Cocaine Cowboys

[Mr. Calderon]

 

[RedDragon86]

Watched the Willy Falcon one last night on Netflix, great viewing and less brutal than they other one.

The amount of cash they made from coke was just insane and I wonder if their boat races influenced Michael Mann and co to make "The Great McCarthy"

Edited December 9, 2022 by RedDragon86

[ViceFanMan]

On 12/9/2022 at 7:59 AM, RedDragon86 said:

Watched the Willy Falcon one last night on Netflix, great viewing and less brutal than they other one.

The amount of cash they made from coke was just insane and I wonder if their boat races influenced Michael Mann and co to make "The Great McCarthy"

If you’re talking about Cocaine Cowboys: Kings of Miami, about Sal Magluta & Willy Falcon, I binge watched the whole thing tonight on Netflix. Very interesting, mind-blowing, and very “Miami Vice-ish”!! I too absolutely immediately thought of the MV episode “Great McCarthy” with the boat races!  

Very good & intriguing documentary series about the real-life cocaine world in Miami in the 80s...a lot of those aspects were seen in MV, which to me of course makes the show that much more unique! In my opinion, this is something that every true/serious MV fan should see. 

[RedDragon86]

8 hours ago, ViceFanMan said:

If you’re talking about Cocaine Cowboys: Kings of Miami, about Sal Magluta & Willy Falcon, I binge watched the whole thing tonight on Netflix. Very interesting, mind-blowing, and very “Miami Vice-ish”!! I too absolutely immediately thought of the MV episode “Great McCarthy” with the boat races!  

Very good & intriguing documentary series about the real-life cocaine world in Miami in the 80s...a lot of those aspects were seen in MV, which to me of course makes the show that much more unique! In my opinion, this is something that every true/serious MV fan should see. 

Oh Yes every Vice fan should watch this. They were actually smuggling cocaine like McCarthy in those speed boat races

They were very good at smugglers and making a ship load of money which made me dizzy while watching, but they should have quit while they were ahead. They were so brazen, I mean one of them was wanted in LA but was seen on ESPN in a boat race 2 days later wtf? like in the series maybe they had local cops in their pocket.

I couldn't believe when the FBI were closing in they were STILL in Miami in one of those flashy homes you see in an episode, they should have left for Columbia when they had the chance.

 

Edited December 22, 2022 by RedDragon86

[ViceFanMan]

2 hours ago, RedDragon86 said:

Oh Yes every Vice fan should watch this. They were actually smuggling cocaine like McCarthy in those speed boat races

They were very good at smugglers and making a ship load of money which made me dizzy while watching, but they would have quit while they were ahead. They were so brazen, I mean one of them was wanted in LA but it seen on ESPN in a boat race 2 days later wtf? like in the series maybe they had local cops in their pocket.

I couldn't believe when the FBI were closing in they were STILL in Miami in one of those flashy homes you see in an episode, they should have left for Columbia when they had the chance.

 

Exactly! They had so many chances to escape or go to other countries to live (like kings, as they said) & not have to worry about extradition...but, no. Sal especially thought he owned the world, so-to-speak, and could do what he wanted. 

His other cohorts, including Willy Falcon, were a little more intelligent about it. They either ended up having short prison time, or had gotten out soon enough that they didn’t have to go to prison. Sal ended up on a destructive collision course...which was no surprise, with his life.

What kind of cracked me up was when several people were surprised when the “hits” started happening, once Sal & Willy were on trial. Some kept trying to say that they weren’t violent guys, and they didn’t think they’d actually kill people. I’m like, seriously??  

They were in an almost billion dollar illegal cocaine business, and their whole empire was going to come crashing down if some of these people, that got hit or attempts were made but failed, testified! Of course they would have people killed if needs be! 

They may not have been as outwardly psycho as say Calderone or Frank Mosca were in MV...but they were drug lords! There’s always going to be violence somewhere & at some point in an illegal business. And as the old saying goes...“there’s no honor among thieves”. I will add, nor with killers or druggies.  In reality, they only care about themselves—even over their own families, they’re willing to save their own butts first.

[RedDragon86]

22 minutes ago, ViceFanMan said:

Exactly! They had so many chances to escape or go to other countries to live (like kings, as they said) & not have to worry about extradition...but, no. Sal especially thought he owned the world, so-to-speak, and could do what he wanted. 

His other cohorts, including Willy Falcon, were a little more intelligent about it. They either ended up having short prison time, or had gotten out soon enough that they didn’t have to go to prison. Sal ended up on a destructive collision course...which was no surprise, with his life.

What kind of cracked me up was when several people were surprised when the “hits” started happening, once Sal & Willy were on trial. Some kept trying to say that they weren’t violent guys, and they didn’t think they’d actually kill people. I’m like, seriously??  

They were in an almost billion dollar illegal cocaine business, and their whole empire was going to come crashing down if some of these people, that got hit or attempts were made but failed, testified! Of course they would have people killed if needs be! 

They may not have been as outwardly psycho as say Calderone or Frank Mosca were in MV...but they were drug lords! There’s always going to be violence somewhere & at some point in an illegal business. And as the old saying goes...“there’s no honor among thieves”. I will add, nor with killers or druggies.  In reality, they only care about themselves—even over their own families, they’re willing to save their own butts first.

I think you could compare them to the Calderone network, like you said they pushed that button when they wanted their hitmen on the loose. I think their party boy image was a façade. A

Anyone in that business has a touch of evil in them.

Peter Rosello seemed like an OK guy though. “Pegy” I think they called him.

Edited December 22, 2022 by RedDragon86

[ViceFanMan]

28 minutes ago, RedDragon86 said:

I think you could compare them to the Calderone network, like you said they pushed that button when they wanted their hitmen on the loose. I think their party boy image was a façade. I think anyone in that business has a touch of evil in them.

Peter Rosello seemed like an OK though. “Pegy” I think they called him.

Oh, I think they were all just as “dirty” and screwed up as the other...including Pegy, although he was more likable in the interviews.  But, he and some others were more intelligent about how to handle things once they started falling apart. 

Totally agree that the party/fiesta-forever (to quote an old song) image was a total facade! Oh, they loved the party life, but I’m sure there was a lot of anger/rage, fear, paranoia, depression, etc...behind the scenes, that we didn’t know about till everything started crumbling down.

There was probably other hits/deaths that we never knew about, or were never officially attributed to Sal & Willy. Some of their guys tried to make it sound like everything ran as smoothly as a regular business...but you can’t have everything go “perfect” for years/decades when the so-called “business” is #1 illegal, #2 a multi-million dollar (close to billion dollar) one, and #3 that extensive. Someone somewhere would have tried to double-cross or screw them over at some point.  They would have had to have had “ways” to take care of those people...to either force them to pay and/or provide product, or take ‘em out if needs be.

Edited December 22, 2022 by ViceFanMan