A semi-trailer containing the entire second printing of James Higdon's "The Cornbread Mafia" was stolen from a truck lot in Elgin, Ill., roughly 40 miles northwest of Chicago.
The book, which tells the story of the largest domestic marijuana syndicate in history -- 70 Kentuckians arrested for growing just under 200 tons of marijuana in 10 states -- features a historical tale of the 1956 hijacking of a truck shipment of bowling alley machinery in Danville, Ky, according to reporter Matt Frassica, who has written about Higdon's work previously.
The Elgin hijacking occurred sometime between 7 p.m. on April 28 and 7:30 a.m. on April 29, Elgin police Department Lt. Dan O'Shea told The Huffington Post. The truck contained 10 pallets of electric coffee brewers, 11 pallets of nuts, bolts and steel, and 562 packages of paperback books, according to O'Shea's police reports.
Frassica published an article in The Courier-Journal documenting the strange case of the 1,600 stolen books.
According to Lt. Sean Rafferty of the Elgin police department, three other semi trailers were stolen from the same lot in the days before the one containing the book shipment disappeared. The other stolen trailers were empty.
At 1 a.m. last Friday [May 4], Elgin police caught two men who pulled a semi tractor onto the unfenced lot, hitched an empty trailer to it and began driving away. The driver, Perica Todorovic, was charged with aggravated possession of a stolen vehicle, receiving or possessing a stolen motor vehicle, and one count of theft. The passenger was not charged.
Police have said they do not consider Higdon's books to be the main target of the theft. The stolen trailers and books have yet to be located.
Watch Higdon discuss his book on "Great Day Live," a Louisville-based morning TV program: