In the summer of 1987, Johnny Boone set out to grow and
harvest one of the greatest outdoor marijuana crops in modern times. In doing
so, he set into motion a series of events that defined him and his associates
as the largest homegrown marijuana syndicate in American history, also known as
the Cornbread Mafia.



Author James Higdon-whose relationship with Johnny Boone,
currently a federal fugitive, made him the first journalist subpoenaed under
the Obama administration-takes listeners back to the 1970s and '80s and the
clash between federal and local law enforcement and a band of Kentucky farmers
with moonshine and pride in their bloodlines. By 1989 the task force assigned
to take down men like Johnny Boone had arrested sixty-nine men and one woman from
busts on twenty-nine farms in ten states, and seized two hundred tons of pot.
Of the seventy individuals arrested, zero talked. How it all went down is a
tale of Mafia-style storylines emanating from the Bluegrass State, and
populated by Vietnam veterans and weed-loving characters caught up in
Tarantino-level violence and heart-breaking altruism.



Accompanied by a backdrop of rock-and-roll and
rhythm-and-blues, this work of dogged investigative journalism and history is
told by Higdon in action-packed, colorful and riveting detail.