Miami Drug War
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Miami Drug War
The Miami drug war was a series of armed conflicts in the 1970s and 1980s, centered in the Florida city of Miami, between the United States government and multiple drug cartels, primarily the Medellín Cartel. It was predominantly fueled by the illegal trafficking of cocaine. The drug war was triggered by the Dadeland Mall shootout; On July 11 1979 in broad daylight, two gunmen of a Colombian drug gang entered and shot two men at a liquor store. The murderers were immediately dubbed "Cocaine Cowboys" by a police officer. Violence became endemic in Miami. In 1980 the city had 573 murders in the year, and the next year had 621 murders. By 1981 the city morgue had an overload of dead bodies and were forced to rent out a refrigerated truck to keep the bodies, keeping it until 1988. Most of the violent crime was directly related to conflicts in the city's growing drug trade. Miami in 1981 was responsible for trafficking 70% of the country's cocaine, 70% of the country's marijuana, and 9 ...
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Miami, Florida
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of municipalities in Florida, second-most populous city in Florida and the eleventh-most populous city in the Southeastern United States. The Miami metropolitan area is the ninth largest in the U.S. with a population of 6.138 million in 2020. The city has the List of tallest buildings in the United States#Cities with the most skyscrapers, third-largest skyline in the U.S. with over List of tallest buildings in Miami, 300 high-rises, 58 of which exceed . Miami is a major center and leader in finance, commerce, culture, arts, and international trade. Miami's metropolitan area is by far the largest urban econ ...
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Willy Falcon
Augusto Guillermo "Willy" Falcon is a former drug kingpin who, along with his partner Sal Magluta, operated one of the most significant cocaine trafficking organizations in South Florida history. Biography Speedboat racing Falcon was a speedboat racing champion in the 1980's. 1996 trial Magluta, along with his partner Falcon, was indicted by a federal grand jury in April 1991 for a plethora of drug trafficking crimes, including operating a continuing criminal enterprise accused of importing and distributing over 75 tons of cocaine. Falcon was represented by Albert Krieger, Susan Van Dusen, and D. Robert "Bobby" Wells. His partner Magluta was represented by Roy Black, Martin Weinberg, and Richard Martinez (Magluta's brother in law). Both Magluta and Falcon were found not guilty after a lengthy trial before Judge Federico Moreno. Gun conviction In 1997 he was convicted for illegal possession of a firearm. Juror bribery Following the 1996 trial, the United States Attorney's Off ...
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1980s In Miami
__NOTOC__ Year 198 (CXCVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sergius and Gallus (or, less frequently, year 951 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 198 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire *January 28 **Publius Septimius Geta, son of Septimius Severus, receives the title of Caesar. **Caracalla, son of Septimius Severus, is given the title of Augustus. China *Winter – Battle of Xiapi: The allied armies led by Cao Cao and Liu Bei defeat Lü Bu; afterward Cao Cao has him executed. By topic Religion * Marcus I succeeds Olympianus as Patriarch of Constantinople (until 211). Births * Lu Kai (or Jingfeng), Chinese official and general (d. 269) * Quan Cong, Chinese general and advisor (d. ...
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History Of Miami
Thousands of years before Europeans arrived, a large portion of south east Florida, including the area where Miami, Florida exists today, was inhabited by Tequestas. The Tequesta (also Tekesta, Tegesta, Chequesta, Vizcaynos) Native American tribe, at the time of first European contact, occupied an area along the southeastern Atlantic coast of Florida. They had infrequent contact with Europeans and had largely migrated by the middle of the 18th century. Miami is named after the Mayaimi, a Native American tribe that lived around Lake Okeechobee until the 17th or 18th century. The Spanish established a mission and small garrison among the Tequesta on Biscayne Bay in 1567. The mission and garrison were withdrawn a couple of years later. In 1743 the governor of Cuba established another mission and garrison on Biscayne Bay. As the mission had not been approved by the Council of the Indies, the mission and garrison were withdrawn the following year. The Spanish recorded that the inhab ...
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Max Mermelstein
Max Mermelstein (November 1, 1942 – September 12, 2008) was an American drug smuggler for the Medellín Cartel in the late 1970s and early 80s, who later became a key informant against the organization. In the words of James P. Walsh, the U.S. Attorney for Los Angeles CA, Mermelstein "was probably the single most valuable government witness in drug matters that this country has ever known." He became a "weapon for the government." Reputed to have smuggled 56 tons of cocaine worth $12.5 billion into the United States, Mermelstein was described by his attorney Tom Johnston as "just a nice Jewish guy who got into the wrong industry." Early life Trained as a mechanical engineer at the New York Institute of Technology and married to a Puerto Rican, Mermelstein moved to San Juan, Puerto Rico with his wife, where he worked as chief engineer for the Sheraton Hotel. Mermelstein and his wife separated soon after, as she returned to her ailing mother, but not before Mermelstein learned ...
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Jon Roberts
Jon Pernell Roberts (June 21, 1948 – December 28, 2011), born John Riccobono, was a noted drug trafficker and government informant, operated in the Miami area and was an associate of Colombia's Medellín Cartel during the growth phase in cocaine trafficking, 1975–1986. After his arrest, he was able to avoid a lengthy prison sentence by becoming a cooperating witness and proactive informant for the federal government. He was the author with Evan Wright of '' American Desperado''. Early life Roberts was born in New York City, New York to a Sicilian American father and non-Italian mother. His father Nat Riccobono had earlier moved with his brothers from Sicily and made a living through involvement with various shady businesses throughout New York in the late 1940s. Riccobono eventually became a made member in the La Cosa Nostra mafia. After being convicted of various crimes, Riccobono was kicked out of the United States and deported to Sicily. Roberts' uncles were also made m ...
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Medellín Cartel
The Medellín Cartel ( es, Cartel de Medellín) was a powerful and highly organized Colombian drug cartel and terrorist organization originating in the city of Medellín, Colombia that was founded and led by Pablo Escobar. It is often considered the first major "drug cartel" and was referred to as such (a ''cartel'') due to the organization's upper echelons being built on a partnership between multiple Colombian traffickers operating alongside Escobar. Included were Jorge Luis Ochoa Vásquez, Juan David Ochoa Vásquez, José Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha and Carlos Lehder. The cartel operated from 1967 to 1993 in Bolivia, Colombia, Panama, Central America, Peru, the Bahamas, the United States (which included cities such as Los Angeles and Miami), as well as in Canada. Although the organization started out as a smuggling network in the late 1960s, it wasn't until 1976 that the organization turned to trafficking cocaine. At the height of its operations, the Medellín Cartel smuggled ...
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Failed State
A failed state is a political body that has disintegrated to a point where basic conditions and responsibilities of a sovereign government no longer function properly (see also fragile state and state collapse). A state can also fail if the government loses its legitimacy even if it is performing its functions properly. For a stable state, it is necessary for the government to enjoy both effectiveness and legitimacy. The Fund for Peace characterizes a failed state as having the following characteristics: * Loss of control of its territory, or of the monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force * Erosion of legitimate authority to make collective decisions * Inability to provide public services * Inability to interact with other states as a full member of the international community Common characteristics of a failing state include a central government so weak or ineffective that it has an inability to raise taxes or other support and has little practical control over m ...
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The Mutiny Hotel
The Mutiny Hotel or The Mutiny Hotel on the Bay in Coconut Grove is a luxury hotel and resort located at Biscayne Bay on the Eastern Seaboard southwest of the Downtown Miami Historic District and Miami Beach Architectural District. History Sailboat Bay was built by Burton Goldberg in the Coconut Grove Historic District in 1968 as a 105-suite apartment building costing $3.5 million. In constructing the complex, described as Coconut Grove's first high-rise, 100 coral boulders were shipped from west Dade County. The apartments were converted to hotel units in 1976. The Mutiny name was first associated with a private club on the property opened in 1971. During the 1970s and 1980s the clientele included athletes, Hollywood celebrities, and musicians, including Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, and Crosby & Nash, whose song "Mutiny" on their ''Whistling Down the Wire'' album is a tribute to this hotel; it drew comparisons to Studio 54. Hotel rooms were themed, including the Bordello Roo ...
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Coconut Grove
Coconut Grove, also known colloquially as The Grove, is the oldest continuously inhabited neighborhood of Miami in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The neighborhood is roughly bound by North Prospect Drive to the south, LeJeune Road to the west, South Dixie Highway ( US 1) and Rickenbacker Causeway to the north, and Biscayne Bay to the east. It is south of the neighborhoods of Brickell and The Roads and east of Coral Gables. The neighborhood's name has been sometimes spelled "Cocoanut Grove" but the definitive spelling "Coconut Grove" was established when the city was incorporated in 1919. What is today referred to as Coconut Grove was formed in 1925 when the city of Miami annexed two areas of about equal size, the city of Coconut Grove and most of the town of Silver Bluff. Coconut Grove approximately corresponds to the same area as the 33133 ZIP Code although the ZIP Code includes parts of Coral Way and Coral Gables and a small portion of ZIP Code 33129. The area is often re ...
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The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital media, digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as ''The Daily (podcast), The Daily''. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones (publisher), George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The ''Times'' has won List of Pulitzer Prizes awarded to The New York Times, 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national "newspaper of record". For print it is ranked List of newspapers by circulation, 18th in the world by circulation and List of newspapers in the United States, 3rd in the U.S. The paper is owned by the New York Times Company, which is Public company, publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 189 ...
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Quaaludes
Methaqualone is a hypnotic sedative. It was sold under the brand names Quaalude ( ) and Sopor among others, which contained 300 mg of methaqualone, and sold as a combination drug under the brand name Mandrax, which contained 250 mg methaqualone and 25 mg diphenhydramine within the same tablet, mostly in Europe. Commercial production of methaqualone was halted in the mid-1980s due to widespread abuse and addictiveness. It is a member of the quinazolinone class. The sedative–hypnotic activity of methaqualone was first noted in 1955. In 1962, methaqualone was patented in the United States by Wallace and Tiernan. Its use peaked in the early 1970s for the treatment of insomnia, and as a sedative and muscle relaxant. Methaqualone became increasingly popular as a recreational drug and club drug in the late 1960s and 1970s, known variously as "ludes" or "disco biscuits" due to its widespread use during the popularity of disco in the 1970s, or "sopers" (also "soaps") ...
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