The deadly 1979 shootout at Dadeland Mall in broad daylight between Colombian traffickers– quickly dubbed ”the Cocaine Cowboys” by a police officer on the scene — heralded the beginning of South Florida’s bloody and violent drug wars in which drug dealers competed for Miami’s wholesale markets. The mob-style execution and growing violence in the streets of Miami was linked to the nascent Medellin Cartel consolidating its control of the drug business. Smuggling rings grew to corporate size in the 1980’s. A 1982 seizure of $100 million worth of cocaine from a Miami International Airport hangar permanently altered U.S. law enforcement’s approach towards the drug trade. As a response, President Reagan created the South Florida Drug Task Force and assigned George Bush to lead a coordinated federal offensive in 1982. By then the Colombian cocaine lords had already amassed the vast wealth necessary to sustain and protect their drug empire.  By 1985, South Florida cocaine seizures had shattered DEA records. 50,000 pounds worth more than $9 billion wholesale were seized in the span of 12 months — nearly twice the previous annual record for the entire United States.

4/18/1984, Al Diaz/Miami Herald Staff: Metro Police arrest a suspect at Cocaine a factory at 3271 NW 28 street.

1/21/1987: Street where DEA agent was shot. Special agent Adolphus Wright was shot twice with a .38-caliber handgun on Jan. 21 as he and other DEA agents raided a cocaine lab in a house at 6720 Royal Melbourne Dr.

2/7/1980: Keith Graham/Miami Herald Staff -- Sunset, seen from the Mallory Docks in Key West. Smuggling is a sea-going business. The shrimpers are not always smuggling drugs. One heads out at sunset. This photograph was published March 16, 1980 in The Miami Herald series "Key West: Smugglers' Island."

2/18/1982, John Walther/Miami Herald Staff: FBI drug bust. Unidentified drug smuggler is led from FBI building.

Undated file photo of Griselda Blanco, the mastermind behind the gruesome drug related killings in South Florida that took place during the 1980's known as the "Cocaine Cowboys" era.

9/22/1985, Bruce Gilbert/Miami Herald Staff: A twin engined plane sits on I-75, west of the Palmetto, around 138th St and 97 Ave, after landing and the pilot fleeing. It is a suspected drug plane.

1/21/1987: Attendants transport a DEA Agent that was shot in the line of duty this afternoon.

4/18/1984, Bob East/Miami Herald Staff: Metro detective examines car at 3271 NW 28 St where much ether and acetone were found.

4/12/1986, Scott W. Aszkenas/Miami Herald Staff: 100 pounds of Cocaine seized from 4 people in Pembroke Pines.

11/4/1987, David Walters/Miami Herald Staff: Sophisticated radio equipment confiscated in the Munday-Coley cocaine trafficking case. A ring of American pilots and powerboaters was charged Wednesday in Miami with using what U.S. drug agents called "the most sophisticated methods we've yet seen" to import more than 10 tons of cocaine for Colombia's Medellin Cartel. To beat the U.S. Customs Service radar network, the ring allegedly operated a countersurveillance command post in Miami to monitor federal frequencies. The post also linked communications among smuggling flights, scout aircraft, powerboats and a lookout with binoculars atop a Sunny Isles condominium. In all, 30 defendants, including the promoter of the Grand Prix of Palm Beach, were named as part of a high-tech cocaine transport organization made up of Americans working as subcontractors for the Colombian cartel. Items were put on display at the FBI headquarters in North Miami.

2/1/1988, Al Diaz/Miami Herald Staff: K-9 officer Ken Buzzi stands over five bags stuffed with 200 lbs of Cocaine confiscated from two Easter airline employees. Officer in back is corporal Rubin Santa-Cruz.

7/12/1979, Miami Herald Front Page.

5/31/1985- Raymond Casamayor walks outside the federal court building in handcuffs. A federal jury convicted him and two veteran detectives for running a protection racket for drug dealers.

5/31/1985, Al Diaz/Miami Herald Staff: Acting assistant special agent in charge for the D.E.A. Paul A. Teresi points to a bullet hole in a kilo of cocaine the D.E.A. confiscated.

11/11/1990, Wilfredo Lee/Miami Herald Staff: Police sgt. Jack Griffin of the Street Narcotics Unit checks through bundles of the one million 30 thousand dollars police confiscated Saturday along with 30 Kilos of cocaine at 679 N.W. 30 st. Police had been tipped off that there was a large amount of cash and drugs at the house.

6/25/1986, Chuck Dafely/Miami Herald Staff: Miami officer J.J. Fernandez, right, guards a roomful of people arrested during sting operation at 140 NW 10 St. Cops set up operation in a vacant apartment there.

1/21/1987, Robin Shields-Cohen/Miami Herald Staff: Brother and two sisters try to calm down after the DEA shooting in their home at Royal Melbourn in Miami Lakes. A cocaine bust by Drug Enforcement Administration agents turned into a gun battle. A neighborhood man was killed and DEA agent Adolphus Wright was shot in the head at a home agents say was being used as a cocaine lab.

Police and federal drug agents set up roadblock on Route 29, just outside Everglades City

11/4/1987, David Walters/Miami Herald Staff: Steven Bucchiere, Nancy E. Sims and C. Leslie Hudson III are led from FBI head quarters in North Miami after they lea were arrested along with ten other in connection with the Coley-Munday organization accused of Cocaine trafficking.

11/18/1987,Chris Usher/Miami Herald Staff: Federal Agents with some of the 6292 lbs of Cocaine which were smuggled inside the wood of a picnic table.

3/28/1984, Bob East/Miami Herald Staff: 627 pounds of cocaine worth about 7 million wholesale is on desk at DEA office in Miami after capture with several Colombians - agent Frank Chellino at right displays it for media.

12/15/1989: Veteran Miami lawyer Gino P. Negretti is aided by neighbors after pulling himself from his car, which exploded as he was leaving for work from his Northwest Dade home. He was hospitalized with a broken arm and a mangled hand. The 71-year-old lawyer has represented accused stowaways, drug dealers and explosives experts.

8/29/1985, Miami Herald Staff: Lt. Noel Roy holds some of the Cocaine found by Troopers in the back of a van at the 5900 Block of NW 36 St.

8/7/1983: Mira Badilna, stands at the door of her apartment at 737 Jefferson. The night before the had heard a lot noise from police busting doors down. She said she heard an officer at he door asking for someone she didin't know so she stayed inside.

2/8/1987, Miami Herald Staff: Colombian cocaine cartels.

1/4/1984, Murry Sill/Miami Herald Staff: DEA Metro officers escort Regino Diaz (in front) and Delfin Hondares to police cruisers after arresting and charging them with manufacturing cocaine.

2/26/1984, Robin Shields/Miami Herald Staff: North Miami Beach officer Terry Scott. Outside on sells a dime Bag to one of the people arrested Wed, Feb 22 on the corner of NE 15th Ct. and 154th Terrace. (taken through the windshield of an unmarked police surveillance car.)

6/10/1985, Mary Lou Foy/Miami Herald Staff: Cocaine seizure.

3/12/1981: Arrested in Operation grouper - A federal official escorts some of the 36 people arrested into Federal court in Miami Thursday after they were taken into custody as part of a massive undercover investigation conducted by the Drug Enforcement Agency. More than 120 people were arrested in states from Maine to Texas in connection with this marijuana smuggling investigation, said to be the most massive drug-related investigation in U.S. history. 1981

7/11/1979: 1979 shooting at Dadeland Mall Shopping Center.

Copyright © © The Miami Herald 1979 7/11/1979: Tim Chapman/Miami Herald Staff -- This photo shows the interior of a van that was involved in a drug related killing at the Crown Liquor stores at the Dadeland shopping Mall in Miami.

8/1/1985, Tim Chapman/Miami Herald Staff: Street team from metro secures a suspected drug house on 5 street in homestead.

1/11/1984, Carol Guzy/Miami Herald Staff: Country Walk resident Liria Racuk strolls past the abandoned tan and chocolate-colored house with her two tiny pedigreed Pomeranian dogs. She just found out that her neighbors were running a drug factory.

10/1986, Al Diaz/Miami Herald Staff: Patrick O'Brien, special agent in charge of the Miami U.S. Customs office, at a news conference with confiscated cocaine.

2/1/1987, Michel DuCille/Miami Herald Staff: City of Miami Police caught some 250 drug buyers during a massive sting operation which covered the entire city of Miami.

Graphic published on Thursday, November 5, 1987, page 8A, Final Edition. A group allegedly working for Colombia's Medellin Cartel used boats, planes, female decoy passengers and a sophisticated communications network coordinated out of a command post located in a Miami warehouse.

6/3/1985, David Walters/Miami Herald Staff: Customs Officer Frank Bele displays a stuffed animal- Teddy bear- that was found to contain 156,000 dollars in cash. Large sums are being smuggled out of the U.S. to Central and South American countries, it is presumed, to buy drugs.

5/19/1988, Brian Smith/Miami Herald Staff: DEA Agents guard a container truck where they seized a large shipment of cocaine packaged inside bags of brown sugar.

Cover page of The Miami Herald Front published Thursday, February 5, 1987 in Miami, Florida. Features COLOMBIAN DRUG LORD SEIZED by JEFF LEEN and GUY GUGLIOTTA, Herald Staff Writers, with associated photograph "CARLOS LEHDER RIVAS: LEADER OF DRUG CARTEL".

3/10/1982: Nearly two tons of Colombian cocaine worth an estimated $175 million - was seized at a Miami warehouse by U.S. Customs and Drug Enforcement agents. About 3,748 pounds of cocaine was found in a Tampa International Airlines warehouse at the Miami airport.

Police and federal drug agents set up roadblock on Route 29, just outside Everglades City

Collier County Sheriff's Deputy escorting prisoner from early morning drug arrest...picture taken in Everglades City

Undated, Keith Graham/Miami Herald Staff: Peter Gruden, DEA special agent in charge of Florida and the Caribean, with $400,000 in cash, 6 handguns and a pump action shotgun that was confiscated early Monday morning in drug bust in unincorporated Dade County.

1/20/1985, David Walters/Miami Herald Staff: Cocaine seizure.

8/4/1990: Late last night the FBI confirmed the presence of cocaine in eight additional 6.16 oz bottles of pony Malta De Bavaria which had been collected by the HRS-Dade county public health unit from a local distributor. That distributor supplies Pony Malta De Bavaria to the lunch truck trade in Dade and Broward counties. The Difference Between The Two Products -- The bottle on the left is the problem product, laced with Cocaine. The bottle on the right is the original, authentic product - suitable for consumption. The main difference is int he labeling. Note the Cocaine - laced Pony Malta De Bavaria botttle (left) has a lable over a label. Also all counterfeit bottles have gold colored caps, originals have Silver.

2/24/1984: DEA Agent Frank Chellino looks at finished cocaine. Federal drug agents seized 185 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a trailer parked at a Miami refrigeration firm.

2/18/1982, John Walther/Miami Herald Staff: FBI drug bust. An unidentified drug smuggler is led from FBI building.

1987, Bruce Gilbert/Miami Herald Staff: Metro police Capt Jim Pridgen, supervisor of narcotics unit, stands in front of approx 2001bs of coke found in the trunk of a car at the scene of the coke bust at NW 28st and 32av.

6/25/1986, Chuck Fadely/Miami Herald Staff: Miami police officers Tom Cannon, right, and Norm Tucker, left, hold plastic bags of drugs confiscated during raid on apartments at 140 NW 10 St.

3/28/1982: Officer Mario Garcia during a drug raid.

8/6/1986: Carol Guzy/Miami Herald Staff -- Customs agent Bob Crankshaw looks at boat that contained more than 80 bales of marijuana.

Undated, Bruce Gilbert/Miami Herald Staff: Metro fireman keep a watchful eye on the removal of ether from the cocaine bust on NW 28st and 32 ave.

4/18/1984, Al Diaz/Miami Herald Staff: A Metro Police officer places a gun into an evidence Bag at the scene of a big Cocaine bust at 3271 NW 28th St.

2/7/1980: Keith Graham/Miami Herald Staff -- Sunset, seen from the Mallory Docks in Key West. Smuggling is a sea-going business. The shrimpers are not always smuggling drugs. One heads out at sunset. This photograph was published March 16, 1980 in The Miami Herald series "Key West: Smugglers' Island."

4/19/1984, Bruce Gilbert/Miami Herald Staff: Cocaine drying rack at cocaine factory at 3250 NW 28th Street.

4/18/1984, Al Diaz/Miami Herald Staff: This is a general view of the warehouse at 3271 NW 28th St where metro police discovered a large amount of cocaine and a factory to make it.

9/25/1985, Battle Vaughan/Miami Herald Staff: Undercover agents catalogue weapons seized, along with about 30 lb cocaine, at south Dade home. House surrounded with barbed-wire topped fence. Weapons included several rifles, shotguns, an Uzi semi-automatic carbine fitted into an attaché case; and a fully-automatic silencer equipped MAC10 machine gun, a number of pistols. Also, sophisticated radio equipment, jewelry and some cash were found in a safe in a bedroom closet. Several gallons of acetone and ether, used in coke processing, were burned at the scene by Metro Bomb Squad and Metro Fire.

5/2/1985, Pete Cross/Miami Herald Staff: Metro Dade Lt. Jim Bowers holds automatic Weapon after the first of five durg busts in NW Dade.