Galveston was the Las Vegas of the Roaring Twenties. There were casinos, nightclubs, Broadway entertainers, bookmaking parlors, and a red-light district with over a thousand ladies of the evening. The Roaring Twenties was also the era of the Volstead Act, a federal law prohibiting the sale of alcoholic spirits anywhere in America. The Island, as Galveston was called by locals, was nonetheless home base to the largest rumrunning operation west of the Mississippi.
Overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, and located off the coast of Texas, Galveston was controlled by modern-day mobsters. A triad of gangsters, crooked politicians, and unscrupulous businessmen transformed the Island into a paradise of sun-and-surf resorts, with a nightlife that rivaled New York and Paris. Millions of tourists flocked to the Island, and tens of millions of dollars were siphoned off by an underworld empire that lasted more than fifty years. There is nothing remotely similar to Galveston in all of American history.
The Overlords is historical fiction. Literary license has been taken with names and places, dates and events, and a large part of the story is pure invention. In fact, The Overlords bears testament to the hoary adage that truth is stranger than fiction. The historical reality of Galveston Island often beggars belief.
The Roaring Twenties was an era of booze, jazz, and “let the good times roll.” Galveston Island was a microcosm of a people and a nation involved in a decade-long party orchestrated by the mob. The Overlords is their story.