CORNBREAD MAFIA

description

The Cornbread Mafia was the biggest home grown marijuana operation in U.S. history. This is their unbelievable true story.

The largest marijuana syndicate in American history was not run out of Miami or New York, it came from a bunch of farmers in Marion County, Kentucky. This documentary tells their unbelievable true story, starting in the 1970s when young men came home from Vietnam to find their farming communities collapsing. Sons of tobacco farmers, and before that moonshiners and bootleggers, they turned to marijuana as a way to keep their families and small town alive. What followed was outrageous: lion cubs on the farm, wild trips to Vegas, backroads police chases, a code of silence that baffled prosecutors, and an operation so big it became known as the Cornbread Mafia. Equal parts true crime and tall tale, this is a story about friendship, survival, betrayal, and a whole lot of weed, told with the humor and honesty of the people who lived it.

OFFICIAL SELECTION
SXSW 2026
Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival 2026

DIRECTOR'S BIO
Evan Mascagni is an award-winning director and producer based in Kentucky. His latest documentary feature, BUILDING A BRIDGE, was executive produced by Martin Scorsese. Named to DOC NYC’s 40 Under 40 emerging filmmakers, Evan’s recent work has been featured on Sundance TV, AMC+, and PBS. He runs Slaughterhouse 502, a production company proudly based in Louisville, Kentucky.

DIRECTOR'S BIO
Drew Morris is a director focused on subjects who have a peculiar relationship with societal norms. His debut doc feature, EXILE BY CHOICE (2015), streamed on Hulu. Since then, he has directed documentary projects for Atlantic Records, CROPTOBER (2020, a 6 part series), and Joe Budden’s Humans series (2023). Morris runs Born Ready Films, an LA based content house that produces projects for a range of brands and organizations.