Their names have gone down in history for illegal bootlegging, gambling, contract killings, and the murder of a circuit court judge and his wife.
This Biloxi, Mississippi based group of con artists known as the Dixie Mafia first emerged in the American South in the 1960s. Members were not united by heritage and had no known hierarchy or oath. They were loosely connected by a willingness to commit any crime, from extortion to murder, as long as there was money to be made.
Here is a look back into the Dixie Mafia’s history through two well-known members and their two most notorious victims.
Kirksey Nix Jr., Mike Gillich Jr. and Pete Halat were key players during the Dixie Mafia era and murders of Vincent and Margaret Sherry. Sun Herald archives
Point blank: the murders of Vincent and Margaret Sherry
On Sept. 14, 1987, Vincent and Margaret Sherry were shot point blank multiple times in the head by a hit-man in their North Biloxi home.
Vincent was a Circuit Court judge and Margaret was a city councilwoman with dreams of becoming mayor one day. At the time of their deaths, the Sherrys were both 58 years old.
Their bodies would not be found until two days after the hit by Biloxi’s soon-to-be mayor Pete Halat, who was also Vincent’s law partner. He found Vincent’s body in the den, and Margaret’s in the bedroom.
The ensuing investigation into the Sherry murders eclipsed a decade, and would unveil ties between the murders and the corruption that gripped the Gulf Coast in the 1980s. The corruption was so severe that in 1983 federal authorities designated the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office a criminal enterprise.
The Sherrys’ oldest daughter, Lynne Sposito, was a persistent figure in the murder investigation. She said she did not sleep a single night in the 10 years after her parents’ death, until Halat was finally convicted for his role in plotting the murders of his friends and neighbors.
It took thorough investigative work and Mike Gillich Jr. telling all to take Halat down.
Mike Gillich, Jr. – the Dixie Mafia’s kingpin
Mike Gillich was the Dixie Mafia’s unofficial kingpin. He was a man of Croatian descent who started out life in a large, poor family before building his wealth as an entrepreneur along “The Strip” in Biloxi, the Dixie Mafia’s home base. His establishments included motels, a bingo parlor and nightclubs that doubled as strip clubs and gambling dens.
Gillich was reportedly known and trusted by almost all members of the Dixie Mafia, earning the trust of those who trusted no one else. He was both patron and protector to Kirksey Nix, the group’s former leader.
In 1991, Gillich was convicted for his role in plotting the 1987 Sherry murders and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
After serving nine years of his sentence, Gillich was released in July of 2000. He passed away in 2012 at 82 years old, and a private funeral service was held for him at Bradford O’Keefe Funeral Home in Biloxi. There was no obituary for him posted on the funeral home’s website.
Kirksey McCord Nix, Jr. – the Dixie Mafia’s leader
Nix was the former leader of the Dixie Mafia known for participating in some of the group’s most high profile killings, even after his imprisonment.
After his conviction in the 1972 murder of Frank Corso, a New Orleans grocery executive, Nix began serving his life sentence without parole at Angola State Penitentiary.
Nix participated in multiple money making schemes after being locked away, including a “lonely hearts” scam aimed to swindle gay men. Nix and his prison syndicate placed ads in gay-focused magazines. The men who responded to these ads were wooed and asked to wire money to one of Nix’s associates.
Nix reportedly cashed in on hundreds of thousands of dollars from this scam, all from behind bars. He was trying to earn enough money to buy his way out of prison.
Alongside Mike Gillich, Sheri LaRa Sharpe, and Dixie Mafia hitman John Ransom (who supplied the gun), Nix was convicted in 1991 for plotting the 1987 murder-for-hire killings of Vincent and Margaret Sherry.
Nix ordered the hit from prison after Halat, his co-conspirator, took hundreds of thousands of dollars from him and blamed it on Vincent. He was later sentenced to life-long isolation because of this hit.
Nix is still alive today, and is imprisoned at the Federal Correctional Institution in El Reno, Oklahoma.
Do you know the history of any other key players from the Dixie Mafia’s reign in Biloxi? Email me at jcamhi@sunherald.com.
This story was originally published January 17, 2023 at 7:00 AM.
