May 06

Cocaine Cowboys Premiere on CNBC

Cocaine Cowboys premiered last night on CNBC and even though I had posted about the film before this was the first time I ever saw it. The slick editing and interviews fed me a wealth of information in just two hours and l couldn’t get off the couch.

This seedy documentary is filled with every possible news footage of a dangerous time in Miami history, mugshots, blurry crime scene images, bad suits, and a parade of 70’s “porn staches”. There are interviews with local officials, journalists, and greedy opportunistic pilots. The best (or worst) has to be the interview with Griselda Blanco’s number one assassin Jorge Rivi Ayala. His cool demeanor about discussing murders left me feeling sick. Ayala possesses a charming disposition that will make you forget he’s serving three life sentences. The real “belle of the ball” has to be Griselda Blanco. This notorious Godmother is still a respected cult figure by misguided street thugs, no doubt her name remains on multiple hit lists for the gruesome way she conducted “business”. Even Blanco’s sole surviving son was arrested in Miami for drugs in 2011 which shows you the apple didn’t fall far from that tree.

If you have a chance to see this you’ll emerge with a clear picture of Miami during those bloody years and the long lasting effects the cocaine trade had on the South Florida economy.