In the sun-drenched chaos of 1980s Miami, when the city pulsed with excess, ambition, and danger, two young Cuban-American smugglers rose to mythic status. Willy Falcon and Sal Magluta, better known as Los Muchachos, became legends of the cocaine era — figures whose stories blurred the line between crime and celebrity. Nearly fifteen years after Cocaine Cowboys first unveiled Miami’s wild drug-fueled underbelly, filmmakers Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman have returned with Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami, a riveting six-part Netflix documentary series that revisits the city’s most infamous duo.
The Genesis of the Cocaine Cowboys Legacy
When Rakontur Productions released Cocaine Cowboys in 2006, it wasn’t just a documentary — it was a cultural event. The film delved deep into Miami’s narco-driven transformation, chronicling how cocaine money built skyscrapers, funded lavish lifestyles, and fueled violent turf wars. But what most didn’t realize was that Cocaine Cowboys was Plan B.
Originally, Billy Corben, Alfred Spellman, and David Cypkin — the creative minds behind Rakontur — intended to make a film about Willy Falcon and Sal Magluta. Inspired by the gripping longform journalism of Jim DeFede, a Miami New Times writer whose reporting captivated readers throughout the 1990s, the trio envisioned a Goodfellas-style chronicle of two Miami High dropouts who rose from street racers to cocaine kings.
However, the timing was wrong. Federal prosecutors were still chasing Los Muchachos, and their story was legally off-limits. So instead, Rakontur pivoted — crafting a broader narrative of Miami’s drug lords, which became the original Cocaine Cowboys. The success of that film, a cult sensation, laid the groundwork for everything to come.
A Story That Needed Time to Ripen
For Corben and Spellman, The Kings of Miami was a story more than a decade in the making. As they told it, “Sometimes stories need to ripen — there needs to be distance.” That distance came naturally, as the legal dust around the Falcon-Magluta empire began to settle.
Willy Falcon was eventually released and deported to the Dominican Republic in 2018, while Sal Magluta remains imprisoned for life in a Supermax facility in Colorado. Only then did key members of their circle — including Marilyn Bonachea, Magluta’s longtime girlfriend and confidante — agree to talk. Bonachea, who entered witness protection after testifying against Magluta, offered a rare, intimate look at the empire’s rise and fall.
As Rakontur amassed years of interviews, footage, and testimonies, they realized they had far too much material for a feature-length documentary. The emergence of long-form docuseries formats, popularized by Making a Murderer and The Jinx, gave them the perfect opportunity. Thus, Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami was born — a six-episode saga blending true crime, Miami nostalgia, and cinematic storytelling.
Miami’s Golden Age of Journalism and Chaos
The filmmakers’ fascination with this era wasn’t only about drugs and money — it was about Miami’s cultural identity. Growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, Corben and Spellman were influenced by voices like Carl Hiaasen, Neil Rogers, and the Miami New Times. As teenagers, they devoured the stories that painted Miami as both glamorous and grotesque — a city of neon lights, fast cars, and moral gray zones.
Their first major success, Raw Deal: A Question of Consent, premiered at Sundance in 2001, making them the youngest filmmakers from South Florida ever featured there. Yet, despite Hollywood’s allure, they returned home, determined to “tell Miami stories the way Scorsese tells New York stories.”
For them, Miami wasn’t just a backdrop; it was a living, breathing character — a place where the American dream collided with cartel ambition.
Jim DeFede and the Longform Roots of Cocaine Cowboys
One name echoes throughout Rakontur’s history: Jim DeFede. As a Miami New Times reporter in the 1990s, DeFede’s in-depth reporting on Willy and Sal helped define the duo’s public image. He recalls being drawn to their story because it perfectly captured the contradictions of Miami — a city where school dropouts could helm a billion-dollar empire.
DeFede uncovered how the Falcon-Magluta network laundered millions through Panamanian shell companies, some linked to government officials following the U.S. invasion of Panama. His work not only exposed corruption but also showcased Miami’s unique brand of chaos — a city where crime and commerce were indistinguishable.
That same spirit of immersive, character-driven storytelling became Rakontur’s DNA. From The U to Screwball, Corben and Spellman’s films have continued to merge journalism and entertainment — bringing Miami’s wildest true stories to life.
From Talk Radio to Netflix: Miami’s Storytelling Evolution
The filmmakers often refer to the “golden era of talk radio and alt-weekly journalism” that shaped their worldview. Miami in the 1990s was a place where reporters like DeFede and commentators like Neil Rogers could blend satire, investigative grit, and street-level realism. That tone carried into Rakontur’s filmmaking style — fast-paced, irreverent, and deeply rooted in place.
As Corben put it, “We wanted to do in nonfiction filmmaking what New Times and Carl Hiaasen were doing in print — to show the absurdity, the glamour, and the horror of Miami.”
Now, with Netflix distributing their work in over 190 countries and 30 languages, their local stories have become global phenomena. What began as a neighborhood obsession with two Cuban smugglers is now a universally relatable story about ambition, loyalty, betrayal, and the price of success.
The Legacy of Los Muchachos
The Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami series doesn’t just glorify the past — it examines the mythology that grew around it. Willy Falcon and Sal Magluta weren’t mere criminals; they were folk heroes to some, symbols of rebellion and success in a city defined by reinvention.
Their saga also reveals how the cocaine economy reshaped Miami, fueling construction booms, luxury lifestyles, and a nightlife culture that persists today. The duo’s empire — worth over $2 billion and responsible for smuggling more than 75 tons of cocaine — became a metaphor for the city itself: beautiful, reckless, and built on contradictions.
The Enduring Power of Storytelling
For Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman, the journey from Raw Deal to Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami represents more than two decades of uncompromising storytelling. They’ve become chroniclers of South Florida’s identity — filmmakers who transform court transcripts and faded headlines into compelling, character-driven narratives.
Their success underscores a larger truth: Miami’s history is too strange to be fiction, and its storytellers too passionate to let it fade. With every documentary, Rakontur reminds the world that the city’s glittering skyline was built not just on ambition, but on the ghosts of its own outrageous past.
Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami is streaming now on Netflix, offering audiences an unfiltered glimpse into the empire that made — and nearly destroyed — Miami’s soul.