The Cocaine Cowboys I is one of the most interesting crime
documentaries ever filmed. And the main reason for this relays on real
story behind the scenes and their real protagonists. This is the story
of how cocaine first entered the United States in huge amounts,
substituted the widely spread consume of pot and became what it is
today, a multibillion dollar business, a large scale industry to satisfy
the needs of greedy traffickers at both sides of the border and the
lust of the consumers. How it eventually became a blood thirsty
business, on how this industry kept relocating itself once the heat was
too much to handle in some centers, on how smoking guns were the ones
settling the terms in this business, on how technology was an organic
part of smuggling the substance into USA and on how the traffickers on
all parts saw their lives changed at first to become millionaires in
months and latter on to see themselves staring the 2 by 2 square meters
of a federal penitentiary if they were lucky enough to make it that far
and negotiate with the state a deal.
Rivi Ayala - Main Enforcer
In this documentary review I will go over
art and reality, on the film itself and add some critics on my own as
well, while mentioning as well other sources that add more information
into the facts. I sometimes wonder is www.whentheshipcomesin.com is more
of a documentaries blog or a movies blog, for more and more I get my
hicks from the real thing, that happens to be more creative and more
drastic than the invented stuff in some movies.
The set of all this heat was Miami,
Florida. A quiet and peaceful community for the elderly in the sixties,
where marijuana was already accepted as the drug of the people, but it
reached to the point where there was so much of it that the dealer
couldn’t sell it all. This city, filled with people from Spanish
speaking countries, became the capital of cocaine in the United States.
Cocaine Cowboys [documentary-2006] from
Docu Lector on
Vimeo.
"Cocaine Cowboys Gang"
Synopsis
Cocaine Cowboys chronicles the
development of the illegal drug trade in Miami during the 1970s and
1980s with interviews of both law enforcement and organized crime
leaders, in addition to news footage from the era. The film reveals that
in the 1960s and early 1970s, marijuana was the primary import drug
into the region. During the 1970s, marijuana imports were replaced by
the much more lucrative cocaine imports. Drug importers reveal several
of the different methods used to import the drugs into Florida. The
primary methods used to import the narcotics were by boat or by air. The
drug importers also reveal the complexity of their methods of
importation. The logistics involved with the importation included the
purchase and financing of legitimate businesses to provide cover for
illegal operations, the use of sophisticated electronic homing devices,
and other elaborate transportation schemes. The distribution networks
were also highly elaborate, and many people were involved locally and
nationally in the consumption of the imported cocaine. Importers reveal
that condominiums were purchased near particular ocean waterways to
provide a monitoring post for Coast Guard and local police patrol boats.
Importers reveal the use of high-tech radio monitoring equipment used
to monitor the radio frequencies of Federal, State, and local
authorities in order to warn incoming boats and airplanes.
The film reveals that much of the economic growth which took place in
Miami during this time period was a benefit of the drug trade. As
members of the drug trade made immense amounts of money, this money
flowed in large amounts into legitimate businesses. As a result, drug
money indirectly financed the construction of many of the modern
high-rise buildings in southern Florida. Later, when law enforcement
pressure drove many major players out of the picture, many high-end
stores and businesses closed because of plummeting sales.
Also documented in the film is the gangland violence associated with the
trade. The interviewees in the film argue that Griselda Blanco, an
infamous crime family matriarch, played a major role in the history of
the drug trade in Miami and other cities across America. It was the
lawless and corrupt atmosphere, primarily from Blanco's operations, that
led to the gangsters' being dubbed the "Cocaine Cowboys".
Max, second from the left
Michael Munday, pilot
A tank containing oil products at the Marathon Detroit Refinery has
reportedly exploded, forcing a mandatory evacuation order for a nearby
area. No injuries have been reported so far.
