1960s Austin Gangsters:

by Jesse Sublett

Ever wonder what Austin, Texas was like before SXSW and its title as Live Music Capital of the World, home of Willie Nelson and all that? This is the history of the underworld thug culture of Austin in the 1960s, when a gang of safecrackers, drug dealers, pimps and all-around thugs dominated the vice and crime scene in Austin, centered around an ex-UT football player named Timmy Overton. Charles Whitman, the Tower sniper, played poker against Timmy, lost, paid with a canceled check, and then began carrying a 357 Magnum to protect himself. Voracious and extremely prolific, the Overton Gang not only dominated the underworld scene in Austin but spread out across the South and Southwest, working on their specialties as road gamblers and burglars of small-town banks (they probably hit as many as three dozen banks in small towns in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri and elsewhere), joining and abetting their colleagues in other parts of the South/Southwest, becoming better known in the 1970s as the Dixie Mafia. The group included several Overton siblings, who were assisted by other family members, plus the infamous Jerry Ray James, who made it to the FBI Most Wanted List in 1966, plus Fred Hedges, Joan Taylor, John Flanagan, Hank Bowen, Little Larry Culbreath, and many others. The gang was decimated by a massive 1968 federal conspiracy trial. Twenty gang members were indicted and tried in a four month long trial in Del Rio and El Paso; only six were convicted. Timmy Overton was assassinated by a fellow gang member in Dallas in 1972 just two months after he was paroled from Leavenworth. The book is a highly detailed, impeccably authenticated and footnoted work of true crime; the first definitive work on this fascinating period in the history of Austin. There are even clues for JFK conspiracy buffs to follow.

Genres: History, True Crime, Crime, Nonfiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published March 9, 2015

About the author

Jesse Sublett is an Austin, Texas musician, painter and author of 13 books, including crime fiction, true crime and history.

Reviews

[Kate Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not long ago, I headed up to Austin's great independent book store, Book People, to hear Jesse Sublett, semi-legendary Austin author, artist and musician, play a few songs and read a few pages from his new book, "1960's Austin Gangsters: Organized Crime That Rocked the Capital." I'm so glad I went. Jesse opened the reading with a musical performance of his hilariously morbid song, "Maryanne Won't Marry Me Till I'm Dead." He played a couple more songs and then poured us all a tall glass of carefully researched and well-told Texana. The object of his study is a gaggle of Austin gangsters; a group of blue-collar rednecks who burgle everything in sight.

The Overton Brothers are the gruesome twosome at the center of the story. They were big high school football stars, but losing the game that would have taken them to the championship crushes them, and they take a nefarious path after high school. They rub shoulders, literally, with Charles Whitman, notorious UT Tower shooter, playing poker. Charles runs up a debt with one brother, and escapes retribution only because the guy he owes the debt to ends up in jail. In an odd way, its too bad the gangster did go to jail. Had he been free, he might have killed Charles and prevented the massacre.

One gentleman in the audience at the reading brought up the topic of the JFK conspiracy. Everyone behind him started chuckling under their breath, including me. Then Jesse mentioned that his book did in fact have an appendix on the topic. "The Overton's in JFK Conspiracyland." We all flip to the back of the book and start reading. Oh boy. Jesse's book was just enough introduction to the JFK conspiracy to send me running way down the road. I guess that's one of the dangers of life in Texas. If the guns and the floods and the gangs don't get you, the conspiracy theory vortex will.

Maybe it was all the free beer and wine on hand, but there was a lot of conversation as people lined up to get their book signed. People flipping through their books, looking at the photographs, chatting about their connection to the story. I ended up meeting a woman ahead of me in line. We got onto the topic of Jesse's memoir, "Never the Same Again." One part of his fascinating life story was his miraculous recovery from a very serious illness. The woman in front of me mentioned, humbly, "I was his doctor." I told her, "You're a hero!" She demurred. When it was her turn to have her book signed, she asked him to address it to her medical staff. He signed the book, "To my gang." I thought that was really cool.

I've read a few of Jesse's books, including his crime fiction and an interactive e-book "Gravedigger's Blues" filled with his wonderfully lurid artwork; a pastiche of collage, photography and painting. But my favorite of his books is the memoir. I picked it up and read it straight for two days till I was done. It's a gripping account of his remarkable life, including a terrible true crime story of his own. We also get a first hand history of the 1970's Punk Rock scene in Austin, of which he was a central figure. Sublett was the lead singer and bass player for The Skunks, a trio also featuring Austin musicians "Fazz" Eddie Munoz on guitar and Billy Blackmon on drums. Later, Jon Dee Graham joined when Munoz left to join the Plimsouls. The book delivers an on-the-ground, up-close look at life in a band. I imagine many musicians would relate to his account of playing gig after gig, building a rep, then heading out to New York to get more exposure. Lots of gritty days on the road in an RV. Surviving on lettuce soup, a recipe from Patti Smith, and plenty of cheap booze. There's a really sad scene where the band gets all their equipment stolen. And then a funny scene, in which Lydia Lunch tries to put the moves on Jesse. She purrs, "I like you tall Texan boys. You're so cute." That was a LOL from me. Beyond the music, we also learn about his writing career and eventually, parenthood. But the beating heart of it all is Lois Richwine, his wife of 30 years. "Never the Same Again," is about as moving portrait of a marriage as you'll ever read. If you want to see what a lifetime romance looks like, there you go.

Getting back to the Austin Gangsters, it is certainly a colorful tale, told with Sublett's signature musical writing style. I liked the women in this true story the best; the molls and madames. We definitely need a whole book, or a movie, (paging Quintin Tarrantino) on Beverly Oliver, former moll, self-proclaimed "Babushka Lady" of JFK-assassination intrigue, and born again Christian. She survived the Dixie Mafia and is now a traveling entertainer on the End Time Revival and Revelation Bible Conference circuit. She is just about too good to be true. Jesse researched the heck out of the story, laid out the history, and apparently all this insanity really did happen, believe it or not.

Now, for the second printing, (or would that be the third?) we need another appendix on the shoot-out at the bikini bar, the motorcycle mafia, 2015 edition. Somehow the state keeps churning out these scuzzy, lowdown losers, but God help us all, they make for a fascinating study.

[Patricia Roberts-Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick and interesting read. Good historical background on Austin, and a better discussion of the segregation than just about anywhere else.

[j cannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

HomeGrown Hoodlums

Nice take on the machinations of the Overton/James Gang's attempt to control the
rackets and drugs and prostitution in Austin Tx. during the wide open 60's.
Of course we all know how the story ends, but well written and brings to life some
very interesting characters.
Nice read.

[Megdelasur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moved to Austin and fell in love with it while it was a small town masquerading as a city. It grew up while I lived there and did lose some of the small town feeling, but retained enough quirkiness to be a place you'd still fall in love with.

My love for the city was nothing like Sublett's, though. He was one of the old school, everyone knew everyone Austinites. The information, firsthand accounts and history was astounding. I can't believe these stories aren't part of the legend of the city, shared by all newcomers.

If you want to feel like you were part of the history of Austin and know what it was like in the 60s and 70s, read this book. You won't get a better account of how the city grew up. Sublett writes in a sort of train of thought that can be hard to follow. It's almost like a series of short stories that were put in a book without a strong-handed editor to give it an overall flow. Sublett is a powerful storyteller and the subject matter is fascinating.

[Deadbeatgrandpajoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

First off I picked up the book because the subject seemed interesting and The authors name was somewhat familiar from the Austin music scene.
I thought the book was good but not great. It was well researched, but could have used some editing.
One of my problems with it was he seem to insert himself into the story. Mentioning turning down a steak dinner with some former law man I don't feel was pertinent.
I feel this would've been much better if written by someone like T.J. English

[Dave Anderson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Jumped around too much.

Not a good story. The author might have known what he was trying to get across, but it didn't make sense to me. There was no plot, just a lot of facts that didn't go together.

[glen doran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read

A lot going on in Austin that I did not know about. The under belly to say the least. May need to follow-up with his books on the music scene. One good read leads to a other!

[Bill Schweitzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a Texas classic and the best (and to my knowledge, the only) history of the South Congress gangsters, and the M&M Court madam, Hattie Valdez and her, ahem, employees who were favorites of gang leader Tim Overton and his motley crew of redneck terrorists.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Texas history
Sublett, Jesse
1960s Austin Gangsters: Organized Crime that Rocked the Capital
History Press
176 pgs., 978-1-62629-840-1, $19.99 paperback
March 9, 2015

1960s Austin Gangsters: Organized Crime that Rocked the Capital is Jesse Sublett’s history of the Overton Gang, “Austin’s locally grown white trash mafia” (part of what is sometimes termed the “Dixie Mafia”). Tim Overton and his cohorts did their very best to control the criminal underground in Austin from approximately 1960 until 1968, when the gang went to trial on federal conspiracy charges of running an interstate bank robbery and prostitution ring. The Overton Gang of “safecrackers, pimps, drug dealers and Cadillac-obsessed hoodlums” did not content itself with Texas but went regional with “heavy connections to the Italian counterparts in the Big D, Cowtown, the Little Man in New Orleans, Biloxi, Oklahoma, Florida and Chicago.”

It is evident that Sublett conducted many interviews and exhaustive research. He is fond of his subject and it shows. The profiles of the individuals involved are interesting and include backstory, exposing the “dysfunctional backgrounds” that undoubtedly contributed to their career choices. For these reasons, it is a particular shame that the book could have done with a more careful edit and copyedit. It is intermittently disjointed and sometimes difficult to follow.

There is plenty of humor here, sometimes dry, sometimes sardonic. “It’s an important part of Austin history,” said Nick Kralj, former club owner and longtime Austin backstage historian. “You always had a connection with the outlaws and the lawyers and the politicians…because they all like the same things.” The author describes Corpus Christi as “the city on the Texas Gulf Coast named after the Son of God—ironically so, as in pre-European settlement times the area was inhabited by the Karankawa Indians, who were known to eat people.”

Sublett has a colloquial style that borders on the lyrical, which makes sense when you learn that his Austin band, the Skunks, was inducted into the Hall of Fame. For example: “Even before the “Summer of Love” in 1967, you only had to drive down the Drag to see Austin’s old, square corners melting into new, cooler shapes.” And: “In the fall of ’63, as Sean Connery showed Americans how slick double-zero agents committed government-sanctioned sabotage and murder, Dr. Timothy Leary was spreading the gospel of LSD, and Austin thug culture was still in an old school groove.”

Austin Gangsters is an engaging cultural history of Austin’s growing pains and class distinctions as it transformed from a “sleepy state capital and college town to the creative class/music mecca that we know today.” While engaging, it is cluttered with minutiae: dates, street addresses, lists of items and amounts stolen, and details unnecessary to telling the story well. You may feel as if you need an organizational chart. There is even some rather startling conjecture involving JFK assassination theories. Austin Gangsters belongs firmly in the Truth is Stranger than Fiction category.

Originally published by Lone Star Literary Life.

[Carolyn Appleton · Rating 4 out of 5]

In March, I happened to spy a notice about a supper gathering of Austin writers being held at Threadgill's on North Lamar. I was curious, and having recently returned to Austin after being away some 20 years, I was also eager to visit a favorite haunt from my early Austin days. Included in the group of writers reading from their books was musician and author Jesse Sublett. It was a delightful event, and I purchased a copy of the book from Jesse who was kind enough to autograph it.

"1960s Austin Gangsters" is thoroughly researched, and I can't help but think it should be turned into a movie. Jesse has infused the book with his subtle sense of humor, which makes reading it all the more enjoyable. Even though the crimes he describes are shocking, his humor helps tamp them down.

As I have been combing through the streets of Austin remembering my old hangouts the past several months, I enjoyed his descriptions of crimes scenes. For instance, "Today, there's not much to see in the 4700 block of Harmon Avenue, an ugly stretch of pavement running parallel to the west side of IH-35, unless you're on your way to a nude modeling studio, cheap motel or the Spy Shop, but in 1964, it was the focus of an intense undercover stakeout."

The book traces the nefarious activities of a group of criminals based in Austin across the city, across Texas, and into other states. Jesse's descriptions are rich and evocative as well as entertaining. I burst out laughing when he wrote, "The loot from the Bertram bank, mostly in coins, weighed down the trunk of his Ford so much that on the ride back, [he] had to strain to see over the hood." The criminals Jesse discusses have no shame; in fact, they enjoyed their work quite a bit.

Suffice it to say, this is an enjoyable and genuinely enlightening work. I will never think of The University of Texas at Austin football team in the same way again, UT Tower "shooter" Charles Whitman, former Austin Police Department chiefs, nor some of our better known musicians, honky tonks and attorneys. And, having been skeptical of JFK assassination conspiracy theories, Jesse has opened my mind just a tad in that regard. I am glad I read "1960s Austin Gangsters," and I think you will enjoy it, too.

[Ronni sue winters · Rating 5 out of 5]

I lived thru this era and had heard of the "Overton Gang" but had no idea of the depth of their crimes.

If this book is factual then everybody that lived thru this era should read the book. Being a 4th generation Austinite the history that is exposed in this book is fascinating to read. I heard of the Overtons, Hattie Valdez, the M & M Courts, La Grange chicken ranch, went to kindergarten with Rocky Ericson and loved the New Orleans club and the Armadillo World Headquarters. I had no idea that the Overtons and their gang were so widespread and had their fingers in so many muddy pies!! Recognizing a lot of the attorneys and judges names was a real eye opener!! I loved growing up in Old Austin and have a ton of super memories. Wonder if they ever went to Soap Creek Saloon? Remember the LAI fondly. Great read!!!

[J.K. George · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd give this a "2" rating based on writing quality, organization, and coherency, but since it pertained to Austin, and several of my old-line book club members were there, and even went to Austin High School with "Timmie" Overton and others, the discussions were lively and brought the story out in additional lurid detail. So ... I'll give it a "3."

There are a ton of photographs, and the story seems to go on and on. One wonders just how such a low-life group could continue to continue, with serial bank robberies, etc. Finally, Tim Overton is murdered by a fellow low-life. This book certainly does nothing to make one feel comfortable about the quality of law enforcement in the area at the time. At least the gang helped the sales of gaudy new Cadillacs for a while.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice reminder of Austin's once obvious seediness, now almost completely papered over by hucksterish consumerism. It's obvious that Sublett knows this material and he gives us some good details - Charles Whitman butchering a deer in a shower in the Goodall Wooten dorm, a glimpse into when whites lived in the Chalmers Courts PJs - but this book was obviously slapped together. It desperately needs an editor, 200 additional pages, and an index.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite an interesting read. Mafia connections, gangs, heists, oh my! I never knew all this underworld goings on occurred in the town where I now live. Interesting to reference addresses and locales that I know where they are or were. Just a colorful story of boys gone bad.

[Stephen Boiko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Small slice of Austin's not so pristine history. Very informative.

[Bill Rodgers · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun read. Jesse did a great accumulating information through interviews and research, then putting it into this entertaining book.