King Rex and the Cowboy Mafia

by Phil Hamman, Sandy Hamman, Fred Boff

When four people turn up dead at the bottom of a Florida sinkhole, New York DEA Agent Fred Boff has no idea it will launch him into a tangled web of illicit operations spanning from Florida to Texas. The victims had stumbled onto a clandestine marijuana delivery, and with the help of Panama City jailbird Ronnie Ray, Boff connects the dots in a complex trail of smugglers, planes, boats, and drug dealers to wealthy businessman Rex Cauble, a man beloved by law enforcement and a pillar of the community. Boff and his colorful team of agents become determined to stop the flow of drug money and marijuana from one of the biggest drug operations in U.S. history and to bring down Cauble's sprawling drug ring run by kingpins known as the "Cowboy Mafia". But as evidence piles up, questions emerge. Is the folksy millionaire truly the criminal mastermind he seems? In the end, it's up to Boff and his team to determine if they're implicating an innocent, prominent businessman or skillfully unveiling the secret leader of the largest drug trafficking operation in 1970s America. This true crime thriller offers readers an exclusive glimpse inside the world of elite drug runners and the gritty work of dedicated DEA agents. With captivating real-life characters, high-stakes action, and shocking twists, it's an adrenaline-fueled roller coaster exposing the dark underbelly hiding beneath wealth and power.

226 pages, Paperback

Published November 26, 2024

About the author

Phil Hamman is the co-author of the #1 national best selling true crime book Gitchie Girl. He also has two memoirs published by eLectio Publishing that profile his struggles to rise above a dysfunctional childhood marked with domestic violence and poverty. One serendipitous night drove him from his criminal path and put him on the road to becoming a teacher who mentored and taught students with behavior disorders.

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I will admit I started this book expecting, and hoping for, something different. I was looking for facts about something I learned of growing up in northern Texas. A big part of this story (and it's a great story) took place in the town where I grew up. I hoped for details I had not heard, insights into the man behind the money and the power, who seemed untouchable until everything unraveled. But none of that was present in this narrative. This was like any detective novel you might have read, focused almost entirely on the officer charged with solving the crime. It might as well have been fiction, and I began to think it might be. The single paragraph describing my home town got something (albeit unimportant) diametrically wrong, and I started to wonder how fast and loose the author played with other descriptions, other details, and other parts of the narrative.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book was pretty interesting. It was easy to read.

[Connie Hamby · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good true story!

This was a good interesting book if you like true stories like I do I really like the special friendship these guys had with one another!