Tag: Margaret Sherry

Sherry murder co-conspirator Pete Halet released from prison

For true folks he was released and is transitioning back into society up in the ‘Burg at St Thomas Catholic Church across 4th Street from Southern Miss.  Miss Dixie has all the skinny for the Sun Herald and it is well worth the read.

The Sherry murders still captivates the public after all these years and I could tell something was up via recent Google search strings and traffic patterns here on Slabbed.   Halet’s release from prison is sure to stir up strong emotions, both from his family, likely the only people on the coast that believe he is innocent of murder conspiracy as well as the surviving members of the Sherry family who still deal with the fallout of the mafia hit all these years later.

Finally newbies may want to check out Slabbed’s last post on this topic which featured a few remarks from surviving members of the Sherry family.

Miss Dixie covers the topic of denial and the Sherry murders as Slabbed explores the evolution of the vice trade on the coast.

Yesterday, Sun Herald reporter Anita Lee did a “subsequent event” update of those still living that were involved in the murder conspiracy involving Circuit Court Judge Vincent Sherry and his wife Margaret way back in 1987.  The echos of this Dixie Mafia inspired hit still reverberate across the Mississippi Gulf Coast and New Orleans to this day. For those of you with an interest in this subject, which inspired several books and at least one documentary, Anita’s story is a must read along with the reader comments as the descendants of the felons involved remain firmly in denial.  This comment sums the whole deal up save for Margaret Sherry IMHO, who paid with her life for her husband’s prior legal associations. That said, with the descendants of Pete Halet proclaiming his innocence in the story’s comments, I thought this comment was most appropriate to highlight here on Slabbed:

The Sherry’s had children too…

Indeed they did and daughter Lynne Sposito’s son Thomas commented on my last post on this topic taking umbrage with me terming his granddad “dirty as the day is long”. While it was not my intent to inflict emotional pain on the family of the victim I stand by my assessment. The story is out there and by “story” I don’t mean Mississippi Mud, the Sherry family sourced book which unfairly IMHO impugned former Biloxi Mayor Gerald Blessey due to his prior history of locking horns politically with Margaret Sherry when she was on the city council. In hindsight Mississippi Mud is the literary equivalent of a blog as it was published when events were still unfolding and before everything became known.  Locals that remember the events real time such as myself often wonder why it was never updated.  I think I figured that one out after my last post.

Back to the story being out there, one of Anita commenters posted a link to an extensive account of the murders and history of the Dixie Mafiosos that felt free to greenlit a sitting Circuit Court Judge written for TRU TV and for those with some time to kill is also a must read. Here are a few snippets: Continue reading “Miss Dixie covers the topic of denial and the Sherry murders as Slabbed explores the evolution of the vice trade on the coast.”

Miss Dixie covers the passing of local mafia kingpin turned stool pigeon Mike Gillich

The Mississippi Gulf Coast and the Dixie Mafia spawned a story over 2 decades ago that is still discussed to this day in the contract murder of Circuit Court Judge Vincent Sherry and his wife Margaret, who was serving on the Biloxi City Council at the time of the hit.  For our off coast readers I’ll add the Dixie Mafia is separate and distinct from the ethic based criminal organizations in NOLA though there has certainly been occasion for cross-pollination.

I mention all this because The Sun Herald’s Anita Lee, aka Miss Dixie has the story on the passing of the once formidable organized crime master mind Mike Gillich, the Flesh Trade mogul who Greenlit the Sherry’s in 1987, before becoming a stool pigeon to save himself a lengthy prison sentence for same.

I’m not going to rehash the events here, which netted former Biloxi Mayor Pete Halet a lengthy prison sentence for his role in the murder conspiracy of his law partner Vincent Sherry.  Halet has served the bulk of his sentence and is due to be released from the federal pen in less than a year. That said and for the benefit of our out of town readers there are two books that are worth reading on the topic with the following caveats:

  • The Dream Room was written by Gillich’s Gulfport based lawyer Chet Nicholson.  It is a great book and if you know the lay of the land, you can decipher the fictionalization of events, which was purposeful to protect the identities of those still living. Anita pumps that book in today’s story on Gillich’s passing for good reason IMHO.
  • Mississippi Mud was written by Edward Humes with the help of Lynne Sposito, the Sherry’s daughter.  Released back in 1995 it is also very good but it only tells around 40% of the story as the fact Judge Sherry was as dirty as the day is long was omitted from the text.

Gillich’s passing is the story today here in Mississippi with press reports surfacing in all the major papers here along with a few blogs. And interesting side story from the Biloxi sex trade with NOLA based roots can be found on Slabbed here.

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Miss Dixie on Mississippi Mud and new developments in Ex Rel Rigsby

I was up almost all night finishing Kathie Koch’s upcoming book, Rising from Katrina but I noted a couple of blog entries from Anita Lee’s blog which I need to highlight.

First up is Magistrate Walker again protecting his buddies at State Farm by letting State Farm’s  legal team lie and stonewall about which documents they have in response to subpoenas. The trick is you let all the depositions occur and then drop subpoenaed documents on the plaintiffs right at the discovery deadline so as to prevent salient questions from ever being asked. This is a time-honored tactic that State Farm could not pull off in non magic jurisdictions which take the federal discovery rules seriously. Anita boils down the larger issues in Walker’s ruling in a recent blog entry:

Walker has decided State Farm should not be required to turn over the reports to former insurance adjusters Cori and Kerri Rigsby, who filed the lawsuit alleging State Farm committed fraud in adjusting Hurricane Katrina claims. The company denies minimizing wind losses by blaming damage on tidal surge covered through federal flood insurance. Continue reading “Miss Dixie on Mississippi Mud and new developments in Ex Rel Rigsby”