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Former leader of Kentucky’s ‘Cornbread Mafia’, a marijuana crime syndicate, has died

Johnny Boone was sometimes referred to as the “Godfather of Grass."
Credit: Joe Keith Bickett
Johnny Boone

NELSON COUNTY, Ky. — John Robert “Johnny” Boone, sometimes referred to as the “Godfather of Grass,” died last week at 80.

Boone – a former leader of Kentucky’s “Cornbread Mafia” – died Friday at a Marion County nursing home, according to the Nelson County Gazette.

In 2016, Boone was arrested in Canada after being on the run for eight years. He was even been featured on “America’s Most Wanted.”

He was sentenced to five years in federal prison in 2018 after pleading guilty to a single count, admitting that he conspired to possess, grow and distribute more than 1,000 marijuana plants at an operation near Springfield, Kentucky.

Boone was previously convicted in the 1980s and spent a decade in prison for what prosecutors called a massive marijuana syndicate. They said he was head of a multistate marijuana operation known as the "Cornbread Mafia."

Author Joe Keith Bickett, who wrote multiple books about the Cornbread Mafia, said Boone was a "great friend."

"[He was] always willing to help his friends and neighbors," Bickett shared on social media. "Prayers and thoughts for all the Boone family."

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