Untold story of two brothers who came from Cuba with nothing... and built America's biggest cocaine empire

The roar of the engine, on with the unit of the powerboat's fiberglass hull arsenic it skimmed on the aboveground of the water astatine 125 miles an hour, made Willy Falcon consciousness arsenic if the fillings successful his teeth would shingle out.

He remembered the archetypal fewer times helium ever piloted a instrumentality similar this. Back then, his full assemblage tightened up — his jaw clamped truthful hard that it was sore for hours afterward.

He had learned implicit the years that to grip the speed, you had to transmission the controlled vigor of a Zen master. Total relaxation was required, the quality to support carnal and intelligence equilibrium adjacent portion the satellite zipped by astatine speeds seldom tested by man.

Cocaine besides helped. There were fewer highs arsenic invigorating arsenic snorting a enactment of yayo earlier turning implicit the motor and hitting the bluish horizon.

In his vocation arsenic a trafficker, Willy had mastered the oversea and utilized it to facilitate his business. In immoderate cases, his enactment had utilized these aforesaid high-speed powerboats they raced successful the waters astir Miami to transportation kilos of cocaine nether screen of darkness.

The Seahawk racing cognition was successful galore ways a glamorous screen for the cocaine operation.

Willy Falcon, his member Gustavo (Tavy), Sal Magluta and different members of Los Muchachos were champion powerboat racers connected the nationalist circuit. They were daring and highly skilled, and the full cognition was large for morale.

It besides supplied them with a fleet of boats and drivers that made it astir intolerable for the US Coast Guard to drawback them.

Given the luck amassed by Willy successful the 15 years helium ran the concern — which began with cocaine but branched disconnected into a fractional twelve different ventures, including the powerboat racing empire — helium could beryllium forgiven for reasoning it would past for ever.

And portion it did last, the wealth flowed successful — currency that was sometimes stored successful shoeboxes, pillowcases, suitcases hidden distant successful closets, successful an underground vault, and successful concealed offshore slope accounts.

Federal prosecutors estimated that, by the clip they caught up with the alleged Cocaine Cowboys, they'd imported 75 tons of axenic cocaine with a thoroughfare worth implicit $2.6 billion.

But according to Falcon, those numbers are low. He calculates that helium and his partners smuggled person to 700 tons with a thoroughfare worth contiguous implicit $50 billion, making them the preeminent cocaine smugglers of the time.

Portrayed arsenic Cuban American playboys, precocious schoolhouse dropouts, and amateurs who stumbled onto a blistery spot and exploited its popularity successful the 1980s, Falcon and his closest associates person ne'er talked astir oregon been interviewed connected the taxable — until now.

I interviewed Falcon extensively from March 2021 — 4 years aft helium was released from having served 27 years successful national situation — to September 2023.

His willingness to speech opened the doorway for galore others from Los Muchachos to travel guardant and cooperate.

What is possibly astir astonishing astir their communicative is that, contrary to the Hollywood portrayals of the underworld - Scarface, Miami Vice, and their ilk - and their contemporaries similar Griselda Blanco, they became the astir palmy smugglers successful the narcosphere utilizing precise small violence.

Instead, they capitalized connected the information that Miami is simply a Cuban metropolis built and tally by Cubans.

The full strategy of justness – from cops to jailhouse unit and prosecutors – has arsenic its workers members of the exile community. So Willy and Sal had situation guards, cops, and backstage investigators connected their payroll.

They would tally checks connected each caller employees because, arsenic Willy told me: 'When you are bringing caller radical to enactment with your organization, judge me, you person to beryllium highly careful. Because this feline could beryllium moving undercover for instrumentality enforcement. 

'You request to instrumentality each precaution; you're not lone putting yourself astatine hazard but besides everyone successful your organization.'

But the radical Falcon relied connected astir were his pilots.

Los Muchachos had a unit of 4 oregon 5 they could number on, astir of whom were experienced smugglers with mysterious histories arsenic covert operators with the CIA.

Willy and Sal purchased planes for the pilots, who made regular runs to Colombia, Venezuela, and the Caribbean to prime up multiple-kilo shipments and present them to a concealed landing portion successful cardinal Florida.

As their cognition grew, Willy bought a distant property with its ain backstage mile-long runway. Regular payments to the section sheriff's lad ensured a unsighted oculus was turned to the shipments arsenic they flew in.

One of the pilots I spoke to, Ralph Linero, worshipped Willy.

'That's wherefore I'm with him,' helium told me. 'He ever said, 'Whenever we person a problem, idiosyncratic didn't wage oregon whatever'— his doctrine was, 'Okay, truthful the feline didn't pay, helium owes america 5 kilos. So we're going to spell and termination him? Why? We can't instrumentality his assemblage to the bank. And present we've got a combat with his brother.' 

'You cognize what Willy would do? He would telephone the feline and say, 'Here's 2 much keys. You spell and merchantability it and wage maine back.'

'That feline would beryllium kissing Willy's feet. I cognize astatine slightest 2 occasions wherever radical advised him, 'Let's f***ing deed them. Let's marque 'em pay.' And Willy would say, 'Nope, nope, nope. Bring them implicit here. We're gonna termination 'em with kindness.''

Once the merchandise was safely successful the US, Los Muchachos utilized a fleet of semi-tractor trailers to vessel kilos crossed the state - from Miami to LA, New York, New Jersey, San Francisco and elsewhere.

Often, the trucks were loaded with nutrient from morganatic companies to disguise the shipment.

The aforesaid trucks were besides indispensable to the shipment of currency successful the other absorption – hundreds of millions of dollars hidden wrong a cargo of drywall that was packaged together, with the insides hollowed retired to service arsenic a compartment for bills.

He described the strategy to maine similar this: 'For example, John successful San Francisco. Let's accidental we marque a woody for 10 kilos. He'll wage maine for 5 up front, and past the different 5 I volition springiness to him connected credit. He'll thrust the cocaine from Miami to San Francisco.

'It tin instrumentality a week to get there, a fewer days to merchantability the merchandise, past different week to thrust back. Too overmuch time. So, it's my occupation to marque it easier for John. 

'We had the cars and aboriginal the semitrucks. I said to him, 'Here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna springiness you the 10 [kilos] up front, and I'm going to transport the cocaine to San Francisco.' 

'I facilitated the transportation, made it easier for my client. That's wherefore everybody wanted to enactment with us.'

Over the people of much than a decade, billions of dollars successful cocaine profits were transported astir the US similar this.

After continuing their operations for years - adjacent though astatine times they were under indictment and surviving connected the lam - Willy and Sal were yet captured successful 1992. Falcon was arrested successful Ft Lauderdale and Sal successful Miami Beach.

A dedicated radical of prosecutors built what seemed similar an overwhelming case. But the 2 defendants were capable to beryllium connected thing that the prosecutors inactive did not afloat comprehend: the quality of Willy and Sal to erstwhile again manipulate a consciousness of loyalty wrong South Florida's Cuban exile community.

The narcos were capable to 'fix' the assemblage with not 1 oregon 2 soiled jurors, but five, 1 of whom said they could beryllium connected her for a not blameworthy verdict for nary interest astatine each (the others received payments astir astir $100,000 each).

The not blameworthy verdict by the assemblage shocked Miami and the US Justice Department.

Eventually, the brace were prosecuted nether abstracted indictments. Falcon reached a plea woody and was sentenced to 25 years successful prison. Magluta went to proceedings and was recovered guilty, receiving a condemnation of 205 years.

While helium was successful prison, Willy's woman of 15 years, Alina, was fatally changeable by a brace of teenage muggers extracurricular a hairsbreadth salon successful Coral Gables, Florida.

The brace had been unneurotic since they were teenagers. His girl Aileen recalled of the time: 'He was devastated, but I could spot that helium was trying to beryllium beardown for us. He wanted to reassure america that, arsenic a family, we weren’t going to autumn apart. We were inactive going to beryllium together; we would ever beryllium together. 

'He said to us, “Remember what a beauteous idiosyncratic your parent was. She was special. She went down fighting. Let her representation springiness you strength.”'

Tavy Falcon, who escaped apprehension at the clip of the Los Muchachos indictment, disappeared with his woman and 2 children and remained astatine ample for 24 years. In 2017, helium was captured and fixed a condemnation of 11 years. His clip was chopped abbreviated by COVID, and successful 2023 helium was released nether location arrest.

By the clip I interviewed these men, they were haunted for having screwed up the lives of their families and contributed to a concern characterized by addiction, unit and truthful overmuch destruction.

Even so, a fewer carried wrong their souls a crooked consciousness of pride.

In a concern characterized by murder, mayhem and betrayal, they had remained existent to a code. They did the time, came retired astatine the different end, and were dealing with the consequences of the beingness they had chosen.

Their travel progressive a bid of ups and downs, from the Armani suits, the nightclubs, boats and backstage jets of the cocaine epoch to the acold factual level of a situation cell.

As for Willy, present successful his aboriginal 70s and deported from the US, helium had a infinitesimal of new-found fame erstwhile helium featured successful the 2021 Rick Ross merchandise 'Little Havana'.

But successful the main, helium lives a quiescent life, in a humble flat successful an anonymous Latin American country.

Memories travel to him successful a rush, helium says, similar a movie with the scenes shown retired of sequence: his idyllic upbringing successful the municipality of Alquízar, successful La Habana Province. Then the acheronian unreality of Fidel Castro.

Then determination is aboriginal Miami, wherever shell-shocked Cuban exiles arrived to reinvent themselves arsenic the astir capitalist of the capitalists, followed by the years of unparalleled success; the bacchanalia of weekends successful Vegas, blowing half-a-million dollars.

Finally, determination is the agelong blur of fractional a beingness down bars, the negation of everything that had travel before, and the bitter pill that mostly what remains successful the extremity is shame.

From the publication THE LAST KILO: Willy Falcon and the Cocaine Empire that Seduced America by T.J. English. Copyright © 2024 by T.J. English. To beryllium published connected December 3, 2024 by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Reprinted by permission.