Part 2/11:
Just after 2:30 PM on July 11, 1979, an audacious crime unfolded on the streets of Miami. A van screeched to a halt outside the Crown Liquor Store in the bustling Dade Mall Complex. Two masked men armed with semi-automatic weapons stormed inside, targeting Jimenez Pesso, a known drug dealer, and his bodyguard, Juan Carlos Hernandez. The violent shootout that ensued was later characterized by police as reminiscent of the Wild West, marking the first instance of the term "Cocaine Cowboys" gaining traction in popular discourse. Not only did the gunfire claim the lives of Pesso and Hernandez, but it also left two employees injured, with bullets raining down perilously close to innocent bystanders outside. The assailants fled the scene, abandoning their van filled with weapons and bulletproof vests; a scene that epitomized the growing chaos and peril of Miami’s escalating drug war—a stark wakeup call for a city spiraling into drug-fueled anarchy.