Spellman, Alfred interview

Permanent Link:: http://dpanther.fiu.edu/dpService/dpPurlService/purl/MBVM000009/00001

Material Information

Subjects / Keywords:: Oral histories -- Miami Beach (Fla.)
Documentary films -- United States -- Florida -- Miami
Cocaine industry -- United States.
Genre:: Video Recordings
Spatial Coverage:: United States -- Florida -- Miami Beach
Coordinates:: 25.790169 x -80.139055

Scope and Content:: Alfred Spellman, documentary producer, is known for Cocaine Cowboys, the definitive documentary on the Wild West-like 80’s in South Florida, when the illicit cocaine business boomed and so did gunfire on the streets in broad daylight. The economic boom, he says, was contemporary South Florida’s equivalent to the California Gold Rush of the mid 19th century. Cocaine was so plentiful it became the currency in the not-so-underground economy. Spellman recalls those days in great detail and his growing up in North Miami Beach. He talks about the colorful characters that thrived in the anything goes atmosphere of Miami Beach. He tells the story of “Brother Love” and the Ethiopian Coptic Church, a cover for the massive importation and distribution of marijuana, which was finally busted up. Spellman remembers as a child the depressed days of South Miami Beach and then the transformation which occurred after the Miami Vice TV show and the surge of famous models and photographers which came on the heels of the popular show. He says the rich and famous, who had flocked to the newly discovered chic-ness of Miami Beach, found other chic but safer havens after the murder of fashion mogul Gianni Versace on the steps of his mansion on South Beach. ( English )