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Full Description
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.
Contents
Author's Note. A Deep Dive
Introduction. Junkyard Owner Shotguns Robber: Was It a Setup?
Chapter 1. Baptist Preacher's Son
Chapter 2. The Eagle Scout
Chapter 3. Texas Package
Chapter 4. The Big Hassle
Chapter 5. Best Job He Ever Had
Chapter 6. The Two Franks
Chapter 7. This Is War
Chapter 8. He Can Always Go Step on Bugs
Chapter 9. A Is for Arson
Chapter 10: The Robbery
Chapter 11: Power
Chapter 12. Star Time
Chapter 13. The Trial
Chapter 14. Aftermath
Acknowledgments
Notes
Photo Credits
Index
