Most people try to break out of prison, but this crazy Southerner actually broke into one! Sammie Mays, also known as gonzo girl, earned her gonzo rank when commissioned by the National Enquirer to get a picture of fallen baseball bad boy Pete Rose, while incarcerated in a Supermax Penitentiary. The lure of $100,000.00 proved too much for her to resist.
The plan only concocted after some dirty-dog broke into her Key West Bar & Grill, in the seaport town of Pascagoula Mississippi, and stole her blind. “Not just the liquor, money and beer - they stole the pooltable, barstools, cash register and even the air conditioning unit! I’ve always heard a bad artist borrows and a good artist steals. I wonder what they named the new bar?” She bemused at the situation.
A hell raisin' 24-hr honkytonk, 'The Key' was the key to the musical beginnings for saltwater troubadour Jimmy Buffett. His one-legged Uncle Billy Buffett, a regular at the bar, struck a deal for his underage nephew to sweep and mop spilled swill from the floor in exchange for stage time. Clever Uncle Billy drank for free!
Busted, strapped for cash and desperate for a quick fix, Sammie posed as a musician, hid a camera inside a busted-out speaker cabinet, sweet talked the warden and herself right into the Nation’s toughest penitentiary. And through hook and crook, the Gonz managed to snap the coveted picture of Pete In The Pokey! Sports Illustrated named it Best of Year.
When I read her fascinating story 'I shot Pete Rose' and more on her web site:
www.saminthekeys.com I held my breath until the end. I’m surprised her antics haven’t been turned into a movie, or maybe they have!
Retired from yellow journalism, Gonzo Girl lives in Key West, Florida and is the feature (humor) writer for TravelHost Magazine of the Florida Keys and Key West. She is also the Host for Comcast Channel 5 and 19 Spotlight On The Keys. That is when her producer can catch up with her.
"Livin’ in Key West and writing sorted adventures and drunken tales of characters I
encounter sure beats the hell out of workin’ for Southern Bride Magazine." The famous photojournalist tells us.
"Bridezillas give me the heebie jeebies! I've been married 3 times myself and had to kill 'em before it was all over with, except for the one who misplaced his mind and checked himself into a mental institution. Some people just don’t know when to call it a day.” She laughed, taking a swig of beer.
When ask about her 1982 arrest on corruption charges, and being deported from the Caribbean Island of St. Martin, Sammie claimed she was only trying to help educate the poor islanders, and that the Gendarme were just overly zealous.
Miraculously, the Gonz is a survivor of not one, but two direct-hit category 5 hurricanes – Katrina and Camille, and so far has managed to survive a death threat from her old editor-in-chief at the National Enquirer (name withheld to protect the guilty).
But according to Sammie, “nothin’ but nothin’ is as bad or as painful
as that gig with the bridal magazine. Still to this day I hate pink chiffon.”
Sammie is a creation herself. When she showed up for this interview she walked into the bar at the Pilot House chomping on a Cuban cigar and offered me one. I politely declined and she said "Why not? You probably smoke everything else!”
When we ask what brought her to the Florida Keys, she blamed it on...“That smugglin’ gunrunnin’ Captain Tony Terracino. And besides, it was as good a place as any to lay low while the National Enquirer got over being pissed off at me.” What do you plan to do next we ask..."Not a damn thing but sit here and have another beer.” And that she did.
If laughter is the best medicine, then there's no doubt Gonzo Girl is the doctor.
Heads up! If you want meet the Gonz, the Islamorada Chamber of Commerce has snagged Sammie for their annual holiday festival, where she will perform her, too cute for words, Pirate Night Before Christmas story. It is the Gonzo Girl's latest family friendly treasure where her “OL White Beard”, Pirate Santa character, is brought to life on stage with the help of The Pirates on the Water!