The No. 1 Cocaine Cowboy, notorious Miami drug kingpin Willy Falcon, was deported to the Dominican Republic this month, more than a year following being released from federal prison on a money laundering conviction. The native Cuban fought returning to his homeland because of his participation in a CIA-funded plot in the 1990s to overthrow communist dictator Fidel Castro. Falcon’s minor role in the plot was recently made public via court documents related to his immigration case. Castro died in 2016 after over a half-century in power and dodging numerous assassination efforts.
The 64-year old Falcon was scooped up by U.S. Immigration and Customs officials the day he walked free in 2017 from nearly two decades behind bars. Back in the spring, a judge denied his motion to be allowed to stay in the country.
In the 1980s, Falcon and his boyhood buddy and partner in crime Sal Magluta were the nation’s largest smugglers of Colombian cocaine, bringing in billions of dollars worth of powder into South Florida and saturating American streets with it at the apex of the crack epidemic. Throughout underworlds foreign and domestic, Falcon and Magluta were known as “Los Muchachos” and their criminal organization was called “The Company.”
Both Falcon and Magluta came to America as young children and were classmates together as teenagers at Miami Senior High School. They began selling marijuana together in the school’s parking lot and eventually transitioned into moving coke once they left campus.
Willy Falcon circa 1980s
Los Muchachos and a several of their henchmen were indicted in a giant 1991 federal drug conspiracy case, but Falcon and Magluta were acquitted at a 1996 trial where they bought off the jury foreman. The feds indicted Falcon and Magluta again in 1999 for tax evasion and murder in a case Falcon copped a plea to and Magluta rolled the dice at another trial and lost. Magluta was sentenced to life in prison.
According to their 1999 indictment, Falcon and Magluta hired three hitmen to kill a former lawyer of theirs. Criminal defense attorney Juan Acosta was gunned down in the days before he was supposed to testify in front of a grand jury in the fall of 1989.
Besides their exploits in the dangerous, fast-paced drug world, Falcon and Magluta were world-class and globally-ranked powerboat racers. ESPN would frequently broadcast their races. Authorities think the Acosta slaying was one of three executions and five shootings connected to Falcon and Magluta during their reign.
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