If you were looking down at Marion County from a helicopter, the first thing you’d notice would probably be the rolling green hills of Kentucky bluegrass, with two-lane highways curving around the corners. You’d see the black roofs of distilleries, and the spires of Catholic churches. You’d see cows and horses and miles of soybean plants. It looks a lot like other rural parts of the country. Nothing out of the ordinary. But below the surface, there’s a history that makes this place unlike anywhere else in the country. It’s the story of why the Cornbread Mafia happened here, in the center of Kentucky.

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Danville, Kentucky, 1964: When Juanita Chester was 16 years old, her oldest brother Charles was murdered by a local man. Juanita’s family never stopped grieving, but eventually people around town stopped talking about Charles’ death. So, decades later, Juanita was surprised to see her brother’s name in a new book. It was about a group of local outlaws called the Cornbread Mafia. As Juanita learned more about this book, she only got more confused. The Cornbread Mafia seemed to be active in the ’70s and ’80s,well after Charles had died. And their crime was growing acres of marijuana in secret. What did the Cornbread Mafia have to do with Charles’ death?

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