Netflix's Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami docuseries portrays the rise and fall of Augusto “Willie” Falcon and Salvador “Sal” Magluta, two childhood friends who came to control Miami's largest cocaine drug operation during the 1980s - here’s where they are today. Beginning in 1996 with Cocaine Cowboys, director Billy Corben produced a series of feature-length documentary films about how Miami became the cocaine capital of the United States. The Netflix documentary series is the latest installment of Corben’s film franchise on the subject.
Told through a combination of old footage from the drug kingpins’ glory days and interviews with those closest to them and their crimes, Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami follows Willie and Sal as they go from being high school dropouts in the late ‘70s to successfully trafficking more than $2 billion dollars worth of cocaine into the United States from Colombia in the 1980s. Known locally as “Los Muchachos,” the men were seen as modern-day Robin Hoods. Seen by many as local heroes, they avoided jail time through bribes and murder. This worked until, after years of evading arrest, they were finally indicted for drug trafficking in 1991. The Netflix true crime show recounts the details of that trial, and the legal system’s long battle to bring the two men to justice.
Using laundered money, Willie and Sal also paid off everyone from law enforcement officers to jury members and even judges. Despite substantial evidence, the alleged cocaine kingpins were acquitted in 1996. Between their initial arrest and the 1996 trial, three of the witnesses who were scheduled to testify against the co-conspirators were murdered, and the kingpins were accused of paying to have them killed. This led to a second indictment in 1999 - this time, for a number of charges including bribery, money laundering, and murder. Here’s everything that’s happened with the two men since the trial depicted in the Netflix true crime documentary series.
Where Is Sam Magluta Now?
Considered the mastermind of the operation, Sal Magluta pled not guilty to all of the charges in the 1999 indictment. But, in 2002, he was finally convicted on charges of money laundering and bribery. The judge gave him the maximum sentence and, after an appeal, Magluta was sentenced to 195 years in prison. Though Sal has never been convicted for the murder of the witnesses from the trial in 1991, or the countless drug charges brought against him, he is expected to spend the rest of his life behind bars. According to Newsweek, Magluta is currently serving out his sentence at ADX Florence, a maximum-security prison in Colorado.
Where Is Willie Falcon Now?
Taking a plea deal In 2003, Willie Falcon pled guilty to money laundering and spent 14 years in prison for that charge. Falcon was born in Cuba but had been a permanent resident of the United States at the time of his arrest. As a convicted felon without U.S. citizenship, Falcon was deported upon his arrest. Allegedly fearing for his life in Cuba, Falcon was sent to the Dominican Republic in 2018. Where Falcon is today is one mystery of the true-crime series that has yet to be solved. Following protests in the country, Falcon fled the country soon after being deported. No one knows exactly what happened to Falcon after that - his whereabouts today are still unknown.
However, according to the Daily Mail, Falcon's brother Gustavo, who was indicted alongside him and Magluta, was captured by law enforcement in 2018. After being a fugitive for 26 years, he was found guilty and will serve 11 years in prison for his involvement in the money laundering schemes. Perhaps the next installment in Billy Corben’s Cocaine Cowboys series will be a follow-up of where the men are another decade from now.