Lesson plan

Cornbread Mafia

The "Cornbread mafia" was the name for a group of Kentucky men who created the largest domestic marijuana production operation in United States history. It was based in Marion, Nelson and Washington counties in central Kentucky. The term "Cornbread Mafia" was first publicly used by federal prosecutors in a June 1989 press conference, where they revealed that 70 men had been arrested for organizing a marijuana trafficking ring that stretched across 30 farms in 10 states stretching from the Southeast into the Midwest. The story was first reported in the Courier Journal newspaper in Louisville, Kentucky on October 8, 1989, and then in 2012 in the narrative non-fiction book The Cornbread Mafia: A Homegrown Syndicate's Code of Silence and the Biggest Marijuana Bust in American History by James Higdon. In his first two books,The Origins of the Cornbread Mafia, a Memoir of Sorts (2016) and Cornbread Mafia, The Outlaws of Central Kentucky (2018) author and founding member Joe Keith Bickett, chronicles his first-hand account as to how the term "Cornbread Mafia" was coined in Kentucky in the late 1970s. and the group's ultimate downfall in the late 1980s.…

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Article summary

The "Cornbread mafia" was the name for a group of Kentucky men who created the largest domestic marijuana production operation in United States history. It was based in Marion, Nelson and Washington counties in central Kentucky. The term "Cornbread Mafia" was first publicly used by federal prosecutors in a June 1989 press conference, where they revealed that 70 men had been arrested for organizing a marijuana trafficking ring that stretched across 30 farms in 10 states stretching from the Southeast into the Midwest. The story was first reported in the Courier Journal newspaper in Louisville, Kentucky on October 8, 1989, and then in 2012 in the narrative non-fiction book The Cornbread Mafia: A Homegrown Syndicate's Code of Silence and the Biggest Marijuana Bust in American History by James Higdon. In his first two books,The Origins of the Cornbread Mafia, a Memoir of Sorts (2016) and Cornbread Mafia, The Outlaws of Central Kentucky (2018) author and founding member Joe Keith Bickett, chronicles his first-hand account as to how the term "Cornbread Mafia" was coined in Kentucky in the late 1970s. and the group's ultimate downfall in the late 1980s.…

Key claims

  1. date of death: 2024-06-14 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
  2. members: 100 members — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
  3. publication date: 2012 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
  4. publication date: 2016 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
  5. release date: 2011 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the date of death is "2024-06-14". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. The record states that the members is "100 members". What evidence would count against this claim?
  4. The record states that the publication date is "2012". What evidence would count against this claim?
  5. The record states that the publication date is "2016". What evidence would count against this claim?
  6. The record states that the release date is "2011". What evidence would count against this claim?
  7. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  8. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1375959279

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.