Sunshine State Mafia

Inside accounts and little known stories of criminal networksin Florida’s past

A vivid, wildride through a century of Mafia lore, this book tells stories of organizedcrime rings that have settled in Florida and made the state their base ofoperations for bootlegging, gambling, extortion, money laundering, and drugrunning. Sunshine State Mafia divulges the hidden history of the mobfrom the Keys to Pensacola and Jacksonville.

            Featuring Al Capone and crime ringsin Miami and South Florida, the Trafficante family in Tampa, Harlan Blackburnand his gambling empire in Orlando, and many more individuals both infamous andlittle known, this book explains how and why mob bosses from northern statescame to Florida in the early 1900s—they saw the state as a respite from coldweather and a good place to evade law enforcement. The cast of characters inthese stories includes cops, sheriffs, prosecutors, judges, and politicians whotook bribes or even conspired with criminals.

DougKelly offers never-before-told information from newly released files,interviews with retired police and FBI agents, and his own career as a securityconsultant during the Cocaine Cowboys era. Kelly’s line of work involvedbrushes with criminal elements and notorious characters, which he recountshere. He also defines roles within Mafia families, discusses how changes in policinghave impacted the patterns of criminal organizations, and talks about what distinguishesthe Mafia from other groups.