Documentary Cocaine Cowboys

IMDB Link

I saw this very informative documentary on DVD . The Documentary takes a look at the Cocaine trade in the 70's and 80's and its effects on Miami . A lot of people turned a blind eye to the source of the money from the Cocaine trade that drove the growth of Miami until shoot outs started to take place in shopping malls . The sheer monetary value of Cocaine from that error is almost hard to believe . Hell although the Federal Government took credit getting the murder rate in Miami under control we know know that this coincided with Griselda Blanco leaving the area . To give an idea of just how overwhelmed the local authority's were an entire graduating class of the Miami Police Academy were either killed or went to jail .

As a low income earner I am glad that I have never hung out in the circles that could tempt me down the seductive path of the illegal drugs trade . Its like a seduction into a fools errand because you can only end up in jail , dead at the ends of a rival cartel . Even with legitimate front business it would be hard today little alone thirty years ago to hide your ill gotten income . Someone is bound to nark on you in turn for a lower jail sentence somewhere along the line .These notions are reinforced by those who are interviewed for the documentary .

reply to post by xpert11


Interesting movies - I watched both 1 & 2 - so thanks for the info as I had never heard of these.

Griselda Blanco, huh? I had never heard of her before. Learn something new every day, eh? I do believe that was one whacked out woman.

reply to post by TheLoony


I watched it on tv last week and it was good. Now as for Giselda Blanco or godmother as she was also known by was the richest drug dealer at the time. Yes even richer than Pablo Escobar, but she also had more pull and could get things done easier than Escobar. I think this documentary is a must see for everyone very very interesting. If I remember correctly most of the male cartel members were afraid of her.

reply to post by tsurfer2000h


I would have been afraid of her too. The broad was frakking nuts. If she hadn't gone a her damned killing spree the coc aine would probably still be getting into the country on a record basis. The crazy broad couldn't lie low, she had to kill everyone she didn't like off and that brought the heat. As it was, Miami, then the Feds, got tired of it and had to crack down. She just couldn't be happy making her billions.

Then there's Rivi, who casually talks about killing people as if it were nothing, just another day at the office. I'll never understand killers and how they can casually take lives.

Interesting to note, all this gang warfare in Miami and yet it took the death of a basketball player, Len Bias, to get the coc aine laws in this country changed into the ridiculous laws we have today. They couldn't do it with all the death going on, yet one big time hoops player dies and everyone goes into a tizzy. Personally, I'm not in favor of any laws against it, let it all be free IMO, but that is neither here nor there.

reply to post by xpert11


I lived in a suburb of Miami (Perrine) as a kid, while this was happening. In fact two doors down from my house is one of the places that one of these coc aine guys was found killed.

That was a turbulent period - along with the race riots in Liberty City, nearby. In fact the coc aine cowboy thing was the reason that my mother moved us to California.

I didn't watch the documentary because I still remember the atmosphere of fear that permeated Miami in that era and don't want to revisit it.

~Heff

I thought this thread would be about Michel Irvin and the Dallas Cowboys.

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan



second line Now thats funny.

reply to post by TheLoony


I think the biggest thing that really set her off was the killing of a few people that were reallyclose to her wen she was doing time. I wonder what would have happened had she not snapped like she did. I wonder if the cartels would have had as much power as they do or did have now.

Originally posted by TheLoony


Interesting movies - I watched both 1 & 2

What is the sequel like ?
I haven't had a chance to watch it .

Griselda Blanco, huh? I had never heard of her before. Learn something new every day, eh? I do believe that was one whacked out woman.

Yeah IMO she would have to be something along the lines of a Psychopath . This is the women who would have the owner of Restaurant killed if they upset her . One suspect that it wasn't that hard to upset her at all . She relied on fear to keep people in the coc aine business in check or rather not have her killed .

reply to post by Hefficide


Thanks for sharing that with us .

As a general question to anyone who wants to answer it .
Did Federal Law enforcement authority's achieve anything other then make a few politicians in Washington DC look good ?
Certainly all the indicators are that the most they did was reveal the tip of the iceberg concerning the amount of Cocaine coming into Miami .
So how much harder much harder did they really make it to get Cocaine into the USA ?
Not as much as they would like to think although the Feds may have picked up intel about some of there day to day operations . Yet most of that would have come from someone looking for a deal to get a reduced jail sentence .

reply to post by xpert11


Cocaine Cowboys 2: Hustlin' With The Godmother. It's the story of Charles Crosby, who was doinking the Godmother while she was in jail and kept the business rolling while she controlled it all from jail. Let's just say he got out at the tight time and that, literally, is no understatement. He never got busted and kept his life(luckily), although she did try to have him whacked at one point.

reply to post by TheLoony


Thanks I have now seen the sequel . Why Charles thought he could cheat on Blanco and get away with while he knew what kind of influence and power she had is a mystery .The sequel takes away any of the glamour that was apparent in the first film which is a good thing . Certainly I can understand the temptation of the instant money from Cocaine as opposed to doing an expensive uni degree that is time consumer .
Does anybody think the high cost of higher education is a contributing factor or is it just the instant cash that is or was on offer ?

Cheers xpert11.

Cocaine Cowboys 1 and 2 are both great. Alot of information in those. Its just mind numbing listening to that guy talk about all the money they had from bringing it over in planes.

Rivi makes me believe that all men are/can become monsters, and after the first murder, it just gets easier and easier.

And the guy that cheated on Griswelda might be the stupidest out of ALL the people involved, and he got off the lightest....

I remember seeing this awhile ago, thanks for the link, gonna rewatch it.

A very mind stimulating documentary. Kinda like coc aine. lol

Very good Documentary ty for posting this, I will have to watch this again.
Interesting comment in the first Doc. i think it was, I recall, where the main American coke runner was saying something on the lines of supply and demand. There were tons and tons of coke produced and smuggled so vastly, meanwhile the DEA turns a blind eye. Cops and sheriffs were helping unload the kilos, lol. The USA was a monster for consumption, don't know about now, it seems that meth is becoming more and more popular these days.