The Last Kilo: Willy Falcon and the Cocaine Empire that Seduced America by T.J. English
Many thanks to
William Morrow Publishers and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advanced
copy of prolific writer T.J. English’s new book The Last Kilo: Willy Falcon and the Cocaine Empire that Seduced America. There are several books by
English that are on my to be read shelf, so I feel grateful that I was able to
read this new book. Furthermore, I had some familiarity with Willy Falcon’s
story from the Netflix documentary Cocaine
Cowboys. However, as English lets
readers know in the beginning of the book, he wrote this book with Willy Falcon’s
collaboration and did not rely on the testimony of people who collaborated with
the government as witnesses, in the ways that the Netflix documentary was created.
This provides a unique perspective that may have some bias in the details.
Nevertheless, English’s writing, detailed research, and ability to capture the
scene of late 70s and 1980s Miami, specifically the Little Havana area, helps
to add to the intrigue and action of Willy Falcon’s story (as well as his
partner Sal Magluta and the other members of their gang, Los Muchachos). Just
like other true crime and non-fiction books, English helps to contextualize the
history and social scene of cocaine use in America in the 70s and 80s. He
provides a quick history, and then pivots to explore how many Cubans ended up
in Miami in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. I actually didn’t know about the Mariel
Boatlift, a time when Cuba and America entered into an agreement to allow
refugees to flee Cuba. As English explains, Castro was playing a game with the
US, and released inmates and other criminals from Cuba’s prisons, sending them
to the US. I wondered if this is possibly the source of some current anxieties
over refugees from other Latin American countries. Although Willy and Sal
arrived much earlier, their experiences fleeing Castro’s Cuba helps to shed
light on the kinds of threats and violence they experienced as young children
with their families. Furthermore, it makes their story of American success,
using the front of several businesses to become possibly the largest cocaine smugglers
in the US, more incredible. I was also amazed to learn that Los Muchachos got
their start smuggling cocaine as part of the anti-Castro groups that emerged
after the Bay of Pigs failures in the 1960s. That is, it sounded like Willy and
Sal took on an existing role of drugs for weapons that predated the Iran-Contra
affairs by at least a decade, and may have been going on for some time. In
fact, I found Willy and Sal’s story of success incredible considering that neither
of them graduated high school, yet they became successful business men and
popular within their communities. I think their story also kind of sheds light
on how some minority groups and immigrants don’t have the same kinds of
advantages and opportunities that other citizens might have. Most don’t turn to
illegal activities, but Willy and Sal saw this as their main opportunity to
make money and continue to fight to liberate Cuba from communism. Their efforts
and experiences raise some important questions about the nature of battling
communism. While I don’t agree that bringing drugs into America and feeding
addicts is the right way to battle dictatorships and ideologies we disagree
with, I can see how their decisions to deal drugs were largely motivated by
their patriotism and efforts to return Cuba to its pre-revolution days. English
is persistent in showing readers that Willy and Sal regularly donated money to
the cause whenever they were asked. I was actually surprised that they could
still find the funds to support the liberation efforts even when they were being
detained and had limited access to their funds. I also loved reading about some
of the other traffickers that have shown up in other Netflix series, especially
the Narcos series. I didn’t realize that Willy and Sal
were that close with Escobar and some of the Sinaloa Cartel. It seemed kind of
incredible to see how Los Muchachos had to navigate the relationships between
different distributors of cocaine in Columbia, working with different cartels
and trying to import the goods to America. It also showed how ingenious they
were in subverting the DEA’s means of halting smuggling.
The Last Kilo is an exciting and fun read. Although the
days of crime were action filled and entertaining, the last sections when Los
Muchachos begins to fall apart was also compelling to read. English shifts from
a crime story to more of a legal tale, exploring the various indictments against
Willy, Sal, and many of their compatriots in Los Muchachos. It was amazing to read
about the long stint that Willy and Sal spent in prison despite not being
convicted of a crime. Furthermore, it was incredible to see the ways they were
able to maneuver around the charges, and eventually find a plea deal to reduce
their time in prison. Although English had access to Willy’s accounts, I felt
like sometimes this book may have overlooked some of the crimes or the cost of
addiction. Other books focusing on drug crimes often give the perspective of
the victims of drugs—especially the addicts, and there’s not much about the cost
of addiction in 80s. One of the pilots that Willy and Sal worked with did
become addicted to a early form of crack, and Willy learns about the cost of
crack, but he also seems somewhat indifferent to it, like his smuggling was not
really resulting in all of the crack addiction, crime, and punishment that was
a result of the failed war on drugs. If anything, Willy seems kind of oblivious
to his role in furthering this dark period of American society that we are
still dealing with. The book always seemed to go back to the idea of fighting
for Cuba’s independence and using drugs as a means to subvert Castro’s Cuba,
despite not really seeing where the money or weapons went.
I really enjoyed
reading English’s book, and I look forward to reading some of his other true
crime books. Although I haven’t read too many books about drug smuggling
empires, I think that this one ranks with Mark Bowden’s Killing Pablo, one of my favorite and one of the more exciting books I’ve read. The one
aspect of The Last Kilo that I felt could be better is the dialogue
in the book. Some of the dialogue seemed a little stilted and didn’t quite have
the sound that major drug smugglers might sound like—or maybe my ideas about their
discussions may be more influenced by popular media like television shows and
movies. Specifically, whenever Willy and Sal would talk to other dealers, it
seemed like they were always kind of understanding. English also mentioned that
they didn’t really engage in violence and often were forgiving of mistakes and
issues. However, he does raise questions about the deaths of witnesses that
occur while Willy and Sal are awaiting trial. English never directly implicates
Willy and Sal, but it seems like they may have had a hand in some of these
deaths. Regardless, this was a really fascinating story that covers a range of
issues from crime and drugs, to immigration and American opportunities, as well
as foreign policy and covert missions to combat communism. A really
entertaining and compelling read.
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