford was shot but not killed, right like,

746
00:38:14,480 --> 00:38:18,240
Speaker 1: Those are the only two things that definitely happened. Everything

747
00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:20,640
Speaker 1: else about the story that Beauford told to authorities when

748
00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:22,440
Speaker 1: he was found and nursed back to health has been

749
00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:25,000
Speaker 1: shown to have been a lie. No one in law

750
00:38:25,080 --> 00:38:28,600
Speaker 1: enforcement seriously questioned the heroic sheriff's version of events. He

751
00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:31,480
Speaker 1: started to claim after he recovered that informants he had

752
00:38:31,520 --> 00:38:34,440
Speaker 1: inside the Dixie Mafia and the State Line Mob had

753
00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:37,640
Speaker 1: brought him word that Nix and White had orchestrated the shooting.

754
00:38:37,760 --> 00:38:40,279
Speaker 1: And they also these informants brought him the name of

755
00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:42,560
Speaker 1: like three other guys who had been the goons who

756
00:38:42,560 --> 00:38:45,960
Speaker 1: took part in the actual assassination attempt. Now, he never

757
00:38:46,040 --> 00:38:49,000
Speaker 1: provided any evidence of this, nor did he ever produce

758
00:38:49,040 --> 00:38:51,799
Speaker 1: an actual live informant who was willing to go on

759
00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:54,520
Speaker 1: the record. And this is the other really suspend thing

760
00:38:54,560 --> 00:38:57,360
Speaker 1: that should have been suspicious at the time. No charges

761
00:38:57,400 --> 00:39:01,040
Speaker 1: are ever filed in Pauline's murder against anyone, even though

762
00:39:01,200 --> 00:39:03,560
Speaker 1: the sheriff is saying, I have an informant telling me

763
00:39:03,560 --> 00:39:08,440
Speaker 1: it's these guys. No one ever pushes charges like nobody ever. Yeah, which,

764
00:39:08,800 --> 00:39:13,880
Speaker 1: oh that seems suspicious. You know, all of this should

765
00:39:13,880 --> 00:39:18,520
Speaker 1: have caused suspicion at the time, but it didn't, and

766
00:39:18,560 --> 00:39:22,640
Speaker 1: it didn't for a couple of interesting reasons. Now, the

767
00:39:22,680 --> 00:39:25,239
Speaker 1: reality of the story and what we're pretty sure at

768
00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:28,040
Speaker 1: this point happened, is that Buford Pusser murdered his own

769
00:39:28,080 --> 00:39:30,799
Speaker 1: wife and then covered up the murder by faking an

770
00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:34,239
Speaker 1: assassination attempt. He shot himself right after he shot and

771
00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:38,600
Speaker 1: killed his wife. Now, there were rumors that this had

772
00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:41,480
Speaker 1: happened immediately afterwards, right like that. It was kind of

773
00:39:41,520 --> 00:39:44,080
Speaker 1: I think people would whisper about in Adamsville right that, Like,

774
00:39:44,160 --> 00:39:46,439
Speaker 1: I don't know if I believe Buford's story. I don't

775
00:39:46,440 --> 00:39:48,760
Speaker 1: know if I think that like this is exactly what happened,

776
00:39:50,200 --> 00:39:52,480
Speaker 1: but it wasn't. The kind of thing like this was

777
00:39:52,520 --> 00:39:56,799
Speaker 1: always like a matter for either like local gossip or

778
00:39:56,880 --> 00:40:00,200
Speaker 1: independent investigators, And there were through the years, there's a

779
00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:02,920
Speaker 1: couple of independent investigators who got interested in the Buford

780
00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:05,960
Speaker 1: Puster myth. One of them published a book trying to

781
00:40:06,120 --> 00:40:11,160
Speaker 1: like basically arguing years before the most recent round of

782
00:40:11,160 --> 00:40:15,920
Speaker 1: investigations that Buford had probably murdered his wife. So there

783
00:40:15,960 --> 00:40:18,760
Speaker 1: were people pointing this out earlier, but it wasn't until

784
00:40:18,760 --> 00:40:21,600
Speaker 1: the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agreed to reopen the case

785
00:40:21,640 --> 00:40:26,600
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two that things started to really change publicly. Now,

786
00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:30,080
Speaker 1: the reopening of the cold case of Pauline's Puster's murder

787
00:40:30,239 --> 00:40:34,680
Speaker 1: was publicized, and once they started being articles out that like, oh,

788
00:40:34,680 --> 00:40:38,760
Speaker 1: they're looking into this famous assassination attempt. The TBI received

789
00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:41,600
Speaker 1: a tip about the murder weapon, which had been sold

790
00:40:41,719 --> 00:40:43,759
Speaker 1: years later and wound up in the hands of someone

791
00:40:43,800 --> 00:40:47,080
Speaker 1: who had tracked it back to its original owner and

792
00:40:47,160 --> 00:40:49,400
Speaker 1: was willing to give it over to the TBI. So

793
00:40:49,440 --> 00:40:51,440
Speaker 1: they look at the gun. They analyze the gun, and

794
00:40:51,440 --> 00:40:54,560
Speaker 1: they conclude, based on physical evidence from the crime scene,

795
00:40:54,680 --> 00:40:57,560
Speaker 1: that Pauline was likely shot and killed outside of the

796
00:40:57,640 --> 00:41:00,560
Speaker 1: vehicle and then placed inside after death and driven to

797
00:41:00,600 --> 00:41:04,400
Speaker 1: a second location where Pusser wounded himself and then radioed

798
00:41:04,400 --> 00:41:07,600
Speaker 1: for help. One investigator concluded, this appears to be a

799
00:41:07,600 --> 00:41:10,399
Speaker 1: domestic violence homicide rather than this notion that they were

800
00:41:10,440 --> 00:41:12,080
Speaker 1: ambushed in the middle of the night in the middle

801
00:41:12,120 --> 00:41:14,760
Speaker 1: of nowhere in nineteen sixty seven with no street lights.

802
00:41:15,200 --> 00:41:20,640
Speaker 2: I mean, this forensic evidence is incredibly helpful, and broadly speaking,

803
00:41:20,920 --> 00:41:26,440
Speaker 2: I'm pretty pro innocent until proven guilty.

804
00:41:26,440 --> 00:41:29,480
Speaker 3: If a wife dies and the town is saying.

805
00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:32,080
Speaker 5: I bet the husband did it, I don't think history

806
00:41:32,920 --> 00:41:38,640
Speaker 5: like that generally, the town being lockstep in their suspicion,

807
00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:40,160
Speaker 5: it's like, yeah, he probably did that.

808
00:41:40,200 --> 00:41:43,439
Speaker 1: Shit, I think I think old Buford killed his wife.

809
00:41:44,400 --> 00:41:46,600
Speaker 2: Buford comes home with a dead wife and a scratch

810
00:41:46,600 --> 00:41:50,200
Speaker 2: out his face, and everyone's immediately like, oh shit, finally

811
00:41:50,239 --> 00:41:50,560
Speaker 2: did it.

812
00:41:51,360 --> 00:41:53,759
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, what are you going to call out the

813
00:41:53,760 --> 00:41:56,680
Speaker 1: guy who murders people who annoy him, the man who

814
00:41:56,800 --> 00:42:00,399
Speaker 1: shot his grandpa with the twelve gage for a fun right?

815
00:42:00,600 --> 00:42:05,719
Speaker 2: Nah, the mafia killed my wife, man, Sure, Sheriff, that's crazy.

816
00:42:05,760 --> 00:42:06,799
Speaker 3: That sucks.

817
00:42:07,200 --> 00:42:10,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, that definitely sounds real. Sheriff for sure.

818
00:42:11,400 --> 00:42:13,839
Speaker 3: Also feels pretty case closed. Man, I'm not gonna ask

819
00:42:13,880 --> 00:42:14,560
Speaker 3: any questions.

820
00:42:14,840 --> 00:42:17,799
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I'm good, I'm good. Please just stay away

821
00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:21,400
Speaker 1: from my house. Look I got shot too, Nah, No, totally.

822
00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:24,200
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's crazy that you got out of that alive.

823
00:42:24,280 --> 00:42:26,040
Speaker 3: That mafia must really hate you.

824
00:42:27,000 --> 00:42:32,799
Speaker 1: Yeah. The mafia dead it, huh. So the case gets

825
00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:35,400
Speaker 1: reopened by the TBI in twenty twenty two, and then

826
00:42:35,440 --> 00:42:37,799
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four they feel like they've got enough

827
00:42:37,800 --> 00:42:41,799
Speaker 1: evidence to justify exuming Pauline and actually doing like a

828
00:42:41,840 --> 00:42:45,319
Speaker 1: second autopsy, and upon re examining her body, they find

829
00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:49,200
Speaker 1: evidence of several serious injuries consistent with domestic violence, including

830
00:42:49,239 --> 00:42:51,640
Speaker 1: a pre death nasal fracture that had been in the

831
00:42:51,680 --> 00:42:53,840
Speaker 1: process of healing when she was killed. In other words,

832
00:42:54,080 --> 00:42:57,319
Speaker 1: Buford had broken his wife's nose days before actually murdering her.

833
00:42:57,600 --> 00:43:00,600
Speaker 2: And you'll never guess, a week before the assassinate, the

834
00:43:00,760 --> 00:43:02,280
Speaker 2: mafia punched my wife.

835
00:43:02,719 --> 00:43:05,239
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's crazy, right to our house and punched us

836
00:43:05,239 --> 00:43:11,480
Speaker 1: straight in the nose. Can you believe it? Classic mafia stuff. Now,

837
00:43:11,800 --> 00:43:13,959
Speaker 1: as we've talked about, there a couple of reasons why

838
00:43:14,360 --> 00:43:18,320
Speaker 1: there's not any like serious like at the professional like

839
00:43:18,320 --> 00:43:23,120
Speaker 1: like public level, no one really questions the story at first, right, yea.

840
00:43:23,320 --> 00:43:26,760
Speaker 1: And first off, the most obvious reason is that Buford

841
00:43:26,840 --> 00:43:30,200
Speaker 1: is so grievously wounded in the attack that people just

842
00:43:30,239 --> 00:43:32,960
Speaker 1: didn't think he could have inflicted the injuries on himself

843
00:43:33,360 --> 00:43:36,600
Speaker 1: based on and this is crucial his description of the

844
00:43:36,600 --> 00:43:40,600
Speaker 1: injuries he suffered. In the book Mississippi Moonshine Politics, Jenny's

845
00:43:40,680 --> 00:43:43,080
Speaker 1: Tracy describes him as having quote the lower half of

846
00:43:43,120 --> 00:43:47,920
Speaker 1: his face virtually shot off. Now, Janie is a good writer,

847
00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:50,279
Speaker 1: and this is a good book, but she's based that

848
00:43:50,480 --> 00:43:54,000
Speaker 1: line entirely off of Buford's testimony to police, which I

849
00:43:54,080 --> 00:43:57,240
Speaker 1: quoted earlier, right where he's like, I can't believe I survived.

850
00:43:57,320 --> 00:44:00,640
Speaker 1: My jaw was basically hanging onto my chest right now.

851
00:44:01,120 --> 00:44:03,759
Speaker 1: Beauford himself relied heavily on the supposed severity of his

852
00:44:03,800 --> 00:44:06,600
Speaker 1: own injury to explain away lingering questions about what happened

853
00:44:06,600 --> 00:44:09,040
Speaker 1: that night. In a nineteen sixty nine interview, he insisted,

854
00:44:09,320 --> 00:44:11,880
Speaker 1: I loved my wife. I'd have been pretty damn stupid

855
00:44:11,880 --> 00:44:14,759
Speaker 1: to blow my own jaw off. And it's here I

856
00:44:14,800 --> 00:44:18,400
Speaker 1: will remind you. Beauford Pusser was a pro wrestler. He

857
00:44:18,440 --> 00:44:21,840
Speaker 1: had made a living pretending to suffer serious injuries and

858
00:44:21,920 --> 00:44:26,400
Speaker 1: even faking injuries for the entertainment of a crowd. District

859
00:44:26,400 --> 00:44:28,960
Speaker 1: attorney Mark Davidson, who has been intimately involved with the

860
00:44:28,960 --> 00:44:32,560
Speaker 1: reexamination of the case, told al dot Com our theory

861
00:44:32,640 --> 00:44:34,840
Speaker 1: is he put a pistol inside his cheek and pulled

862
00:44:34,840 --> 00:44:37,799
Speaker 1: the trigger and created a flesh wound. And this would

863
00:44:37,840 --> 00:44:40,080
Speaker 1: have been easy for Buford because as a result of

864
00:44:40,080 --> 00:44:42,800
Speaker 1: his wrestling career, the left side of his face was

865
00:44:42,920 --> 00:44:45,840
Speaker 1: numb because he'd gotten seriously injured a number of it

866
00:44:45,960 --> 00:44:48,040
Speaker 1: resided that of the car accidents, but he didn't have

867
00:44:48,160 --> 00:44:51,080
Speaker 1: feeling in that side of his face that he shot himself.

868
00:44:51,560 --> 00:44:53,400
Speaker 1: And this is a pro tip for all of the

869
00:44:53,480 --> 00:44:56,360
Speaker 1: listeners out there, if you ever need to fake a

870
00:44:56,400 --> 00:45:00,000
Speaker 1: grievous injury, shooting through your own cheek creates a hitten

871
00:45:00,440 --> 00:45:04,080
Speaker 1: looking wound that is unlikely to kill you or even

872
00:45:04,160 --> 00:45:07,640
Speaker 1: all that seriously injure you. Right, Like, it's not nothing,

873
00:45:07,960 --> 00:45:13,120
Speaker 1: but like, if you've gotta if you've got a fake

874
00:45:13,520 --> 00:45:17,319
Speaker 1: an assassination attempt, shoot yourself in the cheek. That's all

875
00:45:17,360 --> 00:45:19,959
Speaker 1: I'm saying. Actually, I think they're pretty It's pretty easy

876
00:45:20,000 --> 00:45:22,319
Speaker 1: to tell when you've fired the bullet from inside of

877
00:45:22,360 --> 00:45:25,200
Speaker 1: your mouth. But you know, if you if you're in

878
00:45:25,239 --> 00:45:27,719
Speaker 1: a pinch, maybe try shooting yourself in the cheek.

879
00:45:27,880 --> 00:45:31,680
Speaker 2: Or now, Evans, Evans, is it just to fake assassination attempts?

880
00:45:31,760 --> 00:45:34,439
Speaker 2: Or if I wanted to scare but not kill something,

881
00:45:34,520 --> 00:45:37,200
Speaker 2: or if your listener wanted to scare but not sure someone,

882
00:45:37,239 --> 00:45:40,200
Speaker 2: would you also recommend shooting your enemies in the cheek?

883
00:45:40,560 --> 00:45:41,320
Speaker 1: Absolutely?

884
00:45:41,400 --> 00:45:41,600
Speaker 3: You know.

885
00:45:41,640 --> 00:45:46,120
Speaker 1: That is the official stance in this podcast of iHeartRadio, uh,

886
00:45:46,160 --> 00:45:48,839
Speaker 1: and of our sponsors, all of whom are very pro

887
00:45:48,920 --> 00:46:01,719
Speaker 1: shooting people in the cheek as a bit. And we're back. Yeah. Well, Sophie,

888
00:46:02,040 --> 00:46:04,160
Speaker 1: apparently we're allowed to say whatever we want about our

889
00:46:04,200 --> 00:46:07,120
Speaker 1: sponsors because it has not been a problem for us yet.

890
00:46:07,480 --> 00:46:08,280
Speaker 3: That's awesome.

891
00:46:08,719 --> 00:46:11,360
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would think. I think, I think it's good. Yeah,

892
00:46:11,640 --> 00:46:13,440
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if my desk is made of real wood.

893
00:46:13,480 --> 00:46:14,200
Speaker 1: I guess we'll see.

894
00:46:14,440 --> 00:46:15,799
Speaker 2: I believe, I believe it is.

895
00:46:15,880 --> 00:46:16,560
Speaker 4: I ordered it.

896
00:46:17,239 --> 00:46:17,799
Speaker 1: Thank you, Sick.

897
00:46:18,440 --> 00:46:21,840
Speaker 2: I feel like I got in trouble for loudly sighing

898
00:46:21,920 --> 00:46:25,520
Speaker 2: during one of our podcast reads that I'm contractually obligated

899
00:46:25,560 --> 00:46:29,520
Speaker 2: to do and then uh, they no longer came back

900
00:46:29,560 --> 00:46:34,799
Speaker 2: to us. Whatever that fucking dog food company that made

901
00:46:34,800 --> 00:46:36,640
Speaker 2: my dog eat crickets and get diarrhea.

902
00:46:36,719 --> 00:46:38,400
Speaker 1: I think, oh, Chewi is it chewy?

903
00:46:39,200 --> 00:46:39,399
Speaker 5: No?

904
00:46:39,560 --> 00:46:41,719
Speaker 1: This was chew chew?

905
00:46:42,480 --> 00:46:42,719
Speaker 2: Alright?

906
00:46:43,440 --> 00:46:47,520
Speaker 3: Maye? I think may no, no, no, no, no, I'll think

907
00:46:47,560 --> 00:46:49,120
Speaker 3: of it. I'll think of it because I'm not allowed

908
00:46:49,160 --> 00:46:49,560
Speaker 3: to say it.

909
00:46:49,920 --> 00:46:53,080
Speaker 1: I'm gonna pull a Buford pusser, you know, mave send

910
00:46:53,160 --> 00:46:54,839
Speaker 1: us some money if you want us to cut out

911
00:46:54,880 --> 00:46:56,959
Speaker 1: this part of the show where Dan accuses your food

912
00:46:56,960 --> 00:47:00,000
Speaker 1: of giving his dog diarrhea. You know, well, we're basically

913
00:47:00,200 --> 00:47:02,680
Speaker 1: holding up for protection money Jimminy's.

914
00:47:02,840 --> 00:47:06,200
Speaker 2: It's Jimminy's dog for it's called Jimmy's.

915
00:47:06,520 --> 00:47:08,239
Speaker 3: That doesn't sound if you want this, if you.

916
00:47:08,160 --> 00:47:10,480
Speaker 1: Want this all cut out of the episode, Jimminy's, send

917
00:47:10,560 --> 00:47:12,760
Speaker 1: us some cash. You know, I can be bought.

918
00:47:13,200 --> 00:47:15,839
Speaker 2: It's easy to remember because it's it's called Jimney's because

919
00:47:15,880 --> 00:47:17,680
Speaker 2: the food is made of cricket meat.

920
00:47:17,840 --> 00:47:19,799
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's what I was gonna say. I've heard

921
00:47:19,800 --> 00:47:22,879
Speaker 1: good things about me, Yeah, no, May is good.

922
00:47:23,000 --> 00:47:24,880
Speaker 3: Jimminy's is the one I'm not allowed to say on

923
00:47:24,920 --> 00:47:26,080
Speaker 3: our podcast anymore.

924
00:47:26,400 --> 00:47:29,520
Speaker 1: Well, I will say all of them are good or bad,

925
00:47:29,640 --> 00:47:32,560
Speaker 1: depending on who pays me money. You know, that's my promise.

926
00:47:32,760 --> 00:47:35,520
Speaker 1: You know what I have to say to Jimminy's. Everybody

927
00:47:35,640 --> 00:47:36,319
Speaker 1: just like what about it?

928
00:47:36,320 --> 00:47:42,360
Speaker 4: Like a nice group sigh, just like a Jimmy's.

929
00:47:43,160 --> 00:47:49,160
Speaker 1: So, speaking of eating crickets, Beauford Poster probably not eating

930
00:47:49,200 --> 00:47:51,880
Speaker 1: crickets for a while after he shoots himself in the face,

931
00:47:51,880 --> 00:47:55,640
Speaker 1: but otherwise he's more or less okay, right, And I

932
00:47:55,640 --> 00:47:59,200
Speaker 1: think it's interesting and this is something the DA Davidson,

933
00:47:59,800 --> 00:48:01,879
Speaker 1: just attorney Mark Davidson, who's one of the guys who's

934
00:48:01,920 --> 00:48:05,320
Speaker 1: been doing this like reopen the cold case, specifically points

935
00:48:05,320 --> 00:48:07,759
Speaker 1: to his wrestling career as like, well, look, this is

936
00:48:07,800 --> 00:48:11,400
Speaker 1: a guy with experience selling a fake injury to a

937
00:48:11,440 --> 00:48:16,200
Speaker 1: crowd like this is exactly in his wheelhouse quote. It

938
00:48:16,239 --> 00:48:18,640
Speaker 1: was not the debilitating wound many seemed to believe it was.

939
00:48:18,719 --> 00:48:20,880
Speaker 1: It healed up pretty well. People say he got his

940
00:48:20,920 --> 00:48:23,440
Speaker 1: face blowed off. Nobody believes he did that to himself.

941
00:48:23,440 --> 00:48:27,200
Speaker 1: That's not accurate. So he just didn't have that serious

942
00:48:27,200 --> 00:48:29,160
Speaker 1: an injury, and he lied about it a lot. He

943
00:48:29,840 --> 00:48:32,000
Speaker 1: and the media was like, well, it looks like he

944
00:48:32,000 --> 00:48:34,840
Speaker 1: got hit in the face. Sounds serious to me, you know,

945
00:48:35,280 --> 00:48:37,520
Speaker 1: and just kind of reported what he was saying as

946
00:48:37,520 --> 00:48:40,040
Speaker 1: if it was the truth. And that's how the legend grew,

947
00:48:40,840 --> 00:48:45,359
Speaker 1: which is great. So this all brings the question, why

948
00:48:45,400 --> 00:48:50,000
Speaker 1: would Buford Pusster murder his wife? Now, yeah, right, you

949
00:48:50,040 --> 00:48:54,239
Speaker 1: do want to ask that, right, motive matters. Unfortunately, I

950
00:48:54,239 --> 00:48:57,120
Speaker 1: don't think we're ever going to get a perfect satisfying

951
00:48:57,160 --> 00:48:59,520
Speaker 1: answer because of how long ago this was and how

952
00:48:59,680 --> 00:49:03,719
Speaker 1: dead basically everyone involved was there are And you know

953
00:49:03,840 --> 00:49:07,839
Speaker 1: I talked earlier there was that that this guy Mike

954
00:49:07,960 --> 00:49:11,960
Speaker 1: Elam who was a former Benton County sheriff who started

955
00:49:11,960 --> 00:49:14,399
Speaker 1: his career in law enforcement as like a huge fan

956
00:49:14,440 --> 00:49:17,400
Speaker 1: of Buford Pusser, and then basically through trying to like

957
00:49:17,480 --> 00:49:20,239
Speaker 1: recreate the crime scene, like traveling to where the crimes

958
00:49:20,239 --> 00:49:23,319
Speaker 1: that he started to notice inconsistencies with Buford's story and

959
00:49:23,360 --> 00:49:25,480
Speaker 1: what had happened. And he's he's one of these guys.

960
00:49:25,520 --> 00:49:27,719
Speaker 1: He writes a book about it. He self publishes a

961
00:49:27,719 --> 00:49:29,319
Speaker 1: book in like two thousand and four about it. So

962
00:49:29,360 --> 00:49:32,600
Speaker 1: he's one of the early guys trying to make noise

963
00:49:32,680 --> 00:49:34,759
Speaker 1: about how what a froud this dude was.

964
00:49:35,200 --> 00:49:38,240
Speaker 3: Yeah, and puss Truther, an early.

965
00:49:38,080 --> 00:49:42,160
Speaker 1: Pusser Truther, right, Yeah, Yeah, he's I'm trying to find

966
00:49:42,160 --> 00:49:44,160
Speaker 1: a way to bring Dickie back into it, but it

967
00:49:44,200 --> 00:49:48,160
Speaker 1: didn't work. But yeah, he's a he's a Pusser Truther.

968
00:49:48,400 --> 00:49:52,520
Speaker 1: And uh, based on his research, one possibility as to

969
00:49:52,560 --> 00:49:55,400
Speaker 1: why Pusser had his wife murdered. Is that he was

970
00:49:55,440 --> 00:49:57,920
Speaker 1: just a garden of a variety abusive spouse, right and

971
00:49:58,040 --> 00:50:01,439
Speaker 1: maybe and also he's a giant, so he's huge and

972
00:50:01,640 --> 00:50:04,840
Speaker 1: very strong, and he gets drunk one night and he

973
00:50:04,920 --> 00:50:08,240
Speaker 1: kills his wife by accident, or he kills his wife

974
00:50:08,239 --> 00:50:10,720
Speaker 1: in a moment of passion and then has to fake

975
00:50:10,760 --> 00:50:12,880
Speaker 1: the assassination attempt, right, like it's a thing he has

976
00:50:12,920 --> 00:50:17,120
Speaker 1: to come up with, kind of suddenly, that's possible, Elam.

977
00:50:17,719 --> 00:50:21,800
Speaker 1: Elam's personal theory is that Buford was actually involved himself

978
00:50:21,840 --> 00:50:24,920
Speaker 1: in the illegal moonshine trade, and as I've mused earlier

979
00:50:24,920 --> 00:50:27,680
Speaker 1: in these episodes, was probably taking cuts of a number

980
00:50:27,680 --> 00:50:30,560
Speaker 1: of different illegal businesses going on in the county. And

981
00:50:30,600 --> 00:50:33,640
Speaker 1: Elam thinks Buford had Pauline murdered because she knew what

982
00:50:33,719 --> 00:50:36,279
Speaker 1: he was up to, and maybe they had a fight

983
00:50:36,360 --> 00:50:39,600
Speaker 1: and she threatened to tell everyone, right, Like, it's kind

984
00:50:39,640 --> 00:50:44,000
Speaker 1: of unclear, or maybe she wasn't initially aware and became

985
00:50:44,080 --> 00:50:45,680
Speaker 1: aware and then he had to do it. We don't

986
00:50:45,680 --> 00:50:48,800
Speaker 1: really know. Per an article in the Nashew, tennesseean quote,

987
00:50:49,040 --> 00:50:51,560
Speaker 1: Elam says he believes Bufford Pusser killed her to prevent

988
00:50:51,560 --> 00:50:52,960
Speaker 1: her from speaking to authorities.

989
00:50:53,400 --> 00:50:53,720
Speaker 3: Quote.

990
00:50:53,719 --> 00:50:56,160
Speaker 1: If he Buford Pusser took someone's life to keep his secret,

991
00:50:56,200 --> 00:50:58,800
Speaker 1: what kind of hero was he? Elam said, And I

992
00:50:58,880 --> 00:51:01,279
Speaker 1: think the answer is not a hero at all, but

993
00:51:01,360 --> 00:51:05,799
Speaker 1: maybe a generational talent itself. Branding. He's very good at that.

994
00:51:06,640 --> 00:51:11,000
Speaker 1: And probably what happens is this, he has to come

995
00:51:11,080 --> 00:51:14,360
Speaker 1: up with this fake assassination attempt kind of quickly because

996
00:51:14,480 --> 00:51:18,200
Speaker 1: he's killed his wife. But once people buy that, he

997
00:51:18,280 --> 00:51:21,480
Speaker 1: has to lean into this larger than life hero figure,

998
00:51:21,520 --> 00:51:24,719
Speaker 1: and he just keeps kind of upping the ante on

999
00:51:24,800 --> 00:51:28,960
Speaker 1: the stories he's telling because, in part, continuing to get

1000
00:51:29,000 --> 00:51:31,279
Speaker 1: away with it means continuing to sell people on the

1001
00:51:31,280 --> 00:51:34,200
Speaker 1: belief that he is the guy he's claiming to be right,

1002
00:51:34,280 --> 00:51:37,440
Speaker 1: this larger than life hero who's survived all these impossible

1003
00:51:37,440 --> 00:51:40,719
Speaker 1: brushes with death. And if he makes this calculation right,

1004
00:51:40,880 --> 00:51:43,319
Speaker 1: it pays off perfectly. And the wake of the murder,

1005
00:51:43,320 --> 00:51:46,280
Speaker 1: Buford Pusser's story spread across the country about as fast

1006
00:51:46,280 --> 00:51:48,600
Speaker 1: as a story could spread in those pre internet days.

1007
00:51:48,960 --> 00:51:52,280
Speaker 1: Countless news articles celebrated the sheriff as the ideal lawman,

1008
00:51:52,440 --> 00:51:54,480
Speaker 1: tough as nails and willing to fight crime even if

1009
00:51:54,480 --> 00:51:56,200
Speaker 1: he had, even if he had to break the rules

1010
00:51:56,239 --> 00:51:58,880
Speaker 1: to do it. Beauford was smart enough to know that

1011
00:51:58,920 --> 00:52:00,799
Speaker 1: he had to sell what he does by acting as

1012
00:52:00,800 --> 00:52:03,800
Speaker 1: a greeting husband, and so he vowed public vengeance against

1013
00:52:03,840 --> 00:52:07,040
Speaker 1: the men he had accused of the assassination attempt. Carl

1014
00:52:07,120 --> 00:52:09,680
Speaker 1: tow Head White was shot dead the next year, and

1015
00:52:09,800 --> 00:52:12,080
Speaker 1: rumor had it that Pusser had hired an assassin to

1016
00:52:12,080 --> 00:52:14,960
Speaker 1: do the job. Two other men he accused of partaking

1017
00:52:15,000 --> 00:52:18,160
Speaker 1: in the murder, George McGann and Gary McDaniel, were shot

1018
00:52:18,239 --> 00:52:21,680
Speaker 1: dead in Texas the next year. Nix goes to prison

1019
00:52:21,880 --> 00:52:24,279
Speaker 1: at this point, so he doesn't get assassinated. But the

1020
00:52:24,520 --> 00:52:27,480
Speaker 1: fact that these three guys who he has publicly named

1021
00:52:27,520 --> 00:52:31,560
Speaker 1: but not charged with any crime, die in very quick succession,

1022
00:52:32,160 --> 00:52:36,400
Speaker 1: a lot of people suspect maybe he orchestrated these deaths. Right, Yeah,

1023
00:52:36,400 --> 00:52:39,560
Speaker 1: maybe he had these guys killed. And it's it's a

1024
00:52:39,600 --> 00:52:44,240
Speaker 1: sign of like where things are culturally and how much rope,

1025
00:52:45,000 --> 00:52:47,719
Speaker 1: how much slack we're willing to give cops in this

1026
00:52:47,880 --> 00:52:52,040
Speaker 1: country that the average assumption of like a normal person

1027
00:52:52,239 --> 00:52:55,800
Speaker 1: in Tennessee is like, well, he definitely had three guys murdered,

1028
00:52:56,440 --> 00:52:59,080
Speaker 1: But it's fine, they killed his wife, so like, I

1029
00:52:59,160 --> 00:53:02,120
Speaker 1: get it. You know, that's cool. You know, sometimes you

1030
00:53:02,200 --> 00:53:04,359
Speaker 1: got to break the law to uphold the law. Why

1031
00:53:04,360 --> 00:53:07,520
Speaker 1: couldn't he have these guys arrested. I don't know, but

1032
00:53:07,880 --> 00:53:08,440
Speaker 1: it's fine.

1033
00:53:09,160 --> 00:53:14,200
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's actually a surprising to me if he's going

1034
00:53:14,280 --> 00:53:19,680
Speaker 2: to if we're okay with him bending the law, which

1035
00:53:19,719 --> 00:53:22,600
Speaker 2: it seems like we are, I don't know why he

1036
00:53:22,640 --> 00:53:24,960
Speaker 2: would hire an assassin and why he wouldn't kill those

1037
00:53:25,000 --> 00:53:27,040
Speaker 2: guys himself. Like, if people are going, we don't know,

1038
00:53:27,480 --> 00:53:29,400
Speaker 2: accept the fact that he hired assassines.

1039
00:53:29,520 --> 00:53:32,560
Speaker 3: Yeah, and he's gonna steer.

1040
00:53:32,280 --> 00:53:37,200
Speaker 2: Into this image of the reckless above the law man.

1041
00:53:37,680 --> 00:53:39,839
Speaker 2: I don't know why it's against the rules for him

1042
00:53:39,880 --> 00:53:43,240
Speaker 2: to like kill kill them himself, no head white himself.

1043
00:53:43,360 --> 00:53:46,360
Speaker 3: I don't know. I may not not to give him ideas.

1044
00:53:46,719 --> 00:53:50,080
Speaker 1: Yeah, but that is that is like, and it's did

1045
00:53:50,080 --> 00:53:52,480
Speaker 1: he have something? Did he kill some of these guys himself?

1046
00:53:52,760 --> 00:53:55,160
Speaker 1: Did he hire people to like? We don't really And

1047
00:53:55,280 --> 00:53:59,319
Speaker 1: it's also possible, I think unlikely but not impossible, just

1048
00:53:59,320 --> 00:54:02,480
Speaker 1: given these guys are all criminals who are in a

1049
00:54:02,560 --> 00:54:05,359
Speaker 1: violent business. Maybe they just happened to most to three

1050
00:54:05,360 --> 00:54:07,840
Speaker 1: of them died in a year or so after this crime.

1051
00:54:08,200 --> 00:54:10,520
Speaker 1: Not the most shocking thing in the world, right.

1052
00:54:10,719 --> 00:54:13,080
Speaker 2: The only stable things that I feel like we can

1053
00:54:13,160 --> 00:54:18,640
Speaker 2: say is that he did him that sick child proof

1054
00:54:18,880 --> 00:54:22,279
Speaker 2: teddy bear, and he definitely killed his wife. Those are

1055
00:54:22,280 --> 00:54:23,880
Speaker 2: the ones that I feel most comfortable.

1056
00:54:24,880 --> 00:54:29,799
Speaker 1: Yeah. So I've quoted several times from the book Mississippi

1057
00:54:29,840 --> 00:54:32,760
Speaker 1: Moonshine Politics by Janis Tracy because it's a good book

1058
00:54:32,760 --> 00:54:35,359
Speaker 1: in general about a lot of characters at the edge

1059
00:54:35,400 --> 00:54:39,239
Speaker 1: of this story. But Tracy bought into Buford's lie, and

1060
00:54:39,400 --> 00:54:41,480
Speaker 1: I think that it's useful. The way she did is

1061
00:54:41,560 --> 00:54:45,320
Speaker 1: useful because it does kind of explain how people thought,

1062
00:54:45,560 --> 00:54:49,880
Speaker 1: like why people bought into this at the time. And

1063
00:54:49,920 --> 00:54:52,640
Speaker 1: this is how Janis explains why none of the people

1064
00:54:52,640 --> 00:54:55,480
Speaker 1: that he charged, that he named as having tried to

1065
00:54:55,560 --> 00:54:58,200
Speaker 1: kill him and killing his wife actually got charged with crimes.

1066
00:54:58,280 --> 00:55:02,280
Speaker 1: Quote this suited Pusser. However, he preferred a more personal revenge.

1067
00:55:02,760 --> 00:55:05,279
Speaker 1: And that is like the official story that people buy

1068
00:55:05,360 --> 00:55:07,479
Speaker 1: is that like, yeah, he didn't have him charged because

1069
00:55:07,480 --> 00:55:09,759
Speaker 1: he wanted to have a murdered personally, Like he wanted

1070
00:55:09,800 --> 00:55:12,319
Speaker 1: to do this personally, And we're okay with that. Out

1071
00:55:12,320 --> 00:55:14,520
Speaker 1: of our lawmen and tennessee this is fine.

1072
00:55:14,600 --> 00:55:16,200
Speaker 3: We like that. We like that.

1073
00:55:16,239 --> 00:55:20,040
Speaker 1: In America, this guy's a hero. And that's the most

1074
00:55:20,080 --> 00:55:22,800
Speaker 1: interesting thing about the story to me. There was always

1075
00:55:22,880 --> 00:55:26,000
Speaker 1: evidence that Buford was suss and a fraud, but Americans

1076
00:55:26,040 --> 00:55:28,560
Speaker 1: in and outside of law enforcement were happy to ignore

1077
00:55:28,560 --> 00:55:31,560
Speaker 1: it because the story version of buford poster was so

1078
00:55:31,880 --> 00:55:34,440
Speaker 1: good and it matched exactly with the kind of tale

1079
00:55:34,680 --> 00:55:37,120
Speaker 1: that Hollywood had primed audiences to expect.

1080
00:55:37,680 --> 00:55:37,919
Speaker 3: Yeah.

1081
00:55:37,920 --> 00:55:41,040
Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy one, W. R. Morris wrote a book

1082
00:55:41,040 --> 00:55:44,000
Speaker 1: about Buford titled The twelfth of August, which is the

1083
00:55:44,120 --> 00:55:46,520
Speaker 1: day that he and his wife were targeted by that

1084
00:55:46,600 --> 00:55:49,920
Speaker 1: quote unquote assassination attempt. This is the book that was

1085
00:55:50,000 --> 00:55:53,640
Speaker 1: ultimately adapted into nineteen seventy three's Walking Tall, which became

1086
00:55:53,680 --> 00:55:55,920
Speaker 1: a surprise hit and rocketed Buford to the level of

1087
00:55:55,960 --> 00:55:58,879
Speaker 1: a national celebrity. The studio sent him on a tour

1088
00:55:58,960 --> 00:56:01,480
Speaker 1: around the country and Europe to do promotional work for

1089
00:56:01,520 --> 00:56:04,920
Speaker 1: the film. He starts making celebrity friends. He's publicly buddies

1090
00:56:04,920 --> 00:56:09,120
Speaker 1: with Johnny Cash. There's a fucking uh, what's his name,

1091
00:56:09,520 --> 00:56:13,879
Speaker 1: the Margheritaville guy. Uh. Jimmy Buffett writes a song about

1092
00:56:13,920 --> 00:56:16,960
Speaker 1: him and has a story about Buford like basically assaulting

1093
00:56:17,040 --> 00:56:21,359
Speaker 1: him and his friends. So he gets famous, and in

1094
00:56:21,360 --> 00:56:24,799
Speaker 1: fact he becomes such a public figure in his own

1095
00:56:24,880 --> 00:56:28,400
Speaker 1: right that after the smash surprise success of the movie

1096
00:56:28,440 --> 00:56:32,759
Speaker 1: Walking Tall, the production company Bing Crosby Productions, decides to

1097
00:56:32,800 --> 00:56:36,400
Speaker 1: make a sequel and they ask Buford to play himself.

1098
00:56:36,600 --> 00:56:38,680
Speaker 1: They're trying to do an Audie Murphy with him, right,

1099
00:56:39,080 --> 00:56:41,440
Speaker 1: and the new movie would just be titled Buford and

1100
00:56:41,480 --> 00:56:44,279
Speaker 1: would be based entirely, presumably on his exploits as a

1101
00:56:44,320 --> 00:56:47,040
Speaker 1: grief stricken sheriff out to murder the criminals who killed

1102
00:56:47,040 --> 00:56:50,640
Speaker 1: his wife. It's a shame we never got to see

1103
00:56:50,680 --> 00:56:53,719
Speaker 1: this movie because I am really curious what direction would

1104
00:56:53,760 --> 00:56:56,440
Speaker 1: they have gone vis a vis all of the murders,

1105
00:56:56,719 --> 00:57:02,000
Speaker 1: you know. Right as his fame sets off, Bufford's takes

1106
00:57:02,120 --> 00:57:05,280
Speaker 1: questions from fans, including one who asked him how people

1107
00:57:05,320 --> 00:57:08,280
Speaker 1: in his home county treated him after he became famous.

1108
00:57:08,600 --> 00:57:10,680
Speaker 1: And the answer he gave to the newspaper in this

1109
00:57:10,719 --> 00:57:12,520
Speaker 1: when he's doing this Q and a is really interesting

1110
00:57:12,520 --> 00:57:14,839
Speaker 1: to me. I'd say about eighty percent of the people

1111
00:57:14,840 --> 00:57:16,760
Speaker 1: in McNairy County are proud of me at least they

1112
00:57:16,840 --> 00:57:19,040
Speaker 1: say they are. But there's a handful that never liked

1113
00:57:19,040 --> 00:57:21,200
Speaker 1: me and still don't. They resisted every step of my

1114
00:57:21,320 --> 00:57:23,480
Speaker 1: campaign to clean up the corruption, and they have nothing

1115
00:57:23,520 --> 00:57:25,520
Speaker 1: good to say about me. Now, it's not that these

1116
00:57:25,520 --> 00:57:27,800
Speaker 1: people like crooks, it's that I think they consider me

1117
00:57:27,880 --> 00:57:30,080
Speaker 1: too big for my breeches. There's one man in the

1118
00:57:30,080 --> 00:57:32,880
Speaker 1: county I won't mention names who's always bad mouth in me.

1119
00:57:33,160 --> 00:57:34,720
Speaker 1: One of the reasons for that, I think is because

1120
00:57:34,720 --> 00:57:36,440
Speaker 1: when I was sheriff, I was always after him for

1121
00:57:36,520 --> 00:57:39,160
Speaker 1: passing bad checks. But that's life. No matter what you do,

1122
00:57:39,240 --> 00:57:40,800
Speaker 1: you can never make friends with everybody.

1123
00:57:41,200 --> 00:57:43,880
Speaker 2: Man, that guy's fucking dead.

1124
00:57:45,880 --> 00:57:50,520
Speaker 1: Beat him to death with a stick. Now it's hard

1125
00:57:50,520 --> 00:57:53,440
Speaker 1: for me to say how much of McNairy County thought

1126
00:57:53,480 --> 00:57:55,640
Speaker 1: this guy was legitimately a hero and how many people

1127
00:57:55,640 --> 00:57:57,840
Speaker 1: were aware like, nah, there's something fucked up at the

1128
00:57:57,840 --> 00:58:00,320
Speaker 1: center of that story. I did find an art article

1129
00:58:00,360 --> 00:58:03,960
Speaker 1: in al dot Com that notes quote Davidson said during

1130
00:58:03,960 --> 00:58:06,600
Speaker 1: the investigation he often heard from those who believed Pusser

1131
00:58:06,680 --> 00:58:08,960
Speaker 1: murdered Pauline and wanted him to tell the truth. In

1132
00:58:09,040 --> 00:58:12,800
Speaker 1: McNairy County, especially, everybody knew that's what happened. Nobody ever

1133
00:58:12,840 --> 00:58:15,160
Speaker 1: believed the Walking Tall story. They knew he was a

1134
00:58:15,200 --> 00:58:19,320
Speaker 1: bad guy, and you know, Davidson's the DA who's digging

1135
00:58:19,400 --> 00:58:21,720
Speaker 1: up and reopening the case. I don't know if that's

1136
00:58:21,800 --> 00:58:24,200
Speaker 1: totally accurate or totally accurate to how people would have

1137
00:58:24,200 --> 00:58:27,840
Speaker 1: felt back in the seventies, but will I have founded

1138
00:58:27,920 --> 00:58:31,160
Speaker 1: a couple of other quotes to that extent that basically like, yeah,

1139
00:58:31,200 --> 00:58:35,080
Speaker 1: in his hometown, people kind of knew, but also he's

1140
00:58:35,160 --> 00:58:37,920
Speaker 1: kind of the biggest thing that ever happened in this county, right,

1141
00:58:38,040 --> 00:58:40,960
Speaker 1: So at the same time, you have to embrace it

1142
00:58:41,000 --> 00:58:43,040
Speaker 1: because you don't have there's not any other reason people

1143
00:58:43,040 --> 00:58:46,040
Speaker 1: are heading to mcnery for tourism, right, which is why

1144
00:58:46,040 --> 00:58:49,320
Speaker 1: the water tower in Adamsville has a silhouette of Buford

1145
00:58:49,360 --> 00:58:52,120
Speaker 1: with his trademark big stick. There's a museum for him,

1146
00:58:52,360 --> 00:58:54,400
Speaker 1: and of course the town Historical Society of the county

1147
00:58:54,440 --> 00:58:58,640
Speaker 1: Historical Society's largely dedicated to him, right, Like it's Walking

1148
00:58:58,720 --> 00:59:01,360
Speaker 1: Tall and Walking Tall related tourism are still kind of

1149
00:59:01,360 --> 00:59:03,120
Speaker 1: two of the bigger things in that county.

1150
00:59:03,800 --> 00:59:06,439
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course, yeah, I mean yeah, people will add

1151
00:59:06,480 --> 00:59:08,919
Speaker 2: twenty miles onto a road trip to see a giant chair.

1152
00:59:09,040 --> 00:59:11,200
Speaker 2: Just to imagine what we'll do for a big, fucking

1153
00:59:11,280 --> 00:59:12,320
Speaker 2: massive mountain.

1154
00:59:13,040 --> 00:59:15,600
Speaker 1: People with a stick in this county, Let's go see

1155
00:59:15,640 --> 00:59:19,800
Speaker 1: the water tower. Right, Beuford spent the rest of his

1156
00:59:19,880 --> 00:59:21,920
Speaker 1: life dining out on the lie that he told to

1157
00:59:21,920 --> 00:59:24,200
Speaker 1: cover up for murdering his wife. He spent his last

1158
00:59:24,320 --> 00:59:26,680
Speaker 1: year's jet setting around the world and making a lot

1159
00:59:26,680 --> 00:59:29,200
Speaker 1: of money. When he died, he was worth an estimated

1160
00:59:29,200 --> 00:59:32,440
Speaker 1: one million dollars, which is a lot more money back then,

1161
00:59:32,640 --> 00:59:35,320
Speaker 1: and more money than a guy who was briefly sheriff

1162
00:59:35,400 --> 00:59:41,680
Speaker 1: for six years would have accumulated. Honestly. Right, He did

1163
00:59:41,720 --> 00:59:45,360
Speaker 1: fail to win reelection in nineteen seventy, which is interesting

1164
00:59:45,400 --> 00:59:47,240
Speaker 1: to me, so that is kind of more evidence for

1165
00:59:47,320 --> 00:59:49,919
Speaker 1: thee Local people knew this guy was full of shit,

1166
00:59:50,320 --> 00:59:52,720
Speaker 1: but that was before Walking Tall came out. So who

1167
00:59:52,760 --> 00:59:54,960
Speaker 1: knows how his law enforcement career would have gone if

1168
00:59:54,960 --> 00:59:57,920
Speaker 1: he'd tried to run for election after becoming a celebrity.

1169
00:59:58,680 --> 01:00:00,840
Speaker 1: Had he lived longer, he also might have slipped up

1170
01:00:00,960 --> 01:00:02,600
Speaker 1: or behaved in such a way as to draw more

1171
01:00:02,640 --> 01:00:05,480
Speaker 1: attention back to that alleged assassination attempt. I have trouble

1172
01:00:05,480 --> 01:00:08,640
Speaker 1: imagining this guy living a lot longer and not killing

1173
01:00:08,680 --> 01:00:12,240
Speaker 1: someone else, but he doesn't get the chance at the

1174
01:00:12,240 --> 01:00:14,720
Speaker 1: height of his fame. Right after siin a in agreement

1175
01:00:14,760 --> 01:00:17,160
Speaker 1: to play himself. In the sequel to Walking Tall, he's

1176
01:00:17,240 --> 01:00:20,440
Speaker 1: driving back from Memphis to Adamsville and he crashes his

1177
01:00:20,480 --> 01:00:25,000
Speaker 1: sports car and dies on August twenty first, nineteen seventy four.

1178
01:00:25,120 --> 01:00:27,800
Speaker 1: He's in his like mid thirties, and that's the Buford

1179
01:00:27,840 --> 01:00:28,880
Speaker 1: Pusser story.

1180
01:00:29,480 --> 01:00:31,680
Speaker 3: Man crashing his sports car.

1181
01:00:32,080 --> 01:00:38,080
Speaker 2: What a wo awesome way for murderer to die.

1182
01:00:38,600 --> 01:00:41,520
Speaker 1: It is very appropriate for this guy, being the kind

1183
01:00:41,560 --> 01:00:43,800
Speaker 1: of dude he is. That's like, yeap sports car crash

1184
01:00:43,880 --> 01:00:46,240
Speaker 1: right at the end. Yeah, that's that's how this story ends.

1185
01:00:46,320 --> 01:00:51,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's so lame. The fucking fake grieving sheriff who's

1186
01:00:51,840 --> 01:00:53,959
Speaker 2: on his way to Hollywood and buys a sports car

1187
01:00:54,080 --> 01:00:55,960
Speaker 2: and then he dies and the entire town is.

1188
01:00:55,920 --> 01:00:59,920
Speaker 1: Like, honestly, dodge there, that's the best.

1189
01:01:00,720 --> 01:01:01,560
Speaker 2: What about cool?

1190
01:01:01,600 --> 01:01:03,520
Speaker 4: If he got killed by a big stick?

1191
01:01:04,160 --> 01:01:06,160
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, impaled by a stick?

1192
01:01:06,280 --> 01:01:08,880
Speaker 1: I mean maybe he did. Maybe he crashed into a tree, Sophie,

1193
01:01:08,920 --> 01:01:12,480
Speaker 1: that's my head. Cannon impaled by a stick after crashing

1194
01:01:12,480 --> 01:01:13,919
Speaker 1: his car into a tree.

1195
01:01:14,880 --> 01:01:18,120
Speaker 2: Or like the the cane of that sickly bear all

1196
01:01:18,160 --> 01:01:18,600
Speaker 2: grown up.

1197
01:01:19,000 --> 01:01:22,800
Speaker 3: M just glad that this guy's dead.

1198
01:01:23,000 --> 01:01:26,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, Yeah. That's the good part is he does die,

1199
01:01:26,240 --> 01:01:28,120
Speaker 1: and he does die very early.

1200
01:01:28,560 --> 01:01:28,840
Speaker 3: Right.

1201
01:01:29,280 --> 01:01:31,120
Speaker 2: There are a couple of things that are I mean,

1202
01:01:31,560 --> 01:01:34,560
Speaker 2: there's a lot of tragedy in this story. The fact

1203
01:01:34,600 --> 01:01:38,160
Speaker 2: that he for sure murdered his wife enough that like

1204
01:01:38,280 --> 01:01:43,080
Speaker 2: everyone was talking about it, and his daughter still becomes

1205
01:01:43,080 --> 01:01:44,320
Speaker 2: his biggest evangelist.

1206
01:01:44,640 --> 01:01:47,280
Speaker 3: That's an added layer of tragedy. Yeah.

1207
01:01:47,320 --> 01:01:50,520
Speaker 2: Like like when I in the beginning in the first episode,

1208
01:01:50,520 --> 01:01:56,400
Speaker 2: when I kind of understood her hero worship, because you

1209
01:01:57,200 --> 01:02:01,640
Speaker 2: if you have the opportunity to write Dad's story and

1210
01:02:01,720 --> 01:02:04,160
Speaker 2: you want to embellish a bit and like take all

1211
01:02:04,200 --> 01:02:07,960
Speaker 2: of his tall tales as gospel, there's something endearing about that.

1212
01:02:08,320 --> 01:02:12,600
Speaker 3: But she must have also known the many.

1213
01:02:12,680 --> 01:02:15,320
Speaker 2: Rumors in the open secret that he for sure murdered

1214
01:02:15,440 --> 01:02:20,040
Speaker 2: her mother, yeah, and decided to ignore that or not

1215
01:02:20,120 --> 01:02:20,720
Speaker 2: buy into it.

1216
01:02:20,760 --> 01:02:23,160
Speaker 3: And that's like there's I.

1217
01:02:23,120 --> 01:02:26,479
Speaker 2: Don't know, maybe that's stockholm or brainwashing or whatever else,

1218
01:02:26,520 --> 01:02:29,280
Speaker 2: but that like that makes it much less endearing and

1219
01:02:29,360 --> 01:02:33,880
Speaker 2: charming and more tragic for her in my mind.

1220
01:02:34,080 --> 01:02:36,400
Speaker 1: I would agree. And there's also I mean, there's also

1221
01:02:36,480 --> 01:02:41,240
Speaker 1: the darker question of like I mean or was this

1222
01:02:41,320 --> 01:02:43,760
Speaker 1: an act for her too, and was she just like, look,

1223
01:02:43,800 --> 01:02:46,600
Speaker 1: there's a lot of money in being Buford Puster's family.

1224
01:02:46,640 --> 01:02:50,320
Speaker 1: That walking tall money keeps coming in. You know, I

1225
01:02:50,320 --> 01:02:52,280
Speaker 1: don't know. I think that's probably less likely than just

1226
01:02:52,400 --> 01:02:54,680
Speaker 1: this is a daughter who hero worshiped her dad who

1227
01:02:54,720 --> 01:03:00,480
Speaker 1: died very early. But yeah, it is it. It did

1228
01:03:00,520 --> 01:03:02,880
Speaker 1: give me a lot of fun detail on growing up

1229
01:03:02,920 --> 01:03:05,440
Speaker 1: in the fifties, which sounded like a fucking nightmare.

1230
01:03:06,000 --> 01:03:08,840
Speaker 3: So easy to do crime, but so easy.

1231
01:03:08,840 --> 01:03:10,280
Speaker 1: So much more dangerous.

1232
01:03:10,400 --> 01:03:12,520
Speaker 4: Yeah, especially if you were a cop.

1233
01:03:13,120 --> 01:03:14,320
Speaker 1: Especially if you were a cop.

1234
01:03:14,440 --> 01:03:16,760
Speaker 2: So, oh my god, if you want to do crime

1235
01:03:16,880 --> 01:03:19,280
Speaker 2: then and now, Yeah, cop is the way to.

1236
01:03:19,200 --> 01:03:22,000
Speaker 1: Being a cop. Number one. You can get away with

1237
01:03:22,120 --> 01:03:25,400
Speaker 1: prank shooting your grandpa with a shotgun if you're a cop, apparently,

1238
01:03:26,240 --> 01:03:27,080
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's great.

1239
01:03:27,240 --> 01:03:31,240
Speaker 2: It's great training for for for really pranking your wife

1240
01:03:31,280 --> 01:03:32,280
Speaker 2: somewhere down the line.

1241
01:03:32,360 --> 01:03:34,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh he sure got Pauline.

1242
01:03:34,120 --> 01:03:34,400
Speaker 3: Good.

1243
01:03:34,640 --> 01:03:38,200
Speaker 1: She didn't see that coming at all. Prank the whole town.

1244
01:03:38,800 --> 01:03:42,520
Speaker 1: Classic Buford Pusser prank, murdering his wife and staging it

1245
01:03:42,560 --> 01:03:46,400
Speaker 1: as an assassination attempt by the mob, like That's the

1246
01:03:46,440 --> 01:03:48,200
Speaker 1: funny thing. I came in here with a lot more

1247
01:03:48,200 --> 01:03:51,600
Speaker 1: detail on these different like organized criminal groups, and then

1248
01:03:51,720 --> 01:03:53,600
Speaker 1: as I the more researcher did them, more was like, Oh,

1249
01:03:53,640 --> 01:03:58,320
Speaker 1: these guys barely did anything to it. Like maybe they

1250
01:03:58,440 --> 01:04:00,920
Speaker 1: had him stabbed, maybe he got some fights, but he

1251
01:04:00,960 --> 01:04:03,640
Speaker 1: could have faked a lot more of that, Like, yeah.

1252
01:04:03,640 --> 01:04:08,080
Speaker 2: This mafia was running four successful businesses and maybe were

1253
01:04:08,080 --> 01:04:10,920
Speaker 2: cutting corners. Well, they had to pay off the cops.

1254
01:04:11,480 --> 01:04:14,400
Speaker 2: They needed to cover all those financial losses.

1255
01:04:15,360 --> 01:04:19,720
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I don't know. There's a fun quote from

1256
01:04:19,720 --> 01:04:21,920
Speaker 1: the DA that Davidson that I've quoted from a few

1257
01:04:21,920 --> 01:04:24,280
Speaker 1: times where he's like, I don't know, we probably won't

1258
01:04:24,320 --> 01:04:28,680
Speaker 1: reinvestigate every shooting he was involved in, but you could

1259
01:04:29,440 --> 01:04:30,640
Speaker 1: like maybe we should.

1260
01:04:32,360 --> 01:04:35,400
Speaker 2: We're not going to reopen it because like at this point, Yeah,

1261
01:04:35,440 --> 01:04:37,160
Speaker 2: what do you think, what's it gonna be?

1262
01:04:37,400 --> 01:04:37,600
Speaker 3: Yeah?

1263
01:04:37,640 --> 01:04:39,760
Speaker 1: What are we gonna get out of reopening it? Like

1264
01:04:39,840 --> 01:04:43,760
Speaker 1: clearing the name of Louise Halfcock, the gangster who also

1265
01:04:43,840 --> 01:04:49,479
Speaker 1: murdered people. I don't know, Dan got anything to plug

1266
01:04:49,520 --> 01:04:51,360
Speaker 1: here at the end of the episode, how are you feeling?

1267
01:04:52,080 --> 01:04:52,800
Speaker 3: I feel good.

1268
01:04:53,120 --> 01:04:58,320
Speaker 2: I liked the story, so it's uh, you know, murderers.

1269
01:04:58,400 --> 01:05:03,880
Speaker 2: Bad hold for applause, But I like those bastards more

1270
01:05:04,080 --> 01:05:13,000
Speaker 2: than like endangering children bastards and like creating systemic wrongs

1271
01:05:13,000 --> 01:05:18,120
Speaker 2: that still plague our society today. So I appreciate that

1272
01:05:18,160 --> 01:05:20,280
Speaker 2: it was like kind of a standalone bastard.

1273
01:05:20,440 --> 01:05:21,360
Speaker 3: That's pretty fun.

1274
01:05:21,840 --> 01:05:27,120
Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks, thanks for giving me that. Otherwise pluggables, I

1275
01:05:27,200 --> 01:05:29,080
Speaker 2: ride for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. You could

1276
01:05:29,080 --> 01:05:32,360
Speaker 2: find that on HBO Max The One to Watch, or

1277
01:05:32,400 --> 01:05:33,120
Speaker 2: on YouTube.

1278
01:05:33,200 --> 01:05:35,800
Speaker 3: We release our episodes there. Podcast that I do is

1279
01:05:35,880 --> 01:05:36,440
Speaker 3: Quick Question.

1280
01:05:37,240 --> 01:05:40,320
Speaker 2: We answer rider questions and talk about bullshit, and you

1281
01:05:40,320 --> 01:05:42,520
Speaker 2: can find me on Blue Sky.

1282
01:05:44,040 --> 01:05:47,760
Speaker 3: It's probably Daniel O'Brien on Blue Sky. I'm not really sure. Yeah,

1283
01:05:48,280 --> 01:05:52,040
Speaker 3: I hate to ask you to google it, but give up.

1284
01:05:52,960 --> 01:05:57,840
Speaker 1: But yeah, well everybody, this has been behind the bastards.

1285
01:05:57,880 --> 01:06:00,840
Speaker 1: Please check out Dance podcast, Quick Question and Last Week

1286
01:06:00,880 --> 01:06:05,080
Speaker 1: Tonight and more than anything, you know, go shoot your

1287
01:06:05,080 --> 01:06:07,680
Speaker 1: grandfather with a shotgun if he's in the app Okay, no,

1288
01:06:07,960 --> 01:06:10,880
Speaker 1: we don't. We shouldn't do that. Can't do that. Don't

1289
01:06:10,920 --> 01:06:11,680
Speaker 1: shoot anybody.

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Speaker 4: To take advice from Robert Evans.

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Speaker 1: Don't do pranks? Can we Maybe we could just come

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Speaker 1: down on that bad idea ranks, prank's bad, and this

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Speaker 1: is like really funny.

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Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, yeah obviously.

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Speaker 4: Behind the Bastards is a production of cool Zone Media.

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Speaker 4: For more from cool Zone Media, visit our website cool

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Speaker 4: Zonemedia dot com or check us out on the iHeartRadio app,

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Speaker 4: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Behind the

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Speaker 4: Bastards is now available on YouTube, new episodes every Wednesday

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Speaker 4: and Friday. Subscribe to our channel YouTube dot com slash

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Speaker 4: at Behind the Bastards