What is the Cornbread Mafia?
A cannabis breeder in Colorado has created a strain of marijuana called Cornbread. In 2018, Bickett and Boone, a CBD company based in Marion County became the first CBD company to produce hemp to make CBD products grown by original members of the Cornbread Mafia.
How many members of the Cornbread Mafia have been arrested?
By the end of 1991, prosecutors had arrested more than 100 members of the Cornbread Mafia, mostly from Lebanon, Kentucky. According to Joe Keith Bickett's second book, Bobby Joe "Redeye" Shewmaker,the leader of the Kansas crew, was the only defendant in the group's history to be indicted on a CCE charge (Career Criminal Enterprise).
Was Obama’s clemency order related to the Cornbread Mafia?
President Barack Obama granted clemency to three men from Marion County, Kentucky; all were either directly or indirectly connected to the Cornbread Mafia.
What happened to Joe Bickett from Cornbread Mafia?
This code of silence persisted until Higdon published his book, The Cornbread Mafia, in 2012. Joe Keith Bickett was released from prison in 2011 after serving approximately 21 years of his 25 year sentence.
Is the cornbread mafia real?
The "Cornbread mafia" was the name for a group of Kentucky men who created the largest domestic marijuana production operation in United States history. It was based in Marion, Nelson and Washington counties in central Kentucky.
Who was the leader of the Cornbread Mafia?
Johnny BooneJohnny Boone, leader of 'Cornbread Mafia,' released from federal prison.
Where is Johnny Boone now?
LouisvilleJohn Robert “Johnny” Boone is now in a halfway house in Louisville after being released from Elkton Federal Correctional Institution in Lisbon, Ohio. The elderly Boone's release was spurred by at least 520 inmates at the facility testing positive for COVID-19, WAVE3.com reports.
Who started the Cornbread Mafia?
John Robert BooneThe farm was home to John Robert Boone, a legendary figure both in rural Kentucky and in the wider world of drug smuggling. Known as the “Godfather of Grass,” Boone was a leader in the 1980s of the “Cornbread Mafia,” a rural Kentucky-based drug organization that grew marijuana on 29 large illicit farms in 10 states.
Who is John Boone?
John Robert Boone (commonly known as Johnny Boone) is an American farmer, who was a former leader of the Cornbread Mafia in the 1980s, one of the largest domestic marijuana syndicates in American history. He has been referred to as the "Godfather of Grass".
Did Daniel Boone fight in the Revolutionary War?
Boone served as a militia officer during the Revolutionary War (1775–1783), which, in Kentucky, was fought primarily between American settlers and British-allied American Indians.
Origin of the name
Higdon's book reports that assistant US Attorney Cleve Gambill said at the June 1989 press conference: "The organization is a highly motivated, well financed group of marijuana growers from Kentucky who are responsible for growing this vast amount of marijuana [and who] call themselves the Cornbread Mafia.".
Allegations
Between 1985 and 1989, 70 Kentuckians were accused of growing 182 tons of marijuana on 29 farms in 10 states, including Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas, which federal prosecutors considered to be the "largest domestic marijuana producing organization in the nation." By the end of 1991, prosecutors had arrested more than 100 members of the Cornbread Mafia, mostly from Lebanon, Kentucky..
Johnny Boone
The most notable member of the Cornbread Mafia was Johnny Boone, arrested in 1987 as the ringleader of a marijuana operation in Minnesota, for which he served about 15 years in prison.
Obama Clemency
President Barack Obama granted clemency to three men from Marion County, Kentucky; all were either directly or indirectly connected to the Cornbread Mafia.
Cornbread Mafia in media and popular culture
For much of the 1980s, the Cornbread Mafia was reported upon by photojournalist Steve Lowery of the Lebanon Enterprise, many of whose photographs are in Higdon's book.
Legal Cannabis
A cannabis breeder in Colorado has created a strain of marijuana called Cornbread.
