1960s Austin Gangsters: Organized Crime that Rocked the Capital

by Jesse Sublett, George Newbern (Read by)

Overview

Timmy Overton of Austin and Jerry Ray James of Odessa were football stars who traded athletics for lives of crime. The original rebels without causes, nihilists with Cadillacs and Elvis hair, the Overton gang and their associates formed a ragtag white trash mafia that bedazzled Austin law enforcement for most of the 1960s. Tied into a loose network of crooked lawyers, pimps, and used car dealers who became known as the "traveling criminals," they burglarized banks and ran smuggling and prostitution rings all over Texas. Author Jesse Sublett presents a detailed account of these Austin miscreants, who rose to folk hero status despite their violent criminal acts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798228641808
Publisher:	Tantor
Publication date:	10/07/2025
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.50(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Jesse Sublett is an author, musician, and artist from Austin, Texas. His publications include Rock Critic Murders, Never the Same Again, and Broke, Not Broken and he has contributed to Texas Monthly, Texas Observer, New York Times, Texas Tribune, and the Austin Chronicle. A member of the Texas Institute of Letters, his seminal Austin rock band, the Skunks was inducted in the Austin Music Hall of Fame in 2008. Jesse lives in Austin with his wife, Lois Richwine.

George Newbern is an Earphones Award–winning narrator and a television and film actor best known for his roles as Brian MacKenzie in Father of the Bride and Father of the Bride Part II, as well as Danny in Friends. As a voice actor, he is notable for his role as Superman on the Cartoon Newtork series Static Shock, Justice League, and Justice League Unlimited. He has guest starred on many television series, including Scandal, The Mentalist, Private Practice, CSI: Miami, and Numb3rs. He holds a BA in theater arts from Northwestern University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 7

Introduction 9

1 Getting Even: 1956-1961 17

2 "The Cream of Austin's Underworld": 1962-1963 35

3 Chicken Shack Cadillacs: 1964 51

4 Crime Wave: 1965 67

5 Bugging Out: 1965 79

6 Hell Hounds on Their Trail: 1966 93

7 They Didn't Care: 1967 109

8 The Big Circus: 1968 119

9 The Big Freeze Out: 1972 135

10 Austin Weird 147

Appendix 1 The Overtons in JFK Conspiracyland 153

Appendix 2 Other Sources on the Dixie Mafia 159

Notes 161

A Note on Sources 173

About the Author 175