The Miami drug war was a series of armed conflicts in the 1970s and 1980s, centered in the Florida city of

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

, between the United States government and multiple drug cartels, primarily the

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 ...

. It was predominantly fueled by the illegal trafficking of

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Ameri ...

. The drug war was triggered by the

Dadeland Mall Dadeland Mall is a large enclosed shopping mall located in Kendall, Florida, in the Dadeland district. The mall, originally developed by the Joseph Meyerhoff Company of Baltimore, opened October 1, 1962 as a , open-air complex of 60 stores and se ...

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 90% of the country's counterfeit

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 met ...

. Much of Miami's drug trafficking activity was centered out of

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, S ...

's Mutiny at Sailboat Bay, where drug traffickers would frequently meet and conduct business. By 1981 crime in Miami had become so rampant from the cocaine trade that journalist Roben Farzad argues Miami was a

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 ...

. During the time major traffickers like the

Falcon Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica, though closely related raptors did occur there in the Eocene. Adult falcons ...

brothers and

Sal Magluta Salvador "Sal" Magluta is a Cuban American former drug kingpin and powerboat racer who, along with his partner Willy Falcon, operated one of the most significant cocaine trafficking organizations in South Florida history. The duo became known as ...

smuggled in around 2 billion dollars of cocaine from Colombia.

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 ...

traffickers Rafael Cardona Salazar,

Mickey Munday Mickey Munday (born June 29, 1945) is an American former drug trafficker and former associate of Colombia's Medellin Cartel during the growth phase in cocaine trafficking, 1975–1986. Munday was featured in the 2006 Rakontur documentary, '' Coc ...

, Jon Roberts,

Griselda Blanco Griselda Blanco Restrepo (February 15, 1943 – September 3, 2012), known as ''the Black Widow'', was a Colombian drug lord of the Medellín Cartel, and in the Miami-based cocaine drug trade and underworld, during the 1970s through the e ...

and

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. ...

brought in loads of drugs from Colombia with the help of Jorge "Rivi" Ayala as a hitman responsible for around three dozen murders. Miami soon became known as the "Drug Capital of the World" due to ensuing turf wars between drug lords. One of the top leaders of drug trafficking in Miami was Colombian drug lord Griselda Blanco, who was a pioneer in cocaine trafficking and was responsible for more than 200 murders. With the collapse of the Medellin Cartel and various other drug trafficking organizations, the drug war diminished.

References

{{Reflist History of Miami 1980s in Miami Organized crime conflicts in the United States Medellín Cartel