First published 2009
Gerald Posner exposes the wild political and criminal history that transformed Miami Beach from a sandy backwater into a cultural powerhouse. Starting in the 1890s with visionaries and hustlers, the Beach attracted Al Capone during Prohibition for its bootlegging and gambling operations. After serving as a World War II training ground for half a million recruits, the area declined into bankruptcy and high crime by the 1970s. Everything changed in 1981 when 125,000 Cubans arrived by boat, bringing a culture of money tied to cocaine and crime that revitalized the empty Art Deco streets of South Beach. Posner traces the intertwined lives of politicians, financiers, nightclub owners, and developers who fed the Beach's hunger for wealth and flash. He profiles the German playboy who bought South Beach's tip with $100 million of questionable funds, the Staten Island thug who ruled nightclubs before testifying against the mob, and the campaign manager who called himself the "Prince of Darkness." The book reveals how mid level cocaine dealers with suitcases of cash and questionable billions financing condo towers transformed a small beach community into a world class cultural headquarters within one generation.
Genres: history, 20th-century, crime, non-fiction, 21st-century, american-history
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: true-story
Setting: Cuba, Miami, Miami Beach, South Beach, Staten Island
Period: 1890s, 1970s, 1981
464 pages · Hardcover · Simon & Schuster