Miami’s Cocaine Trade and Crime Wave:
The show drew heavily from Miami’s role as the epicenter of the 1980s cocaine trade, often called the "Cocaine Cowboys" era. The city handled an estimated 70% of U.S. cocaine imports, with rampant violence, corruption, and wealth shaping its image. Events like the 1979 Dadeland Mall shootout, where Colombian traffickers killed rivals, and the Miami River Cops Scandal (1984–1988), where police stole drugs, provided a backdrop of real-world crime and excess.
Creator Anthony Yerkovich, a writer for Hill Street Blues, conceived the idea after researching Miami’s drug trade. He was inspired by a statistic that 65% of federal drug seizures involved assets like boats and planes, which influenced the show’s focus on undercover cops seizing high-value items.