airtommy Posted April 27, 2020 Report Share Posted April 27, 2020 The episodes "Knock, Knock, Who's There?" and "Badge of Dishonor" were based on the huge real life "Miami River Cops" scandal. I thought we had discussed this a lot, but I couldn't find any threads on the topic. @S.FL84 has mentioned it a few times. Quote Who could forget the Miami River Cops scandal in the 1980s, which led to the arrest, firing, or suspension of roughly 100 city officers? At least 20 were sent to prison for the scheme in which city cops stole cocaine and cash from drug traffickers and even hired a hitman to murder one of the dealers who turned against them and became a prosecution witness. In July 1985, six men smuggling drugs on the river panicked and jumped into the water when police raided their boat. But the cops weren't interested in the men — just their cocaine. Three smugglers drowned, prompting an investigation that eventually brought down a group of Miami Police officers who had stolen drugs and cash from traffickers, then sold the product to dealers further up the chain. https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/a-history-of-miami-cops-busted-on-federal-drug-charges-10851399 Discovery Channel ran a good documentary on the case. It's on Youtube broken into 5 parts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eylio-po41o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQuXEhx03Dg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGO_5T2Fc40 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edC9O9yuqhs 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt5 Posted May 2, 2020 Report Share Posted May 2, 2020 On 4/27/2020 at 8:05 PM, airtommy said: The episodes "Knock, Knock, Who's There?" and "Badge of Dishonor" were based on the huge real life "Miami River Cops" scandal. I thought we had discussed this a lot, but I couldn't find any threads on the topic. @S.FL84 has mentioned it a few times. Discovery Channel ran a good documentary on the case. It's on Youtube broken into 5 parts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eylio-po41o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQuXEhx03Dg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGO_5T2Fc40 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edC9O9yuqhs Interesting - I never knew this and enjoyed both episodes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airtommy Posted May 2, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 2, 2020 4 hours ago, Matt5 said: Interesting - I never knew this and enjoyed both episodes. Some of them were being rather obvious. One cop was driving a $100,000 Lotus even though his annual salary was under $30,000. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedDragon86 Posted May 2, 2020 Report Share Posted May 2, 2020 The episode "Whatever Works" was influenced by this in some way? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airtommy Posted May 2, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 2, 2020 1 hour ago, RedDragon86 said: The episode "Whatever Works" was influenced by this in some way? Good question. Looking up the dates, I'm going to say no. "On July 28, 1985 six individuals dressed as police officers entered Jones Boat Yard. The individuals approached six other men guarding 300 to 400 kilos of cocaine. The approach caused the six guards to jump into the Miami River causing the death of three of them." https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1985-12-28-8503300091-story.html "Whatever Works" was filmed July 16, 1985 - July 26, 1985 https://miamivice.fandom.com/wiki/Whatever_Works 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedDragon86 Posted May 2, 2020 Report Share Posted May 2, 2020 1 minute ago, airtommy said: Good question. Looking up the dates, I'm going to say no. "On July 28, 1985 six individuals dressed as police officers entered Jones Boat Yard. The individuals approached six other men guarding 300 to 400 kilos of cocaine. The approach caused the six guards to jump into the Miami River causing the death of three of them." https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1985-12-28-8503300091-story.html "Whatever Works" was filmed July 16, 1985 - July 26, 1985 https://miamivice.fandom.com/wiki/Whatever_Works Just goes prove that the show was ahead of its time 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miamijimf Posted May 3, 2020 Report Share Posted May 3, 2020 Yes but Badge of Dishonor filmed in 1988 has echos of the River Cops case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt5 Posted May 3, 2020 Report Share Posted May 3, 2020 23 hours ago, airtommy said: Good question. Looking up the dates, I'm going to say no. "On July 28, 1985 six individuals dressed as police officers entered Jones Boat Yard. The individuals approached six other men guarding 300 to 400 kilos of cocaine. The approach caused the six guards to jump into the Miami River causing the death of three of them." https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1985-12-28-8503300091-story.html "Whatever Works" was filmed July 16, 1985 - July 26, 1985 https://miamivice.fandom.com/wiki/Whatever_Works Good info - this does have “Badge of Dishonor” all over it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.FL84 Posted May 7, 2020 Report Share Posted May 7, 2020 On 5/2/2020 at 10:58 AM, airtommy said: Some of them were being rather obvious. One cop was driving a $100,000 Lotus even though his annual salary was under $30,000. The same thing in Miami office of the Coast Guard in the late 80's. An E-3 making like $1,200/mo. was driving a Porsche 911 convertible and living in a high end condo just down the street from the Coast Guard office he was assigned to. I think he was telling the smugglers where they ( the Coast Guard cutters) would be patrolling and when. He was probably getting 5k/mo. for it. The 80's were by far THE wildest, most fun decade in US history. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.