‘Griselda’ brings to life the violent Miami drug dealers of the 80s

The series “Griselda” starring the Colombian Sofía Vergara brought to life among the residents of Miami the terror of the eighties in that Florida city, a time of violence, debauchery and extravagance fueled by the drug trade.

Although the Netflix series about the famous Colombian drug trafficker could not be filmed in Miami because the city has been completely transformed, as its director Knut Loewe told EFE, it managed to recreate the scenarios and horror of that time.

“Our intention was to do it in Miami, but we found a city that was practically completely transformed. That was not possible,” said the director about the series, which was filmed in Los Angeles.

Recreate the world criminalLoewe immersed himself in books about the design and history of South Florida.

“The Shtetl in the Sun”, a collection of more than one hundreds of photos that Andy Sweet took to a Jewish retirement community in South Florida between 1977 and 1980 became his bible. Movies like ‘Scarface (1983)’ and the documentary ‘Cocaine Cowboys’ (2006) were also his inspiration.

“We were looking for locations in Latin America. We thought we found a few in Panama City, we went to Spain, “We looked in multiple cities across the country, but we ended up finding a solution in cities in Southern California that haven’t been developed since the 1970s,” he said.

Loewe thinks of small towns in Los Angeles like Pomona and San Bernardino, small local airports, marinas that haven’t been redeveloped, and even the Queen Mary ocean liner that is retired in Long Beach.

Still, Miamians from the drug-trafficking era recognized the places and relived their explosive moments.

An era of violence and excess

“I lived near the Dadeland Mall at the time of the massacre. That day was the beginning of the worst period in Miami,” recalled Cuban-American Yara Mateo, referring to the July 1979 shooting at the mall’s liquor store, which at the time was one of the largest in the country, and the main one in the city.

The episode left two dead and several injured and ushered in the era of “cocaine cowboys” or “cocaine riders,” with episodes of violence that terrorized the city.

For Loewe, that scene – It was a real challenge. They decided to recreate a liquor store in an empty warehouse because they had to “do some explosive effects to destroy the bottles and do it a few times.”

Mateo made headlines again with that scene. “These are things you prefer not to think about,” said the 81-year-old Cuban-American. However, he discovered many new elements of history and the city.

One of those elements was the Mutiny Hotel. It is in the now exclusive Coconut Grove neighborhood, The building was the epicenter of the decline of the drug trade at the time.

Writer Roben Farzad, author of the book ‘Hotel Scarface’, describes his nightclub as “one of the world’s capitals of hedonism”, where money no longer has value.

“The way you saw celebrities, drug lords and people connected to the CIA and arms dealers throwing money around in pornographic terms was unparalleled. Tens of thousands of dollars were dropped for a hot tub full of (champagne) Dom Pérignon,” Farzad writes. There, societies were founded and dissolved under the death penalty.

The director of the series led the transformation of the hotel’s ballroom into the ship ‘Queen Mary’.

“We had a lot of freedom with the interior because it was a secret club, but it was very exciting to bring such an important place to life,” Loewe said.

“To recreate the stained glass, we used the technique used to make Tiffany lamps, such as the original. We combined a conference room, a ballroom and several offices to create the space. “It was important for us to convey that atmosphere of debauchery and excess.”

“I am shocked by everything that happened here,” a hotel waitress, who wished to remain anonymous, told EFE.

“You hear about drug dealers in Miami, but if you’re not passionate about the subject, you have no idea that you’re living in historic places. Miami’s history is lost to its people,” said Marcos Hernández, a 57-year-old Colombian who lives one street from Mutini.

The hotel was sold in 1983, and after a failed attempt to improve its image, the hotel property closed for a decade. Today, the Mutiny has four stars, with rooms starting at $357 per night. The nightclub that made him famous is gone and few of the current residents know his name.

Miami residents consulted recognized in ‘Griselda’ palaces of wealthy neighborhoods like Coral Gables, as the ‘godmother’ of the drug trade she gained power and money. Also the area of ​​Little Havana, and even a reference to the Cubans who made the city grow in the 20th century.

However, what took them to their past the city was not a location, palm trees or bridges between the islands that make up Miami. It was a second-long reference to a well-known defunct department store.

Elena Rojas, a 65-year-old migrant from Honduras, explains: “It was those two bags of Burdine that are next to Sofía Vergara at the beginning of the episode, where she sings ‘Gloria.’ It brought back so many beautiful memories of the Miami of my adolescence. , there was no way not to smile.”