 croatian arrivals from sinj croatiagillich and gilich croatian arrivals from sinj croatiagillich and gilich osarep mon 12312012 1350   gilichgillich family plotbiloxi cemetery  image made december 2012 by ray l bellande  gilichgillich rosa g gilich  19021980 nee guich was born at milna on the island of brac county splitdalmatia croatia she married michael joseph chicago mike gilich  18871972 a native of sinj county splitdalmatia croatia four daughters  lucille gilich  b 1925 m alton sydney wescovich 19272007 and edward charles barq jr 19211971  anna mae gilich   frances gilich  m mr duke  joseph gilich  19221943  andrew m gillich  b 1924 m jacobina sekul wetzel 19132003  mary agnes gilich  19282012  michael mike joseph gilich   jr  19302012 m marlene redding and frances ann salisbury b 1953 and rudolph gilich  19331933  the daily herald august 7 1980 p a2  lucille gilich lucille gillich married albert sydney wescovich 19272007 in harrison county mississippi on june 21 1944 harrison co mississippi circuit court mrb 65 p 305  joseph gilich joseph gilich   19221943 joined the us navy in october 1942 he drowned at monterrey california on december 10 1943 joseph s corporal remains were sent to biloxi mississippi for internment in the biloxi cemetery  the daily herald december 10 1943 p 10 and the daily herald january 1 1944 p 3   andrew m gilich andrew m gilich sr age 91 of biloxi passed away on friday june 27 2014 he was preceded in death by wife of 58 years jacobina sekul wetzel gilich his parents mike sr and rosa guich gillich his brothers joseph gillich rudolph gillich and mike gillich jr his sisters anna mae gilich and mary agnes gilich son stephen k wetzel and a grandson gregory marco gilich he is survived by sons jim wetzel and andrew fofo gilich serena daughters andrea tot gilich sr and jaye gilich brice ca buddy daughterinlaw brenda c wetzel sister lucille gilich barq all from biloxi and sister frances gillich duke of st paul minnesota surviving grandchildren all from biloxi include james k wetzel garnette jamie wetzel morgan peter leigh wetzel adamson carol wetzel roybal mario stephen kenneth wetzel jr dawn kathlene wetzel atkinson robert christopher wetzel rachel gilich wade keith gretchen marie gilich andrew andy gilich michelle andrew red gilich jr johneen gilich buchignani john and jaqueline gilich wilson aaron his greatgrandchildren are garner wetzel jarrod bigott anne roybal migues jeffrey brennan roybal stephen roybal elissa roybal elizabeth wetzel paul wetzel stephen wetzel wesley atkinson ashley atkinson landon atkinson john wetzel michael wetzel david wetzel william maxwell wade zachary gilich wade caroline jaye wilson ansley madeline gilich and soon to arrive joseph andrew buchignani a mass of christian burial will be held on wednesday july 2 2014 at noon at the nativity of the blessed virgin mary cathedral biloxi with a visitation for family and friends from 1000 am until the mass burial will follow at biloxi city cemetery riemannfamily funeral home is serving the family  andrew gilich sr was proud croatian and biloxian  from the sun herald june 28 2014 p a4 the family of andrew m gilich sr had a couple of months to say goodbye before the biloxi businessman died friday at age 91 a funeral service will be wednesday at nativity bvm cathedral in biloxi despite recently declining health he fought to make it to his birthday tuesday and celebrate with his children grandchildren and extended family he also wanted to watch baseball and see tiger woods make a comeback this week gilich was an avid golfer one of a group from the coast who formed sunkist country club since he worked all week he golfed only on sunday    said his son andrew fofo gilich for a man who could only play on sundays he did very well he said  andrew played golf on sunday with alton l bellande johnny baker yetta lawrence and morris knox  ray l bellandejune 2014 these last weeks of his life gave gilich sr a chance to talk about his four holesinone on four different courses gilich told his family he hit one at the old edgewater course one at st andrews one at gulf hills and one at sunkist he also recalled leaving biloxi in 11th grade to fight in world war ii with his maritime roots in biloxi he captained a 50foot lcm transport boat in the philippines truly the greatest generation that he came from his son said his 11th grade education took him far but gilich saw that education was key for his children there was no question i was going to college his son said together with his wife of more than 50 years jacobina sekul gilich they ran the first grocery stores in east biloxi city hall grocery at main and howard and later the foodland supermarket on judge sekul and porter avenue the first in the area to have aisles and carts like many biloxi businesses leaders both of gilich sr s parents came to south mississippi with little money or education he was very proud to be croatian his son said innovation and intuitiveness would make you succeed gilich sr started building apartments across biloxi and had a very successful career his son said he also enjoyed a large extended family and except during the war gilich lived all his life in biloxi fofo said he wanted to be just like his dad everything he did as a kid in high school i wanted to do he said his dad was on the boxing team i boxed his son said they also played partners in the slavic invitational golf tournament for more than 30 years i ve got great great memories of him his son said he was a true biloxi gentle man  mary a gilich mary agnes gilich  19282012 was born at biloxi mississippi on may 6 1928  michael j gilich jr michael joseph gilich jr    19302012 was k nown on the coast as mike and mr mike on december 23 1951 in harrison county mississippi he married marlene redding the daughter of oliver osborn redding 19041982 and artemise catchot 19111998 the daughter of robert f catchot 18891941 and jennie fryou they were the parents of marlene cecile gillich m robert keith pisarich tina rose gillich m britt r singletary and michael joseph gillich iii b 1954 m sandra leigh suarez harrison co mississippi circuit court mrb 88 1941 2nd jd circuit court mrb 8 p 37 and 2nd jd circuit court 38 p 529 oliver osborn redding called osborn was born at crystal springs mississippi on october 14 1904 the son of walter armstrong redden 18701935 and francis osborn several of the redden children among them osborn o redden adopted the name redding because it was often misspelled by the general public because of its similar sounding mike gillich jr who made his livelihood as a striptease lounge owner and was known for his role in the murders of a a politically prominent biloxi couple died of cancer at age 82 years on saturday april 28 2012 in his biloxi home mr gillich and his lounges the golden nugget and dream room were fixtures on biloxi s tourist strip for decades he used to stand in front of his beachfront building in the afternoons and watch traffic pass or sip coffee with friends across the street at krispy kreme doughnuts he also maintained an extensive network of criminal contacts in the dixie mafia a loosely organized band of criminals drawn to the coast by nightclubs and illegal gambling gillich and an imprisoned criminal associate from the dixie mafia planned the murders of former circuit court judge vincent jerome sherry jr 19291987 and his wife former biloxi councilwoman margaret joyce smith sherry 19291987 a professional hitman gunned them down in their home sept 14 1987 the case brought unwanted national publicity to biloxi resulting two books and talk of a featurelength film gillich for years denied any involvement in the murders but he eventually identified the hitman and implicated former biloxi mayor pete halat vincent sherry s best friend in the conspiracy gillich s imprisoned crony dixie mafia kingpin kirksey mccord nix jr wrongly believed that money he sent to the halat sherry law office had been stolen by vincent sherry gillich nix and two others were convicted for their roles in the murder conspiracy in 1991 other conspirators remained free  keith bell then a special agent with the federal bureau of investigation started working on the case in 1989 the fbi and us attorney s office kept the pressure on gillich hauling him back to court on marijuana trafficking and witness tampering charges by 1993 bell said gillich was ready to talk having been an fbi agent for 25 years including being assigned to the san francisco and los angeles offices for about 10 years bell said i know firsthand how very difficult it is for someone involved in criminal activities for a lengthy period of time to suddenly switch positions and cooperate with law enforcement authorities they know as mr gillich knew it meant a total break from his previous life friends and associates there was no turning back for mr gillich s full cooperation with the federal government i as well as all law enforcement authorities involved with the investigation fully appreciate what he did i as well as members of the sherry family am convinced mr gillich fully realized and understood how very wrong he was for his involvement in the murders and that he did and will forever regret his actions  bell said gillich s attorneys chet and gail nicholson of gulfport advised gillich during the legal travails that led him to become a federal witness gillich had been sentenced to 20 years in prison for helping plan the murders when he testified at a 1997 trial against the hitman and halat both of whom were convicted for their roles in the conspiracy the hitman later died in prison halat who served as mayor from 19891993 is scheduled to be released in april 2013 from federal prison in oakdale la according to the bureau of prisons web site us district judge charles pickering sr released gillich from prison after nine years in 2000 based on his cooperation gillich spent his final years living quietly in the hometown he loved chet nicholson eventually recorded a lengthy series of interviews with gillich and his wife frances arguelles partly based on those interviews nicholson wrote a fictional account of criminal exploits on the coast dream room tales of the dixie mafia published in 2009 nicholson said gillich lived a long and very eventful life although he did some things in his lifetime that i know he later came to regret he experienced a religious conversion later in life nicholson said while nobody can know what is in the heart of another person i hope that he was sincere and that he is in a better place  on november 9 2000 mike gillich jr married francis ann salisbury in harrison county mississippi harrison co mississippi 2nd jd circuit court 56 p 118   r udolph gilich rudolph gilich  19331933 was born and died on may 9 1933  references  edward humes mississippi mud gallery books new york1994 434 pages the daily herald   gilich funeral   december 17 1943 the daily herald   with coast men women of armed service   january 1 1944 the daily herald   thursday is set for opening of foodland store   march 2 1949  the daily herald   nada guich   january 2 1965 p 2  the daily herald   mrs rosa g gillich  sic   august 7 1980  the daily herald     the mississippi press mike gillich jr figure in 1987 dixie mafia slaying of 2 dies may 1 2012 the sun herald judge vincent sherrymrs margaret sherry september 18 1987 p a4 the sun herald sherry files combed for clues to killers september 18 1987 p a1 the sun herald mrs sherry told of fears of murder september 19 1987 p a1 the sun herald sherrys remembered with humor affection september 20 1987 p a1 the sun herald gillich associate leonard f swetman plead innocent to drug charges listed in indictment february 9 1991 p a1 the sun herald the sherry murders 20 years laterstill stunningbiloxi s most notorious murders revisited september 9 2007 p a 1 the sun herald fbi vet won 10year fight september 9 2007 p a 1 the sun herald the sherry murders 20 years laternot the best sort of witness september 10 2007 p a 1 the sun herald house where sherry s were murdered will be torn down september 26 2010 p a 1 the sun herald    alton s wescovich sr   april 13 2007 the sun herald   mary agnes gilich   january 17 2012 the sun herald   mike gillich dies at 82lounge owner was central to sherry murder conspiracy   may 1 2012 the sun herald    andrew gilich sr was proud croatian and biloxian  june 28 2014 the sun herald     andrew fofo  gilich files for biloxi s mayor race   march 21 2015 p a4 3726 views  