Cocaine Cowboys Review - LA City Beat

When Time magazine labeled south Florida “Paradise Lost” in a famous 1981 cover story, the nation was transfixed and horrified by tales of the violent Miami drug trade and its amoral traffickers. (Obviously, this was a few years before Miami Vice, Scarface, and Grand Theft Auto became accepted forms of American entertainment.) Cocaine Cowboys documents how Miami went from a sleepy vacationland in the ’50s to Murder City in the span of a decade or so, as Colombian and Cuban cartels openly warred with one another in this palm-lined haven. Ironically, the film goes on to show how recovered drug money helped finance and keep Miami solvent during the remainder of the ’80s and into the ’90s, as construction and infrastructure flourished.

At nearly two hours, Billy Corben’s staccato film fairly bursts at the seams with information and stories, accompanied by Jan Hammer’s pulsating score; there’s rarely a second’s pause between one speaker and another, and this makes for an at-times dizzying experience. Corben frames Cocaine Cowboys around the exploits of ex-con smugglers Jon Roberts and Mickey Munday, who lay the groundwork for their business of importing the narcotics in the first half; the director then allows still-imprisoned killer Jorge “Rivi” Ayala the rest of the time to detail the harrowing violence he helped commit for “Godmother” Griselda Blanco. It’s grisly stuff, but true-crime fans will be riveted by the sordid characters interviewed here, and marvel at their twisted pride in their achievements. (Joshua Sindell) (Laemmle’s Sunset 5, Laemmle’s Town Center 5, Laemmle’s Playhouse 7)