Power boating was the family passion. The family included Sal Magluta, Willie Falcon and his younger brother, Gustavo "Tabby" Falcon – a crew of drug kingpins who operated in South Florida in the 1980s. Gustavo was captured in Kissimmee Wednesday after 26 years on the run.
Billy Corben directed the landmark film “Cocaine Cowboys” which highlighted the dark time in South Florida when the drug wars were rampant and fueled by Colombian druglords.
"The figures that were thrown around, at the time, was 75 tons of cocaine and generating over $2.5 billion in revenue. That was the indictment," Corben told NBC 6. The feds indicted all three in 1991 and Magluta and Willie Falcon were caught, but, Gustavo Falcon, his wife, and their two kids disappeared before the indictment.
"It had always been rumored that they had left the country, had access to planes and boats and things. It was rumored for a long time that they were in Spain. I think it's rather extraordinary that they were discovered 300 miles away," said Corben.
The filmmaker is working on a new documentary on the case, a sequel of sorts to his "Cocaine Cowboys." Corben is stunned that the younger Falcon was nabbed just months before Willie, who took a plea, is expected to be freed from prison.
“And it’s now, after all this time, scheduled to be released in just two months, just as his brother, who has been gone for 26 years is captured, 300 miles away from home. It's wild," said Corben.
Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez, who was Miami’s mayor at the time of the 80’s drug trade, said the crime rate spiked because of the drug trafficking and the major players.
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"We were a troubled city," said Suarez as he reflected. "They were kids that went bad, and the temptation of drugs and the money that was coming through Miami was enormous." The Falcon brothers and Magluta famously dropped out of Miami High School to lead a life of crime.
Corben is set to release his new six-hour docuseries, "Cocaine Cowboys: Los Muchachos", this summer.
