Patrick Lanigan was a young partner in a prominent Biloxi law firm. He had a pretty wife, a new daughter, and a bright future. One winter night, Patrick apparently died, trapped in a burning car. He watched his own funeral, then fled. Six weeks later, a fortune was stolen from his law firm's offshore account.

For most of the last hundred years, Biloxi was known for its beaches, resorts, and seafood industry. But it had a darker side. It was also notorious for corruption and vice, everything from gambling, prostitution, bootleg liquor, and drugs to contract killings. The vice was controlled by small cabal of mobsters, many of them rumored to be members of the Dixie Mafia. Keith Rudy and Hugh Malco grew up in Biloxi in the sixties and were childhood friends,...