Chapter 5 - Unearthing the Empire
With national media camped outside the town limits, state and federal authorities moved in. A convoy of armored vehicles and state police cruisers swept into Blackwood Ridge, executing simultaneous search warrants at the Higgins estate, the corporate offices of the lumber mill, and the Blackwood Ridge Police Department.
Federal agents sealed off Police Chief Gordon May’s office, seizing hard drives, filing cabinets, and financial ledgers. Within hours, forensic accountants discovered a paper trail revealing that Ellis Higgins had been paying off local law enforcement officials, inspectors, and judicial clerks for over fifteen years to cover up environmental violations, illegal labor practices, and violent assaults committed by his sons.
Inside the lumber mill’s secondary warehouse, federal investigators found an unregistered vault containing illegal firearms, stacks of laundered cash, and detailed ledgers tracking extortion payments made to local business owners. Luke and Reid Higgins, who had spent their entire lives believing their family name made them godlike, sat trapped inside their family mansion as federal agents surrounded the perimeter.
