A former boss of the Dixie Mafia who ordered the murders of a circuit court judge and his wife in 1987 and who was suspected in the 1967 shooting which killed the wife of Sheriff Buford Pusser of “Walking Tall” fame is now asking to be released from prison after 51 years.

Kirksey McCord Nix Jr. says he cannot receive adequate care for his numerous health conditions while in prison.

Nix, now 80, was already serving a life sentence in a Louisiana’s Angola State Penitentiary for the 1971 murder of a New Orleans grocery store executive when he ordered the 1987 murders of Harrison County (Miss.) Circuit Court Judge Vincent Sherry and his wife, Margaret Sherry, a former city council member, according to court documents.

While in Angola, Kirksey was hopeful of bribing his way out of prison by raising money through what prosecutors called a “lonely hearts” scam designed to defraud homosexual men.

Nix and his associates would take out personal ads in national magazines geared to homosexual men, pretending to be a young man looking for a relationship or sexual encounter. When men responded to these ads, they would be told the “young man” needed money to get to them, with instructions on how to wire the money, which would end up in the hands of a Nix associate outside the prison.

Prosecutors said Nix amassed “hundreds of thousands of dollars” from the scheme.

In December 1986, Pete Halat, a Biloxi attorney and Nix associate, told Nix that about $100,000 of Nix’s money was missing, with Halat saying he suspected his former law partner, Vincent Sherry, of stealing the money, which ultimately led to the killing of Sherry and his wife.

Halat would be elected Mayor of Biloxi in 1989.

In 1991, Nix, Mike Gillich and two other conspirators were found guilty of multiple federal crimes connected to the Sherry murders.

Three years later, Gillich turned state informant and a second trial, in 1997, produced additional convictions, with Nix found guilty of racketeering, conspiracy to violate the racketeering statutes, fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Halat, who lost a reelection bid in 1993, was also found guilty during the 1997 trial for his involvement in the criminal conspiracy. The second trial also determined Thomas “The Thumb” Holcomb was the hitman hired by Nix and associates to carry out the Sherry murders.

Six years before Nix’s first murder conviction, he was a suspect in the shootings of Sheriff Buford Pusser and his wife in McNairy County, Tenn., in August 1967. Pauline Pusser was killed, while Buford Pusser, the intended target, had part of his face blown off, but survived.

Buford Pusser maintained the Dixie Mafia was behind the shooting and Nix was directly involved. No one was ever charged in the Pusser case and Nix has refused to comment on Pusser’s accusations. Buford Pusser died in 1974.

Nix is incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in El Reno, Okla. He is asking for a compassionate release from prison, saying in a federal court filing Nix filed himself that he suffers from multiple medical conditions, including congestive heart failure, high blood pressure, diabetes and other afflictions which have him confined to a wheelchair, according to the Biloxi, Miss., Sun Herald.

Nix says another inmate is being paid to push him around the facility and is only able to eat, bathe or go to the bathroom with assistance. He also said the doctor who provided care in the Oklahoma prison has retired.

Nix wrote that he has two relatives, both registered nurses, who could care for him in Eufala, Okla. — his hometown.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office is opposing Nix’s release, writing in court filings Nix is receiving adequate medical care and has not proven he no longer poses a threat to the public.

In his filing, Nix claims he is a changed man.

“The defendant is not the same person who stood before this court at sentencing,” he wrote, “and he does not pose any type of threat to any individual or society at large.”

Former FBI Special Agent Keith Bell, who investigated the Sherry murders, told the Sun Herald Nix should never be freed, noting that the last time Nix was free (1971) he killed a man.

“He is a habitual criminal who has been involved in serious criminal activities all of his adult life,” Bell told the outlet. “He was involved in criminal acts when previously free and he continued his illegal actions even after being incarcerated.’

U.S. District Court Judge Keith Starrett is expected to rule on Nix’s request.