
Last Gangster in Austin
Frank Smith, Ronnie Earle, and the End of a Junkyard Mafia
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Narrated by:
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Mark Bramhall
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By:
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Jesse Sublett
Ronnie Earle was a Texas legend. During his three decades as the district attorney responsible for Austin and surrounding Travis County, he prosecuted corrupt corporate executives and state officials, including the notorious US congressman Tom DeLay. But Earle maintained that the biggest case of his career was the one involving Frank Hughey Smith, the ex-convict millionaire, alleged criminal mastermind, and Dixie Mafia figure.
With the help of corrupt local authorities, Smith spent the 1970s building a criminal empire in auto salvage and bail bonds. But there was one problem: a rival in the salvage business threatened his dominance. Smith hired arsonists to destroy the rival; when they botched the job, he sent three gunmen, but the robbery they planned was a bloody fiasco. Investigators were convinced that Smith was guilty, but many were skeptical that the newly elected and inexperienced Earle could get a conviction. Amid the courtroom drama and underworld plots the book describes, Willie Nelson makes a cameo. So do the private eyes, hired guns, and madams who kept Austin not only weird but also riddled with vice. An extraordinary true story, Last Gangster in Austin paints an unusual picture of the Texas capital as a place that was wild, wonderful, and as crooked as the dirt road to paradise.
©2022 Jesse Sublett (P)2022 Blackstone PublishingListeners also enjoyed...




















Very Interesting story but…
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Such a great story!!
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once the ride was in motion there was no going back, no slowing down and no stopping,.
Sublett brought to life the events that culminated in a showdown between good and evil in Austin and 1977 every minor character was fully fleshed out and given the leading man treatment. for me I'm repentant bad guy to the spine with Sheriff that supported him to the man who finally brought them both down it is a story you will not soon forget.
I would love to see a movie of this.
As Mean As A JYD
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Born in 1940 and raised in Austin
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Great telling of the story
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Great Story!
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Enjoyable Texas Story
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very informative
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Pretty interesting
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