Mike Gillich has died. Here’s the story in the Sun Herald.
Gillich operated strip joints on the Gulf Coast, and was deeply connected to the Dixie Mafia. He was convicted in the effort to hire a hit on circuit judge Vincent Sherry, and later became a government witness in convicted Biloxi mayor Pete Halat of being involved in the effort to hire a hit on Halat’s own law partner.
The story, an amazing one, is partly told in the book Mississippi Mud, worth checking out (iI say “partly told” because the book was written after the conviction in the first wave of trials that convicted Gillich and people centrally involved in the plot, but before convicting Halat. It’s still an amazing true-crime book).
The central figure in the plot, Kirsey Nix, was a prisoner at Angola (the Louisiana state penitentiary), who was planning to get out by bribing Edwin Edwards to obtain a pardon. He was accumulating the bribery money by running a “lonely hearts” scam in gay-oriented magazines, in which his co-conspirators would write letters posing as possible romantic interests and tease, wheedle, and blackmail money out of correspondents (without ever showing up in person). The scam was being run by a “paralegal” in Halat and Sherry’s law firm. At some point after Sherry became a judge, Nix asked Halat about the money–which should have been in the six figures at that point–and, apparently, Halat said Sherry had taken it. Nix decided to hire a hit on Judge Sherry.
This whole story– about Nix in particular– is an astonishing one. According to Mississippi Mud, Nix was the only Dixie Mafia member involved in the hit on Buford Pusser who did not die an untimely death (Pusser survived the attempted hit. His wife did not).
And Peter Halat is about a year away from release from federal prison. A sobering thought ….
How did people like Robert Khayat and Mike Moore manage to remain unaffected by this unsavory group?
How did people like Robert Khayat and Mike Moore manage to remain unaffected by this unsavory group?
Answer: Same way I and most others did: we used good judgment and made better choices than did the Gillichs, Nixs, Pussers, Halats.
And they weren’t “unsavory.” They were lethal.
The Dream Room, while not very well-written in my opinion, was written after the whole story came out. More details there, especially about how Gillich got his start, etc.
Ben – what can you tell us about Khayat’s father and his criminal activity on the coast?
Khayat’s father was not involved in “criminal activity” on the Coast. As I understand it, he was one of hundreds of supervisors who were ensnared either as part of Operation Pretense or its aftermath. He apparently fell prey to the call of easy money, as too many of our officials were doing back then (and maybe now). I don’t know all the details, but he was a good friend of my grandfather, who felt that after all was said and done he was the victim of Mike Moore digging up something so he could make a name for himself.
Of course, my grandfather was biased in the matter, but the general feeling was that Eddie Khayat could have run for office and gotten elected, but his plea agreement wouldn’t allow it. Or so I understand.
I’m not defending wrongdoing, just saying don’t make it out that he was some part of a crime syndicate.
This thread bothers me a bit, Refuge. I don’t want to ask you what Robert Khayat or Mike Moore did that has you comparing them to the Dixie Mafia crimes like the Sherry murders, because I don’t want to invite… libel… in comments on my blog, so I guess I’ll leave it at this:
ColRebSez notes Eddie Khayat was caught up in Operation Pretense (I honestly don’t recall). I’ll just state my own opinion that it uncovered widespread and genuine corruption in how county governments were spending money. It was real. But there was a difference in kind between that and the Dixie Mafia crimes that included a hit man on Judge Sherry.
Eddie Khayat was a rascal, but lightlyears away from the people involved in the Sherry murders.
Was Eddie Robert’s father?
Yes. Robert inherited his personality from Eddie.
It’s best not to try to pile on Robert Khayat or otherwise besmirch his father’s name. The current AG merely sniffs at the type of county government misdeeds for which Mike Moore prosecuted EK. EK was prosecuted in part for the county spending money to construct a road around the local mall, which happened to be on private property. Where was the atty for the BOS? I don’t know but goodness EK paid a heavy price for MM’s prosecution.
NMC – You asked, “I don’t want to ask you what Robert Khayat or Mike Moore did that has you comparing them to the Dixie Mafia” in response to me saying, “How did people like Robert Khayat and Mike Moore manage to remain unaffected by this unsavory group?”
I don’t think I quite follow you. If I was unclear, I asked how they came out differently… not the same. That’s a contrast not a comparison.
I have your answer Refugee—Moore and Khayat remained unaffected by this unsavory group the same way your mother did. They didn’t whore themselves out to the Appalachian states mafia….
The Dixie Mafia’s origins were in the Appalachian states. The group operated in many large Southern cities and some of the group’s criminal activities were in more obscure parts of their major areas of operation, making the group and their activities harder to pinpoint.[4][6]
The Dixie Mafia committed most of their crimes in areas that lacked strong, coordinated law enforcement, particularly in small communities throughout the South. In doing so, murders, intimidation, or other criminal activities could take place with less risk of local law enforcement being able to directly link the crimes to the organization.[original research?] Small town and county law enforcement agencies, especially in poorer sections of the South up to the 1990s, were usually inadequately equipped, and rarely had officers with extensive experience in the investigation of homicide or organized crime.[citation needed]
The members of the Dixie Mafia usually created small, seemingly legitimate, businesses such as buying and selling junk or antiques. These businesses would provide fronts for the operators to buy and sell stolen items provided by others within the network. The businesses would usually operate until they aroused suspicion, then move to another location.[citation needed]
Refugee:
What makes you think I can tell you anything about Eddie Khayat? I never lived on the Coast. I never kept up with people or events down there. I haven’t been to the Mississippi Coast since … well, since helping with Katrina relief and cleanups, and those were not social calls.
And the federal government’s sting operations against Mississippi supervisors … CRS mentioned it, above … all that occurred 15-20 years after Eddie Khayat left office. CRS can accuse Eddie Khayat and anyone else he chooses of being lured by easy money, but none of that had anything to do with Supervisor Khayat. Nothing at all. So clip those crossed wires out of your memory banks. CRS may feel the need to twist a blade in Robert Khayat’s ribs, but he should take a higher road than libeling Robert’s father.
Now I’ve heard it said that Eddie Khayat was a Jackson County supervisor. I’ve heard it said that he got crosswise … I know not the details … with Congressman Bill Colmer, who was first elected to Congress in 1932 on the coattails of the New Deal. I think I’ve heard it said … but this is only a guess—don’t quote me or hold me to it … that Eddie Khayat might have considered running, or may have been talked up for running, either against Colmer for his Congressional seat or for the vacant seat when Colmer decided to run no more. But like Rick Blaine, I may be misinformed.
Anyhow … Eddie Khayat’s crossing swords with Bill Colmer led to the Nixon administration’s sicking the IRS on Eddie Khayat. That’s no exaggeration. That’s no hyperbole. That’s no bullshit. And it sure ain’t no coincidence. Call me a Hopeless Romantic, but I’m thinking Fred Malek … Mitt Romney’s Fred Malek … mighta been real helpful in getting the IRS into Eddie Khayat’s knickers. Funny how some names from the Nixon era just keep popping back up these days. Well … actually … not funny at all. Scary. Real scary. Those sumbitches still believe they have a Biblical mission to avenge the defenestration of Richard Nixon.
Hmm. That’s probably the first time in my life I’ve seen the Bible and Richard Nixon mentioned in the same sentence … and it’s my sentence, to boot. Gotta talk to the doc about my medications.
Like supervisors and ward healers everywhere in American government, Eddie Khayat knew whom to reach out and touch when someone was in need:
• Your house burns down, Eddie Khayat’s the first person there to help you out, to give you a little walking around money until things get better.
• Your high school baseball team qualifies for a post-season tournament but doesn’t have the funds for travel … Mr. Eddie lines up some school buses and people to drive them and a few bucks for the kids’ meals and lodging and uniform cleanings.
• Team wins a tournament or state championship or something big like that … Mr. Eddie gets constituents to donate a few bucks for a nice trophy with the kids’ names engraved on it real pretty … the kids get to put it in the high school trophy case and come back 50 years later and read their teammates names and read their own names and show their wives and remember their youth and remember that old man who cared enough about them to get them a trophy.
• You know a kid or two whose family can’t come up with a few bucks for the kid’s high school class ring … Mr. Eddie causes an extra ring or two or three or six to appear in the shipment that arrives one Spring day in the high school’s front office.
• And so much much more.
But the IRS calls those kindsa eleemosynary activities “unreported income” and brings a case against Mr. Eddie.
Cut to a flashback: Colmer was a typical southern racist and windbag. He breathed the clean, pure air of the New Deal and sucked up the favors of FDR, but when World War II ended and the winds shifted and racial equality became a national movement in the 1950s and 60s, Colmer joined the other southern racists in forming the Massive Resistance campaigns.
Like all the other southern fools of the period, Colmer sucked up to the GOP (but of course … where else would one look for Congressional fools?), endorsed and supported Nixon in 1960 and subsequent years, and of course AUH2O in 1964. My God … I do love to recall that defeat for the GOP. The problem is, even after being defeated, the sumbitches keep crawling back, like roaches that have been stepped on but not totally eliminated. Pity.
Where was I? Oh … roaches. Colmer’s admin ass’t and former Ole Miss cheerleader Trent Lott succeeded Colmer in Congress. Colmer still claimed Democratic party credentials, but no allegiance. Trent, of course, was combing his hair and sucking up to Gil Carmichael, Rubel Phillips, Wirt Yerger … back in the good ole days when the Mississippi Republican Party held its conventions in a telephone booth next to the mens room in the Jackson City Auditorium. Might Eddie Khayat have defeated Trent had he been able to run against him?—we’ll never know. Nixon queered that deal.
But that’s all Coast stuff … and I don’t know squat about Coast stuff. Or Coast people. So don’t ask me.
Ben – that was the most detail and commentary about a subject I’ve ever seen from someone who “never kept up with people or events” in the area.
Do you know if EK was ever convicted of a crime? A felony? If so, what was it/were they? I’ve just heard all this stuff and figured I would get my answer on the comments to a blog!
Ben said, “Hmm. That’s probably the first time in my life I’ve seen the Bible and Richard Nixon mentioned in the same sentence … and it’s my sentence, to boot.”
Not only that, but you used “defenestration” in the sentence, too. Some kind of award is in order, I think.
Ben know way tooooo much…
For somebody that don’t know anything about what’s going on here…
And you sure did spend alot of time here defending yourself…
I can comment on Mr. Khayat. My father (Boyce Holleman) represented him in the IRS matter Ben addresses and I was second chair with him on the charges brought by Mike Moore. The latter charges were years before Operation Pretense.
At the outset, let me say that Eddie Khayat was a great man in every sense of meaning. Jackson County’s development as Mississippi’s industrial center, especially with regard to shipbuilding, can be credited directly to him. He was affectionately called “Mr. Jackson County”. Also, the mention of Robert Khayat, Eddie’s son and a great Mississippian in his own right (whether you agree with him on every decision or not), in the same discussion with the Dixie Mafia is outrageous and reckless slander. All of Mr. Khayat’s children are honorable people, which speaks highly of their parents. Michael Khayat, at the time of the trial of the state cases brought by Mike Moore, was a coach for the Phil Eagles, where I believe Robert once played.
Mike Moore brought indictments following his election as DA where he had campaigned against supervisors for putting shell in the entrances to private driveways. I’m not going to say some of this was not going on, but I will say that none of it involved money in the pockets of supervisors. Everybody was treated equally
The first charge against Eddie that went to trial involved an allegation that Eddie had an employee go by Wayne Lees grocery and pick up 13 steaks, donated by Wayne Lee, that he had delivered to a legislator who was key to a bill that would help Jackson County. The verdict was “not guilty”. It was a colorful and interesting trial, but I’ll spare you the details.
As a lawyer just out of law school, I had been allowed a two witnesses in the first trial. In preparing for the next trial (multiple indictments were returned), I was to take on a greater load. This case involved an allegation of a $500 kickback from the sleaziest “businessman” witness I can recall. The jury was rough looking, some nodding their head in agreement with Mike’s opening. After the opening statements and this first witness, my father lean over to me and said, “Mike, this does not look good. I can’t let you take a role in this trial and be blamed if it goes wrong.”. I understood.
What followed was the greatest demonstration of trial advocacy to a packed courtroom I ever experienced, and I have been in some great ones. It was a bloodbath, with a sharply devided community, gallery and, quite obviously, the jury all the way through. What I remember most is the closing argument by Boyce.
As he was heating up (and I mean heat), a thunderstorm broke loose just outside. Lighting would flash causing near temporary blindness, followed by the loudest rolling thunder you ever heard. My father got in a rhythm where he could gauge the time between flash and thunder and time his argument so that a huge emotional point would be bracketed by roaring thunder before he would pick up again. It was scary good! People were frozen, eyes wide. Mike was good too. (I had intended to get copies of those tapes, but never did, much to my regret)
Anyway, as expected, the jury hung after two days of deliberations. When we retrieved the exhibits, including sone awards, a juror had carved with a knife the word ”guilty” in one of the awards. Throughout this ordeal Eddie Khayat was a noble gentleman, harboring no ill will toward anyone. He had a calming effect on those who loved and respected him and prayed for his deliverance from those charges. These were many from all walks of life, rich and poor.
Mike took a break from Boyce and brought up the indictment against Lum Cumbest next, another very good man. Something went very wrong in Lum’s trial, not his fault or doing, which I will not go into here. Mike got a conviction.
The county was tearing apart. My father and I met will Mike Moore and worked out a deal that would end it all. Eddie would plead guilty to misdemeanor, resign and agree not to run for supervisor. Mike was dismiss all remaining indictments, except Lum’s conviction It was the passing of the torch, a torch that lit the career of Mike Moore. The rest you know.
This is the truth, as I witnessed it, about a man who I am proud to have known and represented. If any of us accomplishes what he did, for his state, county, community and family, raise children like those he raised, and are as loved as Eddie Khayat, then we can meet the end of our life with the peace of knowing we lived it well.
And thank you Ben for standing up.
(note to NMC: this is way off topic, so if you choose not to post it, I understand. I benefited from saying it)
Thanks, Mike. Great to have a first hand account.
To MikeH: And your Daddy is a whole new episode on the crime and punishment here on the coast…way too many political crooks have gotten away with crap and screwed good people here on the coast because of him…I would not bragg sweety…he is nothing to be proud off…the “real” working people here on the coast know all about the “all mighty Boyce Holliman”
Whoa. A big sinkhole suddenly developed beneath this thread.
MSGulfCoastGirl: I respectfully invite you to delete your 7:07, 7:14, and 7:28 posts.
Oh, I forgot…Thanks MikeH
Ben: And you best be careful…Because your request almost sounds like a threat…
MSGulfCoastGirl, I have made a serious effort to let folks say their piece and have speech respond with speech.
I’m disturbed by your attacks on Boyce Holleman and others. Mr. Holleman I knew personally, and by reputation. I’m going to set your comments to moderation and ask you to write an email about them. I’m not sure what you can say, but I’d ask you take the insinuation and hostility down a bit and reconsider your comments.
MikeH: and the lighting and thunder that suddenly appeared may be a sign…You had might better pay attention…God may be giving you a warning hun…
NMC: Have you read the 1st Amendment lately??? Now you are telling me I cannot speak the truth…it is not attack..IT IS TRUE..and if you don’t want to hear it then I suggest you discontinue this conversation alltogether…You all are talking about the crap that is affecting the people on the coast, which is my home and has been for many years…born and raised. And you are telling me I should have no voice about the people we elect into office that screw us? YOU NEED A REFRESHER COURSE IN THE BILL OF RIGHTS, AND THE DIFFERENT BETWEEN RIGHT AND WRONG…
I just deleted my 7:48 request addressed to MSGulfCoastGirl. I know the applicable Ten Rules.
Mississippi is not very fun.
MsGulfCoastGirl:
The First Amendment has nothing to do with what is occurring here. I am not the state or federal government. I have no obligation to provide a forum for people to spew bile.
And just because you can afford a high dollar attorney does not make what you done “RIGHT”, it just means you got off because you either know one these “attoneys” (and I use the term lightly) or you have lots of money and power…and everyone knows it.
You created a public blog and now you are going to pick and choose what you want to hear? Is that what you are saying? And if you don’t agree.. you gonna try to cut me off? REALLY HUN…You are talking about corrupt politians, hit men, and BS attorneys…Am I wrong???
Bile??? That would be the ones above that know all the dirt on everyone in office here on the coast, wouldn’t you think…you need to reread some of the post…
Ben: Imagine that…
I tell you what..I really don’t want to read anymore of the lies and kiss ass crap anyway…so DO AS YOU WISH HUN…everyone (honest people) knows what I am saying is true…so CARRY ON.. YOU WILL NOT HEAR FROM ME AGAIN…no one here wants to hear the truth anyway, because they either related or friends with all the riraft anyway…nothing here but the trash of high with money and power…YOU ALL HAVE A WONDERFUL NIGHT HUN…
MSGulfCoastGirl,
Too bad your left, because look what your “thoughts” could look like if you’d write coherently, and with out the comma-less “huns”, hun.
I’m sorry, but I don’t feel like playing here. I don’t believe what has been stated, and it all reeks of brown nosing, and I would know (sorry, you didn’t say that). Alas, I know I can’t stop any of you from speaking, especially since I love the Bill of Rights so much, so carry on. But truthfully, I don’t think anyone here really cares about hearing truth anyway, not with all the friendships on the line. Sorry, but I believe you are friends with scum. I wish I felt differently, but I live here, and this has been my experience. Have a good night and life.
* I think something like that would have served you better, even though I am not sure at achieving what. Sorry I seem so snotty, but your continuous “huns” remind me of Dale’s wife on “King of the Hill”. You know, the one who says “Shug” as in “sugar” whenever sweet-talking somebody. For some reason she just irritates me.
p.s. I hope the coast is doing well, and hope you are doing well too.
I never met Eddie Khayat but I’ve known his daughter for decades. If you can judge a tree by its fruit he was a mighty fine man.
As for Boyce Hollimon he was quite simply the finest trial attorney I ever had the pleasure to observe. Last I looked competence, even superlative competence, was not a crime.
I am disappointed that my personal observations in response to questions posed in comments may have evoked such outrage by MsCoastGirl. I will not attack her for the feelings she obviously has about good lawyers and the justice system, because those beliefs are held by many who fail to understand the important role of the criminal defense lawyer in our system and in their own freedoms.
I once heard a panel on Bill O discussing the trial for a defendant charged with a particularly heinous crime. The discussion was about guilty defendants having too many rights. The panel actually concluded with a general agreement that the rights and protections under our Constitution should reserved for the innocent persons charged, but not the guilty, like the man on trial.
I thought, “What a great idea!” It is the perfect solution. All we need now is a fair system for distinguishing the innocent from the guilty. Any ideas?
There is not enough space here to list everything I know that undercuts the comments by MsCoastGirl about Boyce Holleman and others. There are just a few facts that deserve mentioning:
• Boyce Holleman was shot down over Saipan and burned over 30% of his body
• At around age 27, he stopped the lynching of a black man charged with killing a jailer during an escape. That man was the last person executed in the travel electric chair (as I understand it)
• He lost the first election for District Attorney, but in a contest, it was shown that in certain coast boxes, hundreds of dead people had voted and many other irregularities. That case installed him a DA and ended election fraud in South Mississippi
• When he was elected DA, there was wide open gambling on the Mississippi Coast. The later tagged “Dixie Mafia” owned the Coast
• As DA, he began to clean up the coast. His enemies, the Dixie Mafia, made several threats on his life, including planting dynamite in his plane. Thankfully, because of a late change in plans, he was not in when it blew up
• The first, and for many years, at least, the only reported criminal prosecution for attempted bribery of a District Attorney was for attempted bribery of Boyce Holleman. McLemore v. State, 241 Miss. 664, 674-675 (Miss. 1960)
There are many more examples, but a thousand would not convince a closed or cynical mind. There are men and women who have served their country as well, even better (many gave up their life), but there are no doubts in the minds of the any who knew him, that Boyce Holleman was a good man, a good citizen and faithful public servant. And when he left public life and entered private practice, he carried with him the same sense of duty. When he defended a citizen charged with a crime, he was defending the Constitution, just as much as when he was shot down as a young man.
Finally, Joe Sam Owen is a lawyer of the caliber of Boyce Holleman. That his alleged “badness” is inferred only because of his defense of a citizen charged with a crime speaks for itself. He is a brilliant and ethical trial lawyer.
Thank you for allowing this brief reply.
Well said, Mike H. Very well said. I know also that your dad had his ship, the aircraft carrier USS GAMBIER BAY sunk from beneath him in the Battle off Samar. You need not defend Boyce Holleman or Joe Sam Owen to me. I knew your dad quite well and I know Joe Sam Owen. My only regret is that I (innocently enough) posted a comment that attracted unforeseen retaliation and hostility.
Let’s move on.
Forgive me if I don’t move on. I came in at the end of a jury trial in the post office courthouse in Biloxi. The plaintiff was a teenage airman at Keesler who got beat up by a deputy sheriff bouncer at the.Ramada in Long Beach. Boyce had the sheriff. Because the airman was a minor, his father came down from Ohio and testified. The jury didn’t like the father and sent out a note asking if they could give the boy some money but be sure the father couldn’t get his hands on it. Not a good sign for the defense. Twenty minutes later, the jury announced it had a verdict. As the jury filed in to deliver its verdict, Boyce said, in a stage whisper, “I feel just like a bride on her wedding night. I know I’m going to get it; I just don’t know how big it will be.”. Most humorous comment I ever heard in a courtroom or maybe anywhere. Only cost us $15,000 which we were all happy with.
Thanks Dura. That’s one I had not heard before. Sounds exactly like him.
Mike, my only other story about your dad was in the mid 90′s when we had a settlement conference on a big lawsuit concerning debt on a golf course in Harrison County. At the last minute, the opposition announced Boyce was coming to represent our opponents. What could we do to counter that? Fortunatley for us we had a retired judge in our firm who was a contemporary of Boyce. What fun we had listening to the stories they told about one another. In the end we got the case settled, but I don’t think we’ll ever again have the comradarie these two old war houses demonstrated that day.
Ben, while Boyce did serve on the USS Gambier Bay he was not aboard when she sunk due to enemy fire on Oct 25th 1944. He was recovering from wounds he received during combat flight operations in Saipan in June of 44. My most prized book is “The Men Of The Gambier Bay” giving to me by Boyce. While I only knew him briefly I was impressed with him immensely. I spoke with him at great length about his service during the war on many occasions. He served honorably during a time of war and deserves better than to be slandered on the internet by a coward hiding behind a keyboard. MSGulfCoastGirl you owe a debt of gratitude to Jess Boyce Holleman and all the men like him who gave so much protecting the freedoms you and I enjoy.
This is an old thread, but I was looking up something on Eddie Khayat and this thread popped up. To Ben, in mentioning Khayat’s trouble with the law, I certainly was not trying to “twist a blade” in Robert Khayat’s ribs. In fact, my post started out defending Khayat and saying that he was NOT involved in any “criminal activity” on the Coast. If I had read Ben’s comments nine months ago I would have protested.
I am glad that Boyce Holliman’s son gave a more detailed description of the charges against Khayat. As I mentioned, Khayat was a friend of my grandfather. I never really discussed the case with my grandfather. I only know that he felt Khayat had been treated unfairly by Mike Moore. With that said, I was always under the impression that there was some type of petty personal wrongdoing. I’m glad that based on Holliman’s recollection I may be wrong on this.
Here’s a post from someone who remembers the announcement of de-segregation of the Biloxi schools back in 1963, and the actions of his P.E. Coach, a man by the name of Ed Khayat.
http://www.city-data.com/forum/29556448-post24.html
Surely there’s something tangled up in that story– was Ed Khayat a Washington Redskins football player? Wouldn’t the football player by his son Robert? It’s a great story, though.
NMC, Does Robert have a brother? When I first read the story I assumed it was Eddie, but there is a Wikipedia entry for an Ed Khayat who was a Redskins player who is from the coast and who is now 77.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Khayat
Must be a brother, although there’s a reference to another brother who was a Korean War veteran in the link in your 7:43AM post.
Michael Khayat is Robert’s brother. He was a coach for the Eagles at one time.
I worked with his stepdaughter at the time of his death…She is a real piece of Cake…But I guess you have to consider the type of life style she was brought up in…she is sad little person…about 34/35 years old. They both are some wild little girls…!!!