Miami Drug War
| Miami Drug Wars | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the War on Drugs | |||||
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| Belligerents | |||||
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Drug cartels
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||
 Ronald Reagan |
Griselda Blanco Pablo Escobar Jorge Rivi Ayala Mickey Munday Barry Seal Luis Fernando Arcila Mejia | ||||
The Miami Drug War were a series of drug wars in the 1970s and 1980s, centered in the Florida city of Miami, between the United States government and multiple drug cartels, primarily the Medellin Cartel.
Background
The drug war was triggered by the 1979 Dadeland Mall shootout; 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.[1] During this period, smuggling rings expanded and, in 1982, a seizure of $100 million worth of cocaine was found in Miami International Airport.
Miami soon became known as the "Drug Capital of the World" due to ensuing turf wars between drug lords.[2] 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.[3] With the collapse of the Medellin Cartel and various other drug trafficking organizations, the drug war diminished.