Betting Booze and Brothels Author:Landrey & O'Toole Vice, corruption, and justice in Jefferson County, Texas. By the turn of the 20th Century, Beaumont, Texas had acquired a reputation as a rough place. Situated in the oil-soaked chaos of Spindletop, Jefferson County was a hotbed of vice. For decades, gambling and prostitution thrived as elected officials either looked the other way or took mon... more »ey to keep quiet. That is, until 1960 when a swashbuckling young state legislator blew into town and spearheaded an intensive investigation into the rampant vice and governmental corruption that supported it. When the dust finally cleared, the local governments of Jefferson County were turned inside out; but it would take a presistent citizenry months of legal warfare before law and order were finally restored.« less