The New Gladesmen

Aashish Patel had an uneasy feeling driving down the lonely stretch of road that leads to Everglades City in 2007 with his father, George Patel.

They had just purchased a run-down motel and struggling airboat business in this swampy outpost located in Big Cypress National Preserve. It's a forgotten stop at the terminus of State Road 29 off U.S. 41, a community of 400 residents bypassed by Interstate 75 Alligator Alley to the north.

Like many Florida fishing communities, Everglades City was devastated by the bans on commercial fishing. It still bears the reputation of the smuggling haven it earned more than 30 years ago after a spectacular federal drug bust ensnared many residents who were forced out of the fisheries business by government restrictions.