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Last Gangster in Austin : Frank Smith, Ronnie Earle, and the End of a Junkyard Mafia / Jesse Sublett.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Austin : University of Texas Press, [2022]Copyright date: 2021Description: 1 online resource (224 p.) : 14 b&w photosContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9781477323991
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 976.431063
LOC classification:
  • F394.A953 S83 2022
  • F394
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources:
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Author’s Note: A Deep Dive -- Introduction: Junkyard Owner Shotguns Robber: Was It a Setup? 6 -- Baptist Preacher’s Son -- The Eagle Scout -- Texas Package -- The Big Hassle -- Best Job He Ever Had -- The Two Franks -- This Is War -- He Can Always Go Step on Bugs -- A Is for Arson -- The Robbery -- Power -- Star Time -- The Trial -- Aftermath -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Photo Credits -- Index
Summary: Ronnie Earle was a Texas legend. During his three decades as the district attorney responsible for Austin and surrounding Travis County, he prosecuted corrupt corporate executives and state officials, including the notorious US congressman Tom DeLay. But Earle maintained that the biggest case of his career was the one involving Frank Hughey Smith, the ex-convict millionaire, alleged criminal mastermind, and Dixie Mafia figure. With the help of corrupt local authorities, Smith spent the 1970s building a criminal empire in auto salvage and bail bonds. But there was one problem: a rival in the salvage business threatened his dominance. Smith hired arsonists to destroy the rival; when they botched the job, he sent three gunmen, but the robbery they planned was a bloody fiasco. Investigators were convinced that Smith was guilty, but many were skeptical that the newly elected and inexperienced Earle could get a conviction. Amid the courtroom drama and underworld plots the book describes, Willie Nelson makes a cameo. So do the private eyes, hired guns, and madams who kept Austin not only weird but also riddled with vice. An extraordinary true story, Last Gangster in Austin paints an unusual picture of the Texas capital as a place that was wild, wonderful, and as crooked as the dirt road to paradise.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9781477323991

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Author’s Note: A Deep Dive -- Introduction: Junkyard Owner Shotguns Robber: Was It a Setup? 6 -- Baptist Preacher’s Son -- The Eagle Scout -- Texas Package -- The Big Hassle -- Best Job He Ever Had -- The Two Franks -- This Is War -- He Can Always Go Step on Bugs -- A Is for Arson -- The Robbery -- Power -- Star Time -- The Trial -- Aftermath -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Photo Credits -- Index

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Ronnie Earle was a Texas legend. During his three decades as the district attorney responsible for Austin and surrounding Travis County, he prosecuted corrupt corporate executives and state officials, including the notorious US congressman Tom DeLay. But Earle maintained that the biggest case of his career was the one involving Frank Hughey Smith, the ex-convict millionaire, alleged criminal mastermind, and Dixie Mafia figure. With the help of corrupt local authorities, Smith spent the 1970s building a criminal empire in auto salvage and bail bonds. But there was one problem: a rival in the salvage business threatened his dominance. Smith hired arsonists to destroy the rival; when they botched the job, he sent three gunmen, but the robbery they planned was a bloody fiasco. Investigators were convinced that Smith was guilty, but many were skeptical that the newly elected and inexperienced Earle could get a conviction. Amid the courtroom drama and underworld plots the book describes, Willie Nelson makes a cameo. So do the private eyes, hired guns, and madams who kept Austin not only weird but also riddled with vice. An extraordinary true story, Last Gangster in Austin paints an unusual picture of the Texas capital as a place that was wild, wonderful, and as crooked as the dirt road to paradise.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 26. Aug 2024)