3. Bowie and Lafitte worked a scam together in 1818
James Bowie wanted to engage in land speculation in Louisiana, though he lacked sufficient funds. How and where he first met Jean Lafitte is unknown. What is known is that Bowie and Lafitte entered into a scheme to defraud the authorities in Louisiana. In 1818 it was illegal to import slaves into the United States, indeed smuggled slaves were a large portion of Lafitte’s income. Customs officials in the southern states seized smuggled slaves as contraband. They then sold the slaves at auction, and half of the income derived from the sale was offered as a reward to whoever had informed them of the illegal status of the slaves.
Bowie bought slaves from Lafitte at Galveston, took them to New Orleans, and reported the transaction to customs authorities. When the slaves were offered at auction, he purchased them through an agent. He then received half of the purchase price as the reward for essentially turning himself in. Obviously, everyone involved was merely winking at federal law. The slaves, rendered legal property by the purchase from customs, were then sold upriver to plantations in Mississippi, where they received a considerably higher price than in New Orleans. The Bowie – Lafitte scheme gave James $65,000, equivalent to $1.3 million today, with which to speculate in land.