Forty years ago, six young, Florida beach boys and a shrimper named Bubba smuggled more Jamaican weed into America than the nation had ever seen. Visit some old weed pirates β and the man who eventually ended their way of life. Tourists abandon the beaches in droves, famished and reddened, and head for the boardwalk in search of their next meal of fried shrimp and hushpuppies.
The boardwalk is packed with marina-front businesses selling overpriced ice cream and airbrushed T-shirts. To the outside eye, St. The sand is white, the water is blue, and the surf is steady and strong.
But among the tourists and the snowbirds walk relics of St. Forty years ago, the boys of St. Pete Beach smuggled more marijuana than the nation had ever seen. Thrill-seeking teenagers became millionaires overnight and grew sophisticated, international smuggling operations. They made more money in a week than most see in a lifetime. But even outlaws have to grow old. And today, the same boys who grew up on the beach, raising hell and breaking rules, still call the place home. Here, they live with their ghosts, get high on memories and search for purpose in the long twilight of a life spent at sea.
Steve Lamb, now 62 years old, still has an undeniable boyishness. His thoughts jump quickly from one subject to another and he struggles to remember names shortly after learning them , but he can still deliver a good joke though it usually gets repeated.
And more than 40 years ago, Steve Lamb was one of a group of seven men all save one younger than 25 who came to be known as the Steinhatchee Seven. They were busted smuggling more weed than had ever been found stateside. Most of the men had smuggled square grouper before; several of them had worked together for years, after growing up side-by-side on St.
