Cocaine Cowboys details the brutally violent cocaine wars in Miami during the seventies and eighties, so infamously depicted in Miami Vice and the remake of Scarface. The cocaine wars were compared to the gangster days during prohibition in Chicago and the St. Valentine’s Day massacre. Although on a much larger scale; several thousand murders were reported in Miami during the period the drug wars raged.

The film tells the intricate stories of several Americans involved in the importing and illegal trafficking of cocaine into Florida, from connecting with the Columbian Medillen cartels; Fabio Ochia and Pablo Escobar (although very little is related to him in these tales), the rising demand for the drug in the US and the ensuing violence. How drug and blood money ended up paying for the construction of a large proportion of Miami’s skyline and city centre. Over $3BN of drug money was invested into the construction of downtown Miami. During one of the country’s worst recessions, some companies in Miami were reporting record retail sales of over $10BN, primarily with drug money.

The annual murder rate in Miami rose from one or two hundred, up to six or seven hundred. A large majority of these connected to the Columbian Godmother, Griselda Blanco, to whose name over two hundred murders have been attributed.

It is explicitly graphic at times using both photographic evidence and video footage of the brutal and frequent executions, the stories told are quite harrowing. It is a thoroughly engaging and compelling film with great contributions from ex-dealers, ex-smugglers and ex-hitmen, invoking an intriguing and slightly more personal account of the troubles from those directly involved, as well as journalists and police officers.

It is difficult to say where the film’s stance is on some of the issues, although pointing out the obvious, violence doesn’t solve anything. But some of the contributors are so charming, all looking back in hindsight either having served or currently serving their sentences. It certainly doesn’t promote violence and although crime doesn’t pay, they all have a lifestyle that is promoted and glorified. It’s almost as if it was all ok until the murders began.

by Ian Cook