The documentary, directed by Billy Corben, discusses the Cocaine trade in Miami in the late 1970's and first half of the 1980's through a series of interviews, focusing primarily on the exploits of Jon Roberts, a former Mafia associate and Mickey Munday, a drug smuggler/pilot, who together trafficked and wholesaled billions of dollars worth of Columbian cocaine into South Florida. Soon, new players are introduced, like Rivi Ayala, a former Chicago car thief who became a hitman for one of the most powerful people in the Medellin cartel's American operations, Griselda Blanco, who was known as the Godmother, a woman who escalated the level of violence of the drug trade in South Florida and started a war on the streets of Miami. Ultimately, it was level of violence which ultimately led to a massive crackdown on the drug trade in the region. The strange thing for me is after watching this documentary, Scarface or Grand Theft Auto: Vice City doesn't seem as outlandish or extravagant compared with the reality of how violent the drug trade was in those days, or how profligate the spending of its kingpins were. I am sort of surprised that an enterprising DVD wholesaler hasn't put the two movies together in one package truth be told.
But one of the fascinating aspects that was revealed throughout the documentary was the fact that there was so much drug money floating around the city (in the billions) it became instrumental in helping develop the formerly sleepy resort community into a thriving modern metropolis, as all the money that trickled down into the economy from the purchase of luxury items and cars and the billions of dollars socked away in the areas banks, as well as the development of property as a laundering technique all had their effect on building the infrastructure of the city and helping the region become a center of trade and industry beyond the drug and tourist trade.
Now the narrative is the reason to watch this documentary to be sure, but the presentation is excellent as well. It is tightly edited, and features a score by Jan Hammer of Miami Vice fame. It is documentary of both style and substance.
I learned recently that at the end of this month, Corben is releasing a sequel to Cocaine Cowboys entitled Cocaine Cowboys II: Hustlin' with the Godmother, which deals with the crack cocaine business in Oakland in the early 1990's, and since there are elements which are related to the first movie, I am very interested in seeing it as well.
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