MV was realistic....to an extent

[S.FL84]

As commercial as MV was it did in (2) ep(s) in particular fairly realistically expand on about what was going on in the world and it (MV) used its popularity to bring to light the US involvment in destabilizing central American governments such as Nicaragua & El Salvador.  I say this because the central theme of MV (cocaine) funded billions of dollars of US-sponsored terrorism.

https://themindreels.com/2018/12/05/miami-vice-1986-stones-war-and-killshot/

Edited August 4, 2021 by S.FL84

[jpaul1]

i didn't hear cocaine sponsored any US terrorism. I know that the US sponsored the infamous contras. And that cocaïne probably sponsored the cuban support in Angola. but never heard of US government using cocaine in dark ops. they probably did, but ponctually

the colombian government used the Cali cartel to hunt down Escobar, but this is another thing

this being said yeah the series was realistic on numerous points. probably due to Mann personnality. they were lot of real cops behind the camera giving advices, but also in front. so if something was going uunrealistic, if was quickly fixed

the Vice squad existed too. in the 60s, and 70s (and probably after) the Miami police (formerly known as public safety department) was divided as follows. Homicide, robbery, auto theft, sex crimes, vice squad, GIU, and patrols men/women. the GIU (general investigation unit) was a kind of anti chamber between street cops and specialized units. the vice squad was in charge of at least gambling, prostitution, and narcotics. and this is rather well painted in the series, as apart from home invaders, i canno't remember an episode where it doesn't touch at these subjects from far, or close

 

[S.FL84]

 

This episode was basically Mann's copy of Oliver Stone's movie SALVADOER.  Coincidental title huh?

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091886/

How the hell could you not hear 'US sponsored terrorism' which was funded by cocaine.  Ever hear of Barry Seal or Freeway Ricky Ross?  Regardless, my point is MV/Mann did, despite it's extreme commericalism & UNrealism, bring to light a little of what was really going on.  Much like Glen Frey's SMUGGLER BLUES lyrics "...it's propping up the governments of Columbia & Peru, you ask any DEA man and he say's there's nothing we can do" when it was the CIA/DEA who in reality was responsible for alotta the cocaine in South Central L.A..

https://slate.com/culture/2017/09/whats-fact-and-whats-fiction-in-american-made.html

 

Listen to the words of the song LIVES IN THE BALANCE by Sawyer Brown and it's truth.  No show but MIAMI VICE was doing this then and no show has done it since.

https://genius.com/Jackson-browne-lives-in-the-balance-lyrics

Edited August 4, 2021 by S.FL84

[S.FL84]

deleted.

Edited August 4, 2021 by S.FL84

[S.FL84]

deleted [see above edit(s) ^]

Edited August 4, 2021 by S.FL84

[jpaul1]

the CIA have done some really dark OPs for sure. and honestly that agency would have 0 chance in Europe. btw  the CIA got really really hot after the bay of pigs. it was millimeters from dissolution

still i don't see in the above videos flagrant proofs of CIA cocaine smuggling (even if they probably did at one point, or another)

[S.FL84]

Research Barry Seal and Mena, Arkansas & Michael Rippert...you'll see.  Watch a movie AIR AMERICA.  The CIA was using dead soldier's body bags to smuggle pure opium into NYC to be processed into heroin and sell in Harlem.

https://www.grantcountybeat.com/columns/immigration-matters/37571-real-life-air-america-cia-exposed-running-a-covert-drug-smuggling-airline

Edited August 4, 2021 by S.FL84

[pahonu]

The US Congressional Kerry Committee report released in 1989 investigated drug smuggling to the US from Central America.  It found:

"it is clear that individuals who provided support for the Contras were involved in drug trafficking, the supply network of the Contras was used by drug trafficking organizations, and elements of the Contras themselves knowingly received financial and material assistance from drug traffickers."

The “individuals” who provided support for the Contras were CIA operatives referenced elsewhere in the report.

 

 

[S.FL84]

To continue Art imitating Life OR Life imitating Art the corrupt mayor Alex Doud actually played a corrupt judge on MV.  This is relevant because Doud was busted for selling building permits and the recent hotel collapse in Miami was probably built using a building permit illegally sold by Doud while he was mayor to building contractors who used substandard materials.

https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/daud-descending-6364323

https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/30/us/miami-beach-mayor-named-in-indictment.html

Edited August 7, 2021 by S.FL84

[pahonu]

33 minutes ago, jpaul1 said:

the CIA have done some really dark OPs for sure. and honestly that agency would have 0 chance in Europe. btw  the CIA got really really hot after the bay of pigs. it was millimeters from dissolution

still i don't see in the above videos flagrant proofs of CIA cocaine smuggling (even if they probably did at one point, or another)

JPaul, you might find this interesting.  The CIA also abetted the “French Connection” heroin smugglers after WWII.  They provided pathways to the US in exchange for help in suppressing a growing number of French Communist groups.  So while they may not have actively handled  the drugs as Air America did in Laos during the Secret War, they provided the access to the US necessary for such a large smuggling operation.  

[S.FL84]

In the ep. STONE'S WAR G. Gordon Liddy played a CIA operative which is Art imitating Life because in reality Liddy really was a CIA operative in both Vietnam and El Salvador.

 

 

[S.FL84]

Odd you should post this > " The CIA also abetted the “French Connection” heroin smugglers after WWII."  Because a woman, Rose Cheramie, was found dumped on a Louisiana highway predicted the JFK assassination.  She claimed to part of heroin courier ring delivering heroin to Dallas.

http://the-puzzle-palace.com/files/pr799-rose.html

" ...Rose began to relate her fascinating and astonishing tale. Calmed by the sedative, and according to Fruge, quite lucid, she began to respond to some routine questions with some quite unusual answers. She told him that she was en route from Florida to Dallas with two men who looked Cuban or Italian. The men told her that they were going to kill the president in Dallas in just a few days. Cheramie herself was not part of the plot but apparently the men were also part of a large dope ring with Rose since Cheramie’s function was as a courier of funds for heroin which was to be dropped off to her by a seaman coming into the port of Galveston. She was to pick up the money for the drugs from a man who was holding her child. It seemed a quite intricate dope ring since she was then to transport the heroin to Mexico."

[pahonu]

6 minutes ago, S.FL84 said:

In the ep. STONE'S WAR G. Gordon Liddy played a CIA operative which is Art imitating Life because in reality Liddy really was a CIA operative in both Vietnam and El Salvador.

 

 

I’m unaware of any CIA involvement with Liddy.  I know he was in the FBI for several years before becoming involved in the Watergate scandal of President Nixon.  He was one of the planners of the break in at the Democratic National Committee Headquarters by the “Plumbers”.  Other members of that group were former CIA, including one of the burglars, James McCord.  Both went to prison for the crime.

[S.FL84]

To say Liddy didn't work for the CIA would be the same thing as to say Oswald didn't either. IDK whether he was an official paid clandestine operation case officer but when he conducted ops w/ E. Howard Hunt its not a huge leap to say the CIA benefitted from his work.  He belonged to paramilitary groups in both Vietnam and El Salvador supported by CIA covert ops funding as 'advisors'.

[S.FL84]

The political and pop culture social relevance of Stone's War is sooo far off the charts cool its indescribable.  Mix that w/ Sex Pistols Steve Jone's MERCY and its mind numbingly cool as sh#@.  I bet the production crew who filmed that Liddy party in Stone's War still clearly feels the eletricity in the air that night.  I bet Liddy attended real life spec ops parties just like that in Miami.

[pahonu]

2 minutes ago, S.FL84 said:

To say Liddy didn't work for the CIA would be the same thing as to say Oswald didn't either. IDK whether he was an official paid clandestine operation case officer but when he conducted ops w/ E. Howard Hunt its not a huge leap to say the CIA benefitted from his work.  He belonged to paramilitary groups in both Vietnam and El Salvador supported by CIA covert ops funding as 'advisors'.

I do see a distinction between CIA agents and the assets they may pay for information or any other activity.  The agents are ultimately subject to US law.  The “individuals” in the Kerry Committee Report supporting the Contras with drug smuggling were actual CIA agents.  It ultimately ended some careers and affected oversight laws for what that’s worth. 

[Robbie C.]

4 hours ago, pahonu said:

JPaul, you might find this interesting.  The CIA also abetted the “French Connection” heroin smugglers after WWII.  They provided pathways to the US in exchange for help in suppressing a growing number of French Communist groups.  So while they may not have actively handled  the drugs as Air America did in Laos during the Secret War, they provided the access to the US necessary for such a large smuggling operation.  

This is all from their OSS roots as well.

[pahonu]

10 minutes ago, Robbie C. said:

This is all from their OSS roots as well.

Yes, I read that involvement in France began through the State Department  in the 1930’s even before the OSS, and subsequently the CIA.

I highly recommend Legacy of Ashes if you haven’t read it.  The CIA was critical of the book, understandably.  However, it was written using many thousands of documents from the CIA archives and interviews with hundreds of former agents.  It also included interviews with quite a few former CIA directors.

[Robbie C.]

Yep. Read it and quite a few others about the topic. Not my main area of historical focus, but interesting. And quite a bit of the OSS activity was in Italy and many Mediterranean port cities.

[pahonu]

1 hour ago, Robbie C. said:

Yep. Read it and quite a few others about the topic. Not my main area of historical focus, but interesting. And quite a bit of the OSS activity was in Italy and many Mediterranean port cities.

Thought you might have read it.   It’s not my area of study at all, but a colleague of mine is very knowledgeable in the area.  It’s fairly surprising the CIA’s reputation given their massive failures over the years.     

I recall many conversations with him in the years following the US invasion of Iraq.  The intelligence failure regarding Iraq’s alleged purchase of yellowcake uranium for enrichment from Niger and their possession of WMD’s was spectacularly wrong.  The CIA had no one on the ground in Iraq, zero!  Even Hussein was convinced they had better intel inside Iraq.   

[Robbie C.]

The CIA went in big for electronic and image intelligence after their failures in the late '50s and beyond, and Iraq was a direct result (in my view) of that. Their capabilities had dropped off so much the Army's Delta Force started doing its own intelligence-gathering, and the Army writ large fielded the ISA (one of its many cover names) to deal with that as well.

[Tom]

vor 14 Stunden schrieb S.FL84:

To continue Art imitating Life OR Life imitating Art the corrupt mayor Alex Doud actually played a corrupt mayor on MV.  This is relevant because Doud was busted for selling building permits and the recent hotel collapse in Miami was probably built using a building permit illegally sold by Doud while he was mayor to building contractors who used substandard materials.

https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/daud-descending-6364323

https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/30/us/miami-beach-mayor-named-in-indictment.html

Daoud played a corrupt mayor? What episode? He played a judge in „Fruit of the poison tree“ and AFAIK he was on the show only once! 

[Robbie C.]

14 hours ago, Tom said:

Daoud played a corrupt mayor? What episode? He played a judge in „Fruit of the poison tree“ and AFAIK he was on the show only once! 

According to the MV wiki (which isn't always a top-shelf source) that was his ONLY role ever.

[S.FL84]

Johnson actually did several public appearances for Daoud.

 

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/07/01/Former-mayor-pleads-guilty/1329741499200/

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-06-17-mn-162-story.html

Edited August 7, 2021 by S.FL84

[Robbie C.]

So DJ has bad taste in friends. Big deal.