Miami drug war
Miami Drug War | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Drug cartels
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan Reubin Askew Bob Graham |
Griselda Blanco Pablo Escobar Jorge "Rivi" Ayala Fabio Ochoa Mickey Munday Barry Seal Luis Fernando Arcila Mejia Sal Magluta Willy Falcon | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
1,200+ casualties[1] |
The Miami drug war was a series of armed conflicts in the 1970s and 1980s, centered in the city of Miami, Florida, between the United States government and multiple drug cartels, primarily the Medellín Cartel. It was predominantly fueled by the illegal trafficking of cocaine.
Background
By 1975,
Major traffickers in Miami at the time include
The drug war was triggered by a shootout at Dadeland Mall on July 11, 1979.[8] Two members of a Colombian drug gang entered and shot two men at a liquor store in broad daylight.[3] The murderers were quickly dubbed "Cocaine Cowboys" by a police officer.[8][9] Miami soon became known as the "Drug Capital of the World" due to ensuing turf wars between drug lords.[10]
Violence
Most of the violent crime in Miami during the period was directly related to conflicts in the city's growing drug trade.[1] In 1979, there were 349 murders in Miami.[11] The next year, the city had 573 murders and the year after that, it had 621 murders.[1] By 1981, the city morgue had an overload of dead bodies and was forced to rent out a refrigerated truck in which to keep the bodies, using it until 1988.[1] Crime in Miami had become so rampant by 1981 that journalist Roben Farzad argues Miami was a failed state.[12]
Griselda Blanco was reportedly responsible for most of the murders in South Florida between 1979 and 1981.[13] She was suspected to be behind at least 40 murders, but possibly connected to as many as 200.[14] Jorge "Rivi" Ayala, one of Blanco's hitmen, pled guilty to three murders in 1993 but is believed to be responsible for around three dozen killings during the drug wars.[6]
Police corruption
Police corruption was a problem in Miami during the period. This was fuelled by a "virtual hiring frenzy" in the Miami Police Department in 1981 and 1982 when 714 officers were hired, more than doubling the force's size by relaxing screening standards.[15]: 138 At one point in 1987, 100 of Miami's 1060 police officers had been or were under investigation on corruption-related matters.[16]
River Cops
The River Cops were a group of 19 police officers convicted of various state and federal crimes including
Beginning in 1984,[17] the police officers started to seize and steal cash and drugs from motorists stopped for traffic violations.[15]: 139 The officers then started to target more and more sizeable seizures by getting tip-offs from informants.[15]: 139 On July 13, 1985,[18] the officers seized hundreds of kilograms of cocaine in secret compartments of the Mitzi Ann, a boat docked at the Tamiami Marina.[15]: 139–140 In July 1985, the officers raided another shipment of drugs, this time on the Mary C, a pleasure boat at the Jones Boat Yard on the Miami River, taking 350–400 kilograms (770–880 lb) of cocaine worth around $10 million at the time.[15]: 140 [17][18] During the raid, three of the seven person crew unloading the cocaine drowned attempting to escape.
Some of the seized cocaine was kept for personal use but most was sold.
Law enforcement response
In December 1980, the
In February 1982,
Legacy
The dominance of
As cocaine became cheaper in Miami and the US, dealers started to look for more profitable smuggling avenues, such as into Europe.[4] The situation in some European cities in the 2020s has been compared to the Miami drug wars.[23][24][25] In 2021, the DEA's deputy chief in Europe said that Antwerp had become a "drug economy" and was "a repeat of Miami in the 1980s".[23]
References
- ^ a b c d Francisco Alvarado (10 August 2011). "1981: Miami's Deadliest Summer". Miami New Times. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
- ^ ISBN 9780300240344.
- ^ a b George Volsky (22 July 1979). "KILLINGS IN FLORIDA OVER DRUGS ON RISE". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
- ^ ProQuest 147522353
- ^ "MIAMI CRIME RISES AS DRUGS POUR IN". The New York Times. 12 August 1981. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ a b Brian Hamacher (13 April 2017). "South Florida's Most Notorious 'Cocaine Cowboys'". nbcmiami.org. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ Roben Farzad (17 October 2017). "Coconut Grove's Mutiny Hotel Was the Cocaine Kingpins' Playground". Miami New Times. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
- ^ a b "Bullets once flew at Dadeland Mall in a deadly shootout. The Cocaine Cowboys were here". Miami Herald. 24 June 2019. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
- ^ "Miami drug wars – Flashback Miami". Flashbackmiami.com. 10 September 2014. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
- ^ "Miami "Dadeland Massacre" 1979: "The War On Drugs" Begins". Deansguide.wordpress.com. 13 July 2008. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
- ^ a b c d "History: 1980-1985" (PDF). Drug Enforcement Agency. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
- ^ Elizabeth Flock (21 December 2017). "Miami drug wars – Flashback Miami". pbs.org. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
- ^ Clara Strunck (1 February 2024). "Who was Griselda Blanco? The real drugs 'Godmother' behind the new Netflix series". Harper's Bazaar. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
- ^ Richard Luscombe (4 September 2012). "'Godmother of cocaine' shot dead in Colombia". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Kim M. Lersch (2001). "Drug Related Police Corruption: The Miami Experience". In Palmiotto, Michael (ed.). Police Misconduct: A Reader for the 21st Century. Pearson. pp. 132–144.
- ^ a b John Dombrink (Winter 1988). "The Touchables: Vice and Police Corruption in the 1980's". Law and Contemporary Politics. 51 (1): 201–232. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
- ^ a b c George Volsky (12 October 1986). "7 FORMER OFFICERS ON TRIAL IN MIAMI". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
- ^ a b c d "COPS THE VILLAINS IN THIS MIAMI VICE RENEGADES WITH UNIFORMS, BADGES TARGETED DRUG DEALERS, STOLE COCAINE". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on 2 February 2024. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
- ^ Morris S. Thompson (7 February 1988). "MIAMI VICE POLICE TRAFFICKING IN DRUGS". The Washington Post. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
- ^ "'River Cops' conviction relieves police". United Press International. 9 February 1988. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
- ^ a b c "2020 Drug Enforcement Agency National Drug Threat Assessment" (PDF). Drug Enforcement Agency. March 2021. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
- Ioan Grillo (2013). "Mexican Cartels: A Century of Defying U.S. Drug Policy". Brown Journal of World Affairs. 20 (1): 253–265.
- ^ ProQuest 2615451766
- ^ Vernon Silver; Lauren Etter; Patricia Laya (22 December 2022). "A Fruit Company Found Cocaine In Its Banana Shipment. This Dutch Town Paid the Price". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
- ^ Mitchell Prothero (20 June 2023). "'They'll Figure Out Where You Live': The Rise of Europe's New Drug Cartels". Vice News. Retrieved 3 February 2024.