Book Review: The Bluegrass Conspiracy by Sally Denton

The Bluegrass Conspiracy: An Inside Story of Power, Greed, Drugs and Murder

by Sally Denton $14.95

I was able to last about 30 seconds before this book completely hooked me, opening with the final moments of the bizarre life of Andrew C. Thornton II, the Army paratrooper, narcotics officer, and lawyer who also headed "The Company," a major international drug and gun smuggling ring based in Lexington, Kentucky. On September 11, 1985, while piloting a plane full of Columbian Cocaine over Knoxville, Tennessee and apparently being pursued by US Customs, Thornton plummeted his death while attempting to escape, not accounting for the extra 80 pounds of cocaine on him that ultimately over-weighted his parachute. Police found Thornton wearing night vision goggles, a bulletproof vest, Gucci loafers, and a duffel bag containing 40 kilos of cocaine, $4,500 in cash, knives, and two pistols.

From Thornton the reaches of this conspiracy touched every level of local, state, and national government operating in and around Kentucky. The conspiracy included prostitution, bribery of public officials, drug dealing by narcotics officers, money laundering through shell corporations and Caeser's Palace in Las Vegas, gun-running, theft of classified military hardware, importation of tons (literally) of marijuana and cocaine from Columbia into the Bluegrass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky, and of course, murder and official cover-up.

I really can't believe that no one has made a movie out of this book yet. It's like a hybrid between The Wire and Law & Order that actually went down. You could not make up a better story in my opinion. I did not put this book down from the moment I started reading until I finished it the next day; 365 pages rarely go by that quickly.