hotels. real estate. it is all to sell the dream to the next people. anthony: in 1981, the fbi called miami the most violent city in america. the drug industry brought in an estimated $7 billion to $12 billion a year and that s of 1981 money. that is a lot of trickle down. one of the most successful documentaries in the history of film is cocaine cowboys that tells that story. the film made by these guys, alfred spellman and billy corbin. anthony: so things were in decline. cocaine sort of saved the city? alfred: we d say so. am i going to get in trouble for it? yes. billy: by 1981, you had a murder rate. 635 homicides. 25% of those bodies had automatic weapons bullets. anthony: right. we talk about the uncomfortable reality of where a lot of modern miami came from over something you just have to hit hard when
early development of south florida, which began in earnest with the construction of railroads in the late 19th and 20th centuries by this guy. henry morrison flagger, the tycoon largely credited with big the father of modern florida. his dream was the florida east coast railway, which would run from jacksonville to key west connecting the ports of miami to along its route new towns, new cities, new edens where america s rising middle class could frolic and play. he also agreed to lay a foundation for the city on both sides of the miami river. as more and more whites moved in, segregation took hold and much of the bahamian community was forced into the black neighborhoods like overtown and liberty city. if you re looking for old miami, miami.
anthony: if you weren t working, would you be at the beach more often? women: my dream s to have a house on the beach. i don t know why. i never go, but i love it. and i always say i will never live in south florida if i didn t live near water. i live near water and i leave my breeze, but i don t go to the beach. i barely even go into my swimming pool, but i know it s there. anthony: okay. whoooo.
nightclubs, floods of cash, and a nereputation for murder, and criminality to go with it. cocaine, say what you will, cocaine altered the skyline of miami forever. it made, for better or worse, miami sexy again. anthony: going back to the very beginning, was miami always a criminal enterprise? [ laughter ] but i mean that in a good way. outlaw culturism a very deep part of american culture. man: in florida, we don t produce or manufacture anything but oranges and handguns. there is no indigenous industry. we sell sunshine. the only jobs we have are in hospitality or in restaurants. man 2: real estate. man: real estate. it is all to sell the dream to the next people. anthony: in 1981 the fbi called miami the most violent city in america. the drug industry brought in an
people don t feel rooted. they are from south america, central america. their whole plan is to come here to their family to live in the home of their dreams and then go is great. i would probably do the same thing. anthony: if i were to think about coming to florida to live, what would seem attractive to me, and i mean this absolutely, find some place on the beach and descend into my crocodile skinned, late area george hamilton phase, walk up and down metal detector, with shorts up to here, but that would be me. people who go to live that dream, they don t go to the beach. women: ask me when the last time i went to the beach was. anthony: when was the last time i went to the beach? women: about a year and a half ago. anthony: what the is that? women: we re working.