The Dixie Mafia & the Vincent & Margaret Sherry Murders: Power, Prison Scams, and Murder on the Mississippi Gulf Coast

On September 14, 1987, Circuit Court Judge Vincent Sherry and his wife, Biloxi city councilwoman Margaret Sherry, were found murdered inside their home on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.At first, the case seemed to point in several directions: local politics, city corruption, organized crime, revenge, or someone from Judge Sherry’s legal past. Margaret had been an outspoken critic of corruption in Biloxi and had told people she was working to expose what was happening inside the city. Vincent, meanwhile, had once practiced criminal defense law and had crossed paths with people connected to the Gulf Coast underworld.But as investigators dug deeper, the case moved away from the obvious and into something stranger: a lonely-hearts scam being run from inside Angola Prison, money moving through a Biloxi law office, and a loose network of criminals often associated with what became known as the Dixie Mafia.In this episode of The Southern Blueprint Podcast, we look at the murders of Vincent and Margaret Sherry, the rise of Kirksey McCord Nix’s prison-based scam operation, the role of Pete Halat, LaRa Sharpe, Mike Gillich, John Ransom, Thomas Leslie Holcomb, and the years-long fight by the Sherry family to uncover the truth.This episode also explores what the Dixie Mafia actually was — not a traditional Mafia family with a formal hierarchy, but a loose Southern criminal network built on favors, fear, corruption, money, silence, and violence.For background and reference, this episode draws in part from Mississippi Mud: Southern Justice and the Dixie Mafia by Edward Humes, along with court records, reporting, and public case summaries.To support the show and for additional episode material, photos, notes, and deeper dives, join The Hidden Pine Lodge, our Patreon community.