Interview · moment 9 of 22
Cactus Jack Daniels and Texas Deer Feed Wars
from 154 - The 3 AM Episode · #154
6 min
Guest
Ben shares a Texas story about a kid literally named Cactus Jack Daniels who died young of a brain aneurysm, and the deer-feed-stealing gun standoffs among teenagers in his hometown.
- A kid named Cactus Jack Daniels — his actual legal name, combining a gun brand with a whiskey brand.
- Tim explains that naming a child Cactus Jack Daniels is essentially a death sentence.
- A teenager named Easton stole a bag of deer feed from Cactus's truck just to mess with him.
- Sheriffs would find shotguns and rifles in high school kids' cars during parking lot checks because they claimed they were going hunting after school.
- Cactus pulled a .22 on Easton over stolen deer corn, and they both drew guns on each other before just walking away.
- Cactus Jack Daniels died at 24 from a brain aneurysm.
- Texas gun culture is a different kind of crazy compared to the organized crime atmosphere Tim grew up around in New Jersey.
- Tony Soprano was based on a mobster who ran the de Cavalcanti family and lived in Tim's hometown.
- Characters from Goodfellas, including Paulie, were connected to people living in Tim's New Jersey town.
- Italian mob members have lost political clout and can't function anymore; everyone rats, so they just open strip clubs in Arizona or Vegas instead.
De Cavalcanti familyTony SopranoCactus Jack DanielsGoodfellasTexas