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Lead and diamonds: the Richmond jewelry store shootout - The Ayoob Files
American Handgunner ^ | May-June 2003 | Massad Ayoob

Posted on 10/08/2005 7:47:26 AM PDT by Fester Chugabrew

Situation: Two particularly brutal and heavily armed criminals hit an upscale jewelry store--and meet a firestorm of armed citizen resistance.

Lesson: Sound planning beats seasoned perpetrators. Sometimes, the more firepower you have, the better. The best cops in the world can't help you if they aren't right there, right now.

December 2, 1994. William "Pappy" Head, 71, and Thomas Jefferson Salter, 56, are what today's young predators would call "OGs"--"Old Gangsters." Pappy is a known hit man, on parole after serving only a year of a five year sentence for conspiracy to commit murder, and both have a long history of robbing banks and jewelry stores. Salter has told his son he does it for the adrenaline rush. Both are members of a loose-knit gang of all-white robbers, killers and dope-runners known in the deep South as the Dixie Mafia.

Their target is Beverly Hills Jewelers, an upscale shop within sight of the Henrico County Police Department and the local FBI office on the outskirts of Richmond, Virginia. The store has already been cased for them the previous September by crooked carnival workers tied to the Dixie Mafia, when they were in town for a fair. It looks fat and easy. Pappy unlimbers his double-barrel, 12 gauge sawed-off shotgun and Tom draws one of the two handguns tucked in his belt, a 1911 .45 auto. They roll ski masks down over their faces and burst through the door.

They don't know that when they emerge, they'll be wearing body bags instead of ski masks.


(Excerpt) Read more at findarticles.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: bang; banglist; dixiemafia; guns; henricocounty; remington
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The release of Louis Freeh's new book promted me to look further into the Clinton "legacy" and the Dixie Mafia. Came across this article a few Freepers might enjoy. So . . . enjoy!
1 posted on 10/08/2005 7:47:27 AM PDT by Fester Chugabrew
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To: Fester Chugabrew

Wow! What a firefight and what a good example of armed citizens protecting themselves when no police are available (most of the time).

Thanks for posting this!


2 posted on 10/08/2005 8:00:14 AM PDT by Erik Latranyi (9-11 is your Peace Dividend)
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To: Fester Chugabrew

What a wonderful story. I love happy endings.


3 posted on 10/08/2005 8:00:49 AM PDT by Fairview
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To: Fester Chugabrew
I sure do love a story with a happy ending.......

I wonder what Sarah Brady would have done?
4 posted on 10/08/2005 8:05:15 AM PDT by stm
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To: Fester Chugabrew
Good article, thanks.

Taking on a sawed off with handguns in close quarters was pretty ballsy stuff.

5 posted on 10/08/2005 8:05:39 AM PDT by benjaminjjones
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To: Fester Chugabrew
>> it became apparent that an anti-gun governor was going to ramrod through a "one gun a month" law in Virginia. It seemed like a good idea to stock up. Baker had purchased eleven Rossi .38 Specials, five-shot snubbies...

Gun control sells guns to be sure.

I never owned or desired to own an "assault" rifle until Dukakis proposed a ban in Massachusetts. I purchased several of them, and made quite a profit reselling them in subsequent years. I kept only my last century "assault" rifle, the winchester short model 1894 AE.
6 posted on 10/08/2005 8:06:50 AM PDT by mmercier (so it goes)
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To: Erik Latranyi

You won't see this in the MSM. They don't want people knowing that Armed Citizens are a good thing!


7 posted on 10/08/2005 8:07:09 AM PDT by SFGI (Liberator of the Oppressed)
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To: Fairview

Don't screw around in Chesterfield County either. A safe place to raise a family.


8 posted on 10/08/2005 8:07:17 AM PDT by gathersnomoss
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To: Fester Chugabrew
There have been no further attempted robberies at Beverly Hills Jewelers.

Well, duh!!!

The "Dixie Mafia" may be redneck dumb@$$es, but news travels fast in their 'network'...

9 posted on 10/08/2005 9:01:03 AM PDT by TXnMA (Iraq & Afghanistan: Bush's "Bug-Zappers"...)
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To: backhoe

Dixie Mafia ping.


10 posted on 10/08/2005 9:05:32 AM PDT by Fester Chugabrew
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To: Fester Chugabrew
Last sentence from the article:

"There have been no further attempted robberies at Beverly Hills Jewelers."

LOL  -  I wonder why.

11 posted on 10/08/2005 9:26:51 AM PDT by RebelTex (Freedom is everyone's right - and everyone's responsibility!)
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To: Fester Chugabrew

Appreciate it.


12 posted on 10/08/2005 9:33:31 AM PDT by backhoe (-30-)
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To: Fester Chugabrew

Wow thanks for posting this. Everyone should click the link and read the whole story. Gripping stuff.

Those criminals chose poorly


13 posted on 10/08/2005 9:46:23 AM PDT by packrat35 (The America hating bastards at the NYT must spend their entire life with their heads in the toilet)
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To: RebelTex
I'll give you thirty,,,,make that 42 guesses why they haven't been robbed lately....great story, huh? I hope they have a successful business and life, they earned it!!
14 posted on 10/08/2005 9:47:43 AM PDT by geezerwheezer (get up boys, we're burnin' daylight!!!)
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To: geezerwheezer

"....great story, huh?"

Absolutely.   It would make a great movie, but Hollyweird would change the ending, don't ya know.  Too bad it would probably be used as anti-gun propaganda.   They would glorify the bad guys and make the good guys look like incompetent crazy gun-loving nuts. 

15 posted on 10/08/2005 10:02:14 AM PDT by RebelTex (Freedom is everyone's right - and everyone's responsibility!)
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To: Fester Chugabrew

Good read....Thanks!


16 posted on 10/08/2005 1:40:46 PM PDT by VRing
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To: Fester Chugabrew

The irony is, the anti-gun governor who put through the "one gun per month" law, Doug Wilder, was Virginia's first black governor and is now mayor of the city of Richmond. The even bigger irony is, the crime rate in Richmond is falling now that he's in charge. I don't know if he's changed his position on handguns or not (probably not) but he has gotten tougher on criminals in the past ten years.

}:-)4


17 posted on 10/08/2005 2:49:50 PM PDT by Moose4 (If you can't do something smart, do something right.)
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To: Fester Chugabrew
They don't know that when they emerge, they'll be wearing body bags instead of ski masks.

A most excellent line from an excellent story.

Thanks for the post.

I would support a business tax refund for any business which permanently eliminated this type of scum, and thusly saved the taxpayers the cost of dealing with them through the liberal court system.

18 posted on 10/08/2005 6:05:08 PM PDT by Col Freeper (Hacking and slashing at the tentacles of Islamofascism!)
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To: Fester Chugabrew
Why did you unnecessarily excerpt the article? Here's the unexcerpted version I posted back in April.
19 posted on 12/07/2005 8:54:19 AM PST by Mr. Mojo
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To: Mr. Mojo

Good question. I don't post an entire article at FR unless the author is aware of it and has granted permission to do so. Had no idea you already posted it. Did a search by title, too. Maybe yours was archived by that time.


20 posted on 12/07/2005 9:17:32 AM PST by Fester Chugabrew
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