How much public corruption in Lexington & KY?

[Uncle Monkey]

No, the book was completely factual. Actually, the writer had to go into hiding after writing the book. As far as the city cleaning up after the 70's all I can say is pleeeaaaase. Are you kidding? I'm going to list ongoing corruption.
A. Several murders in the Lexington area have been reputed to involve the police.
B. People seem to die in custody in the areas jails at a questionable rate?
C. In the 90's the town had the most escort agencies per capita of any city in the United States. Escort agencies only exist with the help of police corruption.
D. Police officers setup John Michael Montgomery and then harass him on their myspace pages. John Michael's hat goes missing and turns up on one of their websites.
E. The former Fayette County Attorney, Margaret Kannensohn, gets sued by most of her staff. They claim she altered files to her pleasing, charged for work when she was really home, and more. She files sovereign immunity claim and all is washed away.

I could go on and on but I will say if you lead a nine to five, get married and buy the white picket fence you probably will avoid most of the corruption. I personally just have no patience for corruption in our government and believe civil servants should be punished more for their crimes for violating the law and the trust of the community.

[Uncle Monkey]

Absolutely not fictional. Additionally, they have only gotten better at hiding it, they have not cleaned up since the 70's. As a matter of fact, the biggest mafia bust in history took place in Lexington in the 80's. It wasn't publicized or promoted much by Ky, lol.

I am currently running for Lexington City Council At Large for the purpose of exposing the murder of an escort agency owner by police officers. The current council members have refused for 15 years to hear a recording of the murder victim naming those she felt threatened by just weeks before her murder. My knowledge and possession of this recording has caused me to be falsely arrested and harassed for that very same 15 years. I have undeniable evidence of everything I claim and lots of it. Please go to my campaign website for a beginner's course on the subject.
http://www.higgyforcity.com

[LEXpert]

I new Vance's daughter in high school and the karate instructor I had when I was a kid ran with the guy who parachuted to his death with bags of coke strapped to him. The whole time, I never knew how close I was to all that!!

[orgonebox]

For Lexington corruption, look no further than the latest Webb Brothers debacle.

As for more Kentucky reads, check out Harry Caudill's Night Comes to the Cumberlands.

[carolfraz]

I would like to know more about corruption in the Lexington Police. They totally screwed over my nephew in 2010, and now he's in prison for a wrongful conviction with an outrageous sentence. WE are trying to find new evidence to bring back to the court for a re-trial. I have names of detectives and police that I am in need of info about. Please reach out! Carol carolfrazier@comcast.net

[Neil Rapscallion]

Originally Posted by Micah Girl

I am reading a book called the Bluegrass Conspiracy about corruption in the Lexington police department . It has to do with organized crime, drug running, corrupt cops, etc., in the 70s and 80s. I know that this is several decades old now, and not exactly current events. However, I do wonder what the culture is like in Lexington and in KY. Some areas of the country are more prone to corruption historically than others. (I grew up in Providence, RI, for example, which was known for the mafia back in the day and itsmost beloved mayor was a convicted felon.) I am not throwing stones here--just asking a question.

Thanks for any input.

As I have mentioned in previous posts I am looking for good books about KY--sorry this is one I just happened upon in my library system. Any other good suggestions for the positive side of Lex???

Hey, if you are still interested I have a couple recommendations on crime in Kentucky.

https://encompass.eku.edu/cgi/viewco...jps_fsresearch
This is a paper from Eastern Kentucky University published in 1992 on rural crime in Kentucky. While I don't think this data may hold true today, as it seems many rural organizations are now working for more established crime organizations like cartels rather than working with local officials or authorities to for crimes, it's a good case study on rural crime in Kentucky. The author was apparently well known in the criminology world at the time.

https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-li...-and-community
This an article about the older marijuana operations in Kentucky. I'm sure you can find some more on organizations like the Cornbread Mafia, the largest marijuana operation in the US known, and others using the Daniel Boone National Forest. Before marijuana was widely legal in the US, Kentucky was a hot spot for high-quality low-priced illegal marijuana, and many small town orgs took advantage of small police forces or corruption to sell this marijuana across the nation.

https://ir.library.louisville.edu/cg...24&context=etd
This is a recent dissertation about social organizations and its effects on crime on nonmetropolitan areas of Kentucky. I don't think the author works in academia anymore, but it's a very thorough statistical analysis and provides some powerful insights.

https://lexingtonky.news/2023/10/11/...elatively-low/
https://thefederalnewswire.com/stori...artel-activity
https://www.courier-journal.com/in-d...on/2573948001/
https://www.wdrb.com/news/a-look-at-...a33c886e5.html
Above I linked some recents articles, from 2023, about the growing cartel presence in Kentucky. I'm a medical student also studying public policy in health, meaning my opinion is not the best informed but I got a little knowledge, but this really seems like what, if anything, rural orgs are doing these days in Kentucky. Lots of peddling low-grade drugs or things like money laundering for these cartels. The opioid epidemic, something I am actively doing research in, is at its worst in Kentucky, and the shockingly high amount of fentanyl overdoses in rural Kentucky are most likely due to this. Louisville and Lexington have also become hubs for their major highways. Louisville has I-71, going to Cleveland through Cincinnati, and I-64, going from St. Louis to Eastern VA through KY and WV. Lexington has I-75, going from Miami to Detroit passing through Atlanta as well, and also I-64.

Specifically for books, though, there's none better than "Night Comes to the Cumberlands" by Harry Caudill. It is shocking how similar the events of Eastern KY are when he wrote this compared to today.