Bootsie first set up shop in Indiana. She was last seen out on Long Island, New York’s Gold Coast.
“Kentucky this, Kentucky that…you’re all a bunch of backward shuckers if you ask me”, Bootsie answered when asked if she wanted to set up shop and distribute in Kentucky.
The gentlemen at the table did not seem pleased, although no one challenged her assertion as she continued with logic. Later on, those Kentucky boys and Bootsie developed an unbreakable bond.
You see, the success of Bootsie’s operation was that she maintained a small crew in areas of the Country that did not bring attention from unwanted others. Kentucky was on everyone’s bootlegger radar, but its next-door cousin Indiana was not - and that’s where it all began for Bootsie.
Being just across the Kentucky border presented a distinct advantage. Bootsie was able to source her material from the Beauvalou, a French-Canadian crew who used Indiana for their growing and distilling needs. (pronounced “Beh-u-va-loo”, not “Beh-u-va-laow”) The climate was perfect. The soil was abundant in life. The territory was off the beaten path of those sniffing around.
It also didn’t hurt that Bootsie spoke fluent French. Claude Beauvalou wanted nothing more than to be the apple of Bootsie’s eye. We met a couple of times. You could pick him out in the crowd because he walked with a limp and a nuanced annoyance. By the way, I swore to Bootsie that I was not the one that knocked over the copper still can that he tripped over in the Barn.
As of the day of her disappearance, Bootsie’s operation extended from Canada through Iowa, Chicago, and Indiana. It continued along the border of Kentucky, through Tennessee and finally up to the shores of Long Island. It was there, at an inlet known as Ships' Hole, that Bootsie was said to have been spotted prior to her disappearance. It made sense; Ships' Hole was tucked along Bootleggers Trail.