Career
He was an American businessman, philanthropist, noted fox hunter and "North Carolina"s number one" producer of illegal alcohol in the mid twentieth century. Flowers purchased several pieces of land during the early portion of the Great Depression and farmed the land until the 1970s. Flowers is reported to have been a "pillar of the White Oak Baptist Church" and to have had close ties with local politicians.
He operated an illegal liquor production facility on his 5,000-acre (20 km2) farm in Johnston County, North Carolina during the 1950s and 1960s.
He is reputed to have earned $1million per year in untaxed revenue through this endeavor. Flowers was indicted ten times by federal grand juries, and eighteen times at the state and local level
He was variously charged with bootlegging, reckless driving, illegal purchase of a firearm and tax evasion but "rarely spent anytime in jail." Flowers was known as "king of the moonshiners." As a result of his open disregard for the laws governing alcohol production and consumption along with his "lavish" donations to his church and those in need, he was seen by some as a Robin Hood-like folk hero.