TRION, Georgia (CNN)  -- The Dodge Neon sped down Interstate 40 in eastern Oklahoma, its occupants heading to Phoenix, Arizona, to buy a load of dope. It was May 2005. The couple brought along methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana to help pass the time on the long journey.



Paul Faulkner, 83, and his son, Michael Smith, were convicted in a drug smuggling ring in north Georgia.



At that moment, Detective Rob Rumble had no clue that the traffic stop he was about to make would launch a years-long drug investigation stretching more than 2,000 miles, from the remote mountains of northwest Georgia all the way down to Mexico.



The investigation showed how an 83-year-old grandfather adapted to the times, morphing from old school bootlegging to dealing Mexican dope. His son acted as the ringleader of the operation. His grandson was tied in too, authorities say.



"I've seen it all. Nothing surprises me," said Rumble, a drug investigator for the district attorney's office in east-central Oklahoma.



After making that traffic stop, Rumble persuaded the nervous, lanky driver from Georgia to work with authorities and tell everything he knew. Investigators were led to a sleepy pocket of Georgia with scenic mountain views where people wave to strangers from their cars and where some homes still fly the Confederate flag.  Watch moonshine, marijuana and a family feud »



It's the last place one might expect drugs from Mexico. But the demand for drugs is reaching even the most remote corners of America.



Their story has all the intrigue of a classic Southern novel -- three generations of a family business on the wrong side of the law, complete with an old fashioned family feud.



"When they're in that type of business, there's a reckoning day -- and apparently this is it," said Benny Perry, the 78-year-old mayor of Trion, Georgia, one of the towns where the family was operating.



Perry is a barrel-chested man and speaks in a welcoming Southern accent. "I'll say this, I was completely surprised," he said. "I felt like we had a problem here, but I wouldn't have thought it was originating in Mexico and coming here."



The drugs, mostly marijuana, were trucked from Mexico through California and Arizona and then distributed across five counties in Georgia and one in Tennessee, authorities say. They were hidden in just about anything -- furniture, roofs of big-rigs and tire wells. Once the shipments arrived, the dope was put in 50-caliber ammunition cans and buried in the woods, where buyers would pick up the stash and leave behind thousands in cash, authorities say.  See where the family operated »



At the heart of the operation was 46-year-old Michael Leon Smith, who authorities say became one of the richest men in Chattooga County, population 25,000, as he laundered his drug money by buying up dozens of pieces of property. One tract of land sits on Old Justice Road, an ironic name considering the law finally caught up with him.



Smith's 83-year-old father, Paul Leon Faulkner, was also busted. Eight others, including Faulkner's grandson (Smith's nephew), pleaded guilty to an array of charges related to the drug ring. The drugs mostly involved marijuana, but methamphetamine and cocaine were also part of the smuggling operation, authorities say.



"We love it when somebody says they can't be caught," said Del Thomasson, a special agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation who worked the case.



Faulkner, who is suffering from cancer, was handed a 20-year sentence last month and is to head to prison in August. "Twenty years, that is a death sentence," said Giles Jones, Faulkner's attorney, adding that he has appealed the sentence.



He said Faulkner was a "full-time mountain shiner" who could talk moonshine until he was "blue in the face," but knew little about the Mexican marijuana operation. Jones said the old man's son "threw his ass under the bus
What did the attorney say about the father receiving a longer sentence? How many people were convicted? How many years did the 83 year old former moonshiner get? How many years in prison was the leader of the operation sentenced to? What was the length of the sentences? What did the attorney say? What were 10 people convicted of?
"Twenty years, that is a death sentence," Paul Faulkner, 83, and his son, Michael Smith, a 20-year sentence 20-year 20-year "Twenty years, that is a death sentence," drug smuggling ring
question: What did the attorney say about the father receiving a longer sentence?, answer: "Twenty years, that is a death sentence," | question: How many people were convicted?, answer: Paul Faulkner, 83, and his son, Michael Smith, | question: How many years did the 83 year old former moonshiner get?, answer: a 20-year sentence | question: How many years in prison was the leader of the operation sentenced to?, answer: 20-year | question: What was the length of the sentences?, answer: 20-year | question: What did the attorney say?, answer: "Twenty years, that is a death sentence," | question: What were 10 people convicted of?, answer: drug smuggling ring