Publication Date: December 3, 2024
From true-crime legend T. J. English, the epic, behind-the-scenes saga of “Los Muchachos,” one of the most successful cocaine trafficking organizations in American history—a story of glitz, glamour, and organized crime set against 1980’s Miami.
Despite what Scarface might lead one to believe, violence was not the dominant characteristic of the cocaine business. It was corruption: the dirty cops, agents, lawyers, judges, and politicians who made the drug world go round. And no one managed that carousel of dangerous players better than Willy Falcon.
A Cuban exile whose family escaped Fidel Castro’s Cuba when he was eleven years old, Falcon, as a teenager, became active in the anti-Castro movement. He began smuggling cocaine into the U.S. as a way to raise money to buy arms for the Contras in Central America. This counter-revolutionary activity led directly to Willy’s genesis as a narco. He and his partners built an extraordinary international organization from the ground up. Los Muchachos, the syndicate founded by Falcon, thrived as a major cocaine distribution network in the U.S. from the late 1970’s into the early 1990’s. At their height, Los Muchachos made more than a hundred million dollars a year. At the same time, Willy, his brother Tavy Falcon, and partner Sal Magluta became famous as championship powerboat racers.
Cocaine, used by everyone from A-list celebrities to lawyers and people in law enforcement, came to define an era, and for a time, Willy Falcon and those like him—major suppliers, of whom there were only a few—became stars in their own right. They were the deliverers of good times, at least until the downside of persistent cocaine use became apparent: delusions of grandeur, psychological addiction, financial ruin. Thus, the War on Drugs was born, and federal authorities came after Falcon and his crew with a vengeance. Willy found himself on the run, his marriage and family life in shambles, the halcyon days of boat races and lavish trips to Vegas and parties at the Mutiny night club seemingly a distant memory.
T. J. English has been granted unprecedented access to the inner workings of Los Muchachos, sitting down with Willy Falcon and his associates for many lengthy interviews, and revealing never-before-understood details about drug trafficking. A classic of true-crime writing from a master of the genre, The Last Kilo traces the rise and fall of a true cocaine empire—and the lives left in its wake.
The big screen is full of stories featuring gangsters and crime lords who have been brought to their knees after making key mistakes that led to their arrests. In the true crime realm, author T. J. English serves up a tale focusing on the key players who built a cocaine empire from scratch in the United States.
The Last Kilo centers around the author’s extensive interviews with Willy Falcon, who built an organization known as Los Muchachos that operated from the late 1970s into the early 1990s. Falcon was released from federal prison after serving 27 years while his partner, Sal Magluta, remains incarcerated. As a result, the story focuses on Falcon’s leading role from his humble beginnings as a young Cuban refugee.
The author takes time in the introduction to give an overview of Falcon’s approach to the cocaine business, which, unlike today’s illegal drug trade, featured little violence. Instead, the focus was on building relationships, leading to legal system corruption. With law enforcement often turning a blind eye, Falcon and his crew built a staggering distribution network, funneling drugs and money through Miami.
Because the author focused on talking with members of Los Muchachos who completed prison sentences rather than snitching, along with officials who played a role in taking down the criminal organization, the account within The Last Kilo offers an unfiltered tale centering around a young man who dropped out of school to work in construction. He and a friend became involved in the cocaine industry to help with the anti-Castro movement. The rest of the story is packed with opportunities for growth because there was no system for smuggling large shipments.
Even Pablo Escobar plays a role in Falcon’s rise to power. The author draws upon the interviews to reconstruct key events to illustrate not only the rapid growth of Low Muchachos but also the growing demand by the rich and famous for more of the white powder. All of that success contributed to the most public and notorious criminal scandal in Miami’s history at the time.
The Last Kilo takes readers back in time to witness the birth of a multi-billion-dollar industry launched in Miami by a Cuban refugee who saw a need and ultimately transformed cocaine smuggling.
T. J. English is a noted journalist and author of the New York Times bestsellers Havana Nocturne, Paddy Whacked, The Savage City, and Where the Bodies Were Buried. He also authored The Westies, a national bestseller; Born to Kill, which was nominated for an Edgar Award; and The Corporation. His journalism has appeared in Esquire, Vanity Fair, Playboy, and New York magazine, among other publications. He lives in New York City.
