“Shotgun John” Smith claimed he was Scarface Capone’s lieutenant, on Grand Bahama, during the rum running years. And he had the shotguns to prove it!
In 1962, in an article on the revival of Grand Bahama as a tourist destination, a reporter started asking locals about the history of the island. He was told stories that stretched back 200 years. The reporter soon stumbled across a giant of a man, who not only had a story to tell, but the old guns to prove it as well.
“Shotgun John” Smith said he worked for Al Capone in his operations on the West End in Grand Bahama. Smith told the story of when the sons of the infamous crime family of Ma Barker, sneaked onto Grand Bahama and robbed the West End bootlegger of their cash.
(The Courier-Journal, Sunday, February 26, 1962)
