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Everglades Outlaws: The Complete History of Moonshining, Alligator Poaching & Marijuana Smuggling in Florida
Everglades Outlaws — The Complete History of Moonshining, Alligator Poaching & Marijuana Smuggling in Florida pulls you into the backcountry at dawn and doesn’t let go. From plume hunters and hidden stills to square grouper drops, cocaine spillover, and today’s eco-crimes, B.j Dellinger tells the full, unvarnished story of how the Glades became a proving ground—for outlaws, for wardens, and for a community learning, sometimes the hard way, to keep a wild place alive.
Written like a guide’s best day on the water—fast, vivid, and packed with hard-won know-how—this is narrative nonfiction with receipts. Dellinger blends fieldwork, oral histories from Seminole and Miccosukee elders, case files, and on-the-ground science to show how law, livelihood, and landscape collided—and how patience, paperwork, and pride ultimately beat swagger.
Inside you’ll
The people of the river and how a water world shaped culture, trade, and survival
Plumes, pelts, and the first conservation crackdowns that changed American wildlife law
The drainage schemes that created roads—and opportunities—for contraband
Prohibition’s “sugar-shine” stills, swamp runners, and backcountry justice
Gator men and the economics of extinction—and recovery
Wardens at tools, raids, informants, and the true cost of enforcement
Square grouper and cocaine mother ships, drop zones, and accountant-level cash flows
The smuggler’s signals, decoys, radio codes, and why patience beat clever
Trials, turncoats, and task forces that rewrote strategy with RICO and forfeiture
From poacher to redemption arcs that now safeguard the marsh
Comeback creatures and the tug-of-war between science and tradition
Water wars and sugar, sea rise, and the multi-billion-dollar fix
Today’s black pythons, turtles, orchids, and the age of DM-to-doorstep eco-crime
What you’ll a propulsive history, field-sharp storytelling, and practical insight into how wild places are lost—and saved. Rich appendices include a timeline of outlaw eras, a glossary of Glades gear and slang, schematic route maps (ethically generalized), and a research guide to primary sources.
For readers true crime with brains, environmental history with bite, maritime and backcountry lore, and anyone who likes their nonfiction immersive, humane, and useful.
About the B.j Dellinger writes at the confluence of law, livelihood, and wild water, pairing narrative drive with shoe-leather research to map how the Glades turned shortcuts into cautionary tales—and how communities learned to let the marsh breathe.
Open the cooler, check the tide, and step aboard. The Everglades is talking. This book teaches you how to listen.
Written like a guide’s best day on the water—fast, vivid, and packed with hard-won know-how—this is narrative nonfiction with receipts. Dellinger blends fieldwork, oral histories from Seminole and Miccosukee elders, case files, and on-the-ground science to show how law, livelihood, and landscape collided—and how patience, paperwork, and pride ultimately beat swagger.
Inside you’ll
The people of the river and how a water world shaped culture, trade, and survival
Plumes, pelts, and the first conservation crackdowns that changed American wildlife law
The drainage schemes that created roads—and opportunities—for contraband
Prohibition’s “sugar-shine” stills, swamp runners, and backcountry justice
Gator men and the economics of extinction—and recovery
Wardens at tools, raids, informants, and the true cost of enforcement
Square grouper and cocaine mother ships, drop zones, and accountant-level cash flows
The smuggler’s signals, decoys, radio codes, and why patience beat clever
Trials, turncoats, and task forces that rewrote strategy with RICO and forfeiture
From poacher to redemption arcs that now safeguard the marsh
Comeback creatures and the tug-of-war between science and tradition
Water wars and sugar, sea rise, and the multi-billion-dollar fix
Today’s black pythons, turtles, orchids, and the age of DM-to-doorstep eco-crime
What you’ll a propulsive history, field-sharp storytelling, and practical insight into how wild places are lost—and saved. Rich appendices include a timeline of outlaw eras, a glossary of Glades gear and slang, schematic route maps (ethically generalized), and a research guide to primary sources.
For readers true crime with brains, environmental history with bite, maritime and backcountry lore, and anyone who likes their nonfiction immersive, humane, and useful.
About the B.j Dellinger writes at the confluence of law, livelihood, and wild water, pairing narrative drive with shoe-leather research to map how the Glades turned shortcuts into cautionary tales—and how communities learned to let the marsh breathe.
Open the cooler, check the tide, and step aboard. The Everglades is talking. This book teaches you how to listen.
Kindle Edition
Published September 11, 2025
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