The movie Walking Tall tells the Hollywood version of the real-life story of Sheriff Buford Pusser’s war with the Dixie Mafia. A two-hour film cannot possibly explain the entire story, nor can it relate the stories of all the secondary characters. Unfortunately, the story of murder, betrayal, and cover-ups didn’t end with the death of Sheriff Pusser. I will try to relate this massive tale to you, but it may take more than one post.
This blog post is a part of a series of stories about the Dixie Mafia. Make sure to subscribe to Synova’s True Crime Newsletter so you don’t miss out on any of the stories.
1967:
The Dixie Mafia was known as the State Line Mob and was led by Carl Douglas “Towhead” White. White was in prison when his lover, Louise Hathcock, pulled a gun on Sherriff Pusser and was killed. Upon hearing the news, White called his friend Kirksey Nix, Jr and ordered the hit on Sherriff Pusser and his wife, Pauline.
August 12, 1967:
Sherriff Pusser received a disturbance call in the wee hours before dawn. Pauline Pusser decided to ride along with her husband as she had done on many occasions. The pair drove out to New Hope Road to check it out. The disturbance was a ruse to ambush the young sheriff and his wife.
Pusser passed the New Hope Methodist church looking for the reported disturbance but continued driving when he found the place quiet. A black Cadillac pulled out from behind the church and followed the sheriff with its lights off. As the two cars reached a narrow bridge, the Cadillac flashed on its headlights and came racing up beside the officer’s car.
The Cadillac’s passenger opened fire, hitting Pauline in the head. The sheriff ducked and stepped on the gas. The engine roared to life, and the car lurched ahead of the assassins. He sped up the road a couple of miles until he was sure he had lost his tail, and then pulled over to check on Pauline. Moments later, the assassins again found their mark, and gunshots rang out, hitting Sherriff Pusser in the face and jaw blowing it apart. Somehow the sheriff would survive the attack, but Pauline was killed.
At first, Pusser declared he knew who was responsible and named Towhead White, George McGann, Gary McDaniel, and Kirksey Nix. After 18 days in the hospital and a dozen surgeries to repair his face, Pusser declared he couldn’t tell who had shot him.
Was it the trauma that caused his amnesia, or was the hard-nosed police officer going to exact his revenge?
Time would witness the deaths of three of the conspirators, but Kirksey Nix would remain on the loose. Legends would be told about the great Buford Pusser, but the story didn’t end with his death in a 1974 car wreck. Kirksey Nix continued and became the head of the Dixie Mafia. By 1987, Nix would be embroiled in another major hit.
Here is where the side stories start creeping into this case. The Dixie Mafia and the State Line Mob were prevalent in the area due to the payoffs of local officials and the coverups by local police departments. This corruption allowed the mob to rule without much interference. Although a few shady officers corrupted the police departments, other lawmen were threatened into silence. At this point in the story, I would like to interject one officer named Lieutenant Dan Anderson of the Harrison County Sherriff’s Department.
Six weeks after the ambush of Sheriff Pusser on New Hope Rd, Lt. Dan Anderson’s son, Ronnie Anderson, was shot and killed. The case was immediately ruled as a suicide despite massive evidence to the contrary.
What happened to this 17-yr-old polio victim in leg braces?
What kind of threat could he have been?
I will dive deeper into the case of Ronald Anderson next week and follow up with the murder of his father, Dan. Along the way, we will highlight the nationally publicized case of the slaying of Judge Sherry and his wife. All these bizarre murders are tied together with a delicate string. That string is the Dixie Mafia. Find out more next week when this cold case story continues.
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How sad that now 54 years later the real truth is surfacing. my little crippled brother was no match for these gutless thugs, and neither was my poor old 80 yr. old dad. Dad’s love for gambling got them both murdered and all Kirksey Nix had to say to me when I wrote him begging him, to tell the truth, was ” Even if he knew- He would not tell” That was the code he lives by. Hell has a special place for him.
How sad that now 54 years later the real truth is surfacing. my little crippled brother was no match for these gutless thugs, and neither was my poor old 80 yr. old dad. Dad’s love for gambling got them both murdered and all Kirksey Nix had to say to me when I wrote him begging him, to tell the truth, was ” Even if he knew- He would not tell” That was the code he lives by. Hell has a special place for him.
I was stationed in TN during this time period and this is the way it was!
I was stationed in TN during this time period and this is the way it was!
The three you made as responsible for the murder of Pauline Pusser is inaccurate. Pusser was never able to identify Nix, in person, in OK in 1968. The three you named were not in TN at the time of the ambush. FBI files back this up. Checkout a book authored by Robert Broughton, Ghost Tales of the State Line. Not wanting to argue but I have researched Pusser for over 30 years, Broughton and several of us have spent countless hours researching this. The books authored by WR Morris are very inaccurate, bordering on out right lies. Morris had an agenda.
Hold on. That’s just the public story. There’s much more to come to this
The three you made as responsible for the murder of Pauline Pusser is inaccurate. Pusser was never able to identify Nix, in person, in OK in 1968. The three you named were not in TN at the time of the ambush. FBI files back this up. Checkout a book authored by Robert Broughton, Ghost Tales of the State Line. Not wanting to argue but I have researched Pusser for over 30 years, Broughton and several of us have spent countless hours researching this. The books authored by WR Morris are very inaccurate, bordering on out right lies. Morris had an agenda.
Hold on. That’s just the public story. There’s much more to come to this
amazing story and awful how the system and society can be manipulated thru corruption, greed and fear.
great job
NWMTCNW.
amazing story and awful how the system and society can be manipulated thru corruption, greed and fear.
great job
NWMTCNW.