Hacker Cinema
Cocaine Cowboys
2006 · Film · documentary · 118 min
Part of Cocaine Cowboys Collection
Directed by Billy Corben
In the 1980s, ruthless Colombian cocaine barons invaded Miami with a brand of violence unseen in this country since Prohibition-era Chicago - and it put the city on the map. "Cocaine Cowboys" is the true story of how Miami became the drug, murder and cash capital of the United States, told by the people who made it all happen.
4 positive5 neutralfrom 9 commenters
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10 comments on Hacker News
Years ago, I watched a documentary called "Cocaine Cowboys". It was about how Florida went from a sleepy state to a drug-fuelled boom as cocaine started to show up and bring in tons of money over the 1970s and 1980s. They interviewed police, drug dealers, reporters, etc from the era.
Anyways, part of the documentary was how the police in Miami needed to expand quickly to deal with the rise in violence and crime and part of that was the necessity of lowering hiring standards that, combined with hiring fast, meant that corruption and bad actors permeated into the police force. At one point the entire graduating class in one year were eventually all arrested for varying levels of nasty stuff.
I think about that a lot when I see how fast they've expanded ICE, on top of the militarization of the force and lack of accountability.
> I wish it were possible to go observe the system in action as a spectator.
Barring a time machine or wonder viewer that would make this possible I highly recommend this documentary from 2006 [1] “Cocaine Cowboys” its a tell all of the inner workings of the largest drug importers and follows the rise and subsequently fall of the cocaine trade in Florida which ultimately culminates in the major construction and modernization of Miami Florida.
[1] https://imdb.com/title/tt0380268/
You might be interested in the documentary Cocaine Cowboys.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocaine_Cowboys
> Well, drug consumers can stop purchasing drugs that you know that involve the cartels. But most people that talk about the "War on Drugs" would rather blame the US drug policies instead, rather than the own up to the fact that they are contributing to the problem.
That is not a reasonable strategy to reduce the power of cartels. Not that I disagree with you. But it's not a reasonable strategy.
> I would also like to point out that legalizing drugs would not solve the problem. The problem is corruption, not the drugs themselves. Look at Miami in the 1970s. It was a war zone, just like Mexico is today. The reason is because you could buy off any cop or government official in the city (check out the documentary "Cocaine Cowboys" for some real news footage from the time).
> If drugs are legalized tomorrow, what do you think would happen? If I were the cartels, I would continue selling my product, this time legal (similar to how companies are outsourcing to China..drug companies will outsource to Mexico). My power would continue or increase, because I could just buy off any cop and/or government official and the violence would continue (ruling by fear).
Can you explain why no cartels have stopped producing illegal drugs, and started producing, say, quinoa, corn, and wheat instead? If legalization would have no effect on their profits, why do they choose to specialize in illegal markets like drugs and gun-running?
Look, after legalization, cartels would suddenly face a huge amount of competition from companies that don't burn large amounts of cash fighting wars, which are generally quite expensive. Ordinary agricultural production is not generally associated with beheadings, torture, and assassinations. This is not because producers of quinoa are inherently virtuous, but because the incentives faced by black market "companies" are extremely atypical.
> Please..just stop the fucking dishonesty and I might support your cause.
I agree that the legalization of MMJ was to some extent a dishonest attempt to get de facto legalization (successfully, I might add). But it is entirely irrational to base your support for a policy on the actions of some proponents of that policy.
> I would also like to point out that legalizing drugs would not solve the problem. The problem is corruption, not the drugs themselves. Look at Miami in the 1970s. It was a war zone, just like Mexico is today. The reason is because you could buy off any cop or government official in the city (check out the documentary "Cocaine Cowboys" for some real news footage from the time).
Really? Your evidence is a movie described as: "The film explores the rise of cocaine and resulting crime epidemic that swept the American city of Miami, Florida,"
The incentive for corruption is greatly increased by the power held by, and amount of money available to criminal organizations.
> If I were the cartels, I would continue selling my product, this time legal (similar to how companies are outsourcing to China..drug companies will outsource to Mexico).
> MJ will not ever be legal in the sense that you can just grow it and sell it out of your house with no government intervention.
So... your claim is that the US government will prevent locals from growing marijuana but will be just fine with the drug companies outsourcing production to criminal cartels with no regulatory oversight? At least try to be consistent in your argument.
> I'm not against the legalization of drugs, I'm against the dishonesty. Supporters were dishonest about "medical marijuana"..which is quite honestly, a joke. There are 10 doctors in my area that will give you a prescription for MJ for pretty much anything..it will just cost you $70. The majority of people that I know that have their prescriptions just want to smoke weed.
The abuse of medical marijuana prescriptions does not make use the use of medical marijuana prescriptions a joke. Similarly, the extremely high rates of of abuse of other types of prescribed medications does not make them a joke.
About dishonesty, please indicate the claims that you believe were dishonestly made by supporters of medical marijuana? Please contrast those with the honesty of claims made by the FDA that drugs such as marijuana or MDMA have "No accepted medical use"
Please stop blaming the mexican government for failing to control the cartels that the US has been funding through several decades of failed drug policy.
Well, drug consumers can stop purchasing drugs that you know that involve the cartels. But most people that talk about the "War on Drugs" would rather blame the US drug policies instead, rather than the own up to the fact that they are contributing to the problem.
I would also like to point out that legalizing drugs would not solve the problem. The problem is corruption, not the drugs themselves. Look at Miami in the 1970s. It was a war zone, just like Mexico is today. The reason is because you could buy off any cop or government official in the city (check out the documentary "Cocaine Cowboys" for some real news footage from the time).
If drugs are legalized tomorrow, what do you think would happen? If I were the cartels, I would continue selling my product, this time legal (similar to how companies are outsourcing to China..drug companies will outsource to Mexico). My power would continue or increase, because I could just buy off any cop and/or government official and the violence would continue (ruling by fear).
Fix the corruption..and you fix the cartel issue. At this point, the US would need to bring the military in there to fix the problem.
I also don't think people would stop buying drugs in the black market if drugs were made legal. Why? MJ will not ever be legal in the sense that you can just grow it and sell it out of your house with no government intervention. It will be taxed and regulated, which means much higher prices. Many people won't want to pay those higher prices and there will still be a demand for a black market (just like software and music piracy).
I'm not against the legalization of drugs, I'm against the dishonesty. Supporters were dishonest about "medical marijuana"..which is quite honestly, a joke. There are 10 doctors in my area that will give you a prescription for MJ for pretty much anything..it will just cost you $70. The majority of people that I know that have their prescriptions just want to smoke weed.
I wish I was one of those doctors...they are probably able to retire on the proceeds.
Please..just stop the fucking dishonesty and I might support your cause.
In the documentary Cocaine Cowboys, he has a large part where he describes his role with us officials to smuggle coke into the usa.
I've recently enjoyed several episodes of the Vanguard series. There are full episodes of the first 3 seasons available on YouTube:
http://current.com/shows/vanguard/
http://www.youtube.com/show?p=8NtSYAZY9Y8&s=3
On a similar note, The Vice Guide to Travel:
http://www.vbs.tv/watch/the-vice-guide-to-travel
Adam Curtis is the creator of various interesting pieces. Some of his documentaries are mentioned in this thread:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Curtis
I've also enjoyed many of Werner Herzog's films.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Herzog#Filmography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encounters_at_the_End_of_the_World
The Yes Men are quite entertaining.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yes_Men_Fix_the_World
http://theyesmenfixtheworld.com/
Man on Wire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_on_Wire
Cocaine Cowboys.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocaine_cowboys
Sean Parker sort of reminds of a couple of guys that lived in the neighborhood I grew up in. If you ever saw the documentary Cocaine Cowboys these are those guys. Guys with humble beginnings as pilots and fishermen (in the 80s before the war on drugs got the DEA AWACS and nightvision) that stumbled onto something that made them insanely rich. After hearing their stories about 80s Miami and reading stories about Parker I can totally draw the parallels between them.
Its quite possible that most of the other characters were fictional but the writer seems to have nailed him.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocaine_Cowboys is a good documentary on the drug trade that has an interesting portion on the use of submersibles in the drug trade. That documentary came out in 2006 and it showed how drug runners had already evolved past these vessels by using containers shaped like driftwood logs and attaching them by long ropes to fishing vessels. The driftwood containers had gps trackers on them so when the coastguard came close they would sink them with the rope attached and another ship would pick them up later. I think its available on thepiratebay.