When 'Miami Vice' in 1984 showed a dark, glamorous side of the crime-ridden city that Time magazine, three years earlier, had branded "Paradise Lost", it stoked an unexpected revival. Sultry Miami was suddenly hot.

It will be a flashback to all that chaos, cocaine and corruption on Friday when 'Miami Vice', a film loosely based on the hit television series but set in today's Miami, debuts across the United States. Many things haven't changed much since 1984.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) still lists Florida as the country's second most violent state, chief entry point for illegal drugs and top money-laundering hub.

The murder rate, however, has dropped significantly; some parts of the city are now safe for walking and Miami has become a world tourist attraction.

Twenty-two years ago, Miami was at the center of a thriving and violent cocaine empire that spawned more than 1200 murders, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. And that was a good year; in 1981 there were 1500 homicides.

It was a frightful city with a crime wave comparable to today's Johannesburg or Rio de Janeiro, said Miami-Dade College historian Paul George.

"'You'd better be careful where you walk', that was the mentality. I lived in Little Havana as I do today and I was walking every day but I didn't walk at night," he added.

Cocaine trafficking was rampant in Miami in the late 1970s, but 1979 was special: two men got out of a van in the middle of Dadeland Mall and in broad daylight emptied their machine guns on a Colombian drug lord and his bodyguard, wounding another person.

"The shootout in Dadeland was really the turning point," said George. "I was out in San Diego (California), and that made front page news out there, and I think that moment was a turning point.

"It showed a new order of things, that Miami was being run by drug cartels and their money."

Condos filled with cash

The DEA estimates that cocaine trafficking in 1979 netted $10-billion in wholesale trade alone. A major headache for drug traffickers that has since become part of Miami folklore was having to dispose of prodigious amounts of cash.

Even with their lavish spending and extravagant lifestyles, they often filled apartments to the ceiling with currency.

A year after the Dadeland shootout, 125 000 Cuban immigrants flooded the city on the Mariel boatlift. Riots broke out in predominantly black Liberty City where 18 people were killed. Crime spiralled.

"A lot of Miamians came to believe they lived in the worst possible place — refugees and rioting. I think our psyche continues on those early 80's years," said George.

The bad reputation peaked in 1982 when Brian De Palma filmed in the city his classic crime drama "Scarface," in which Al Pacino embodied a ruthless Marielito thug who slashed his way to the top of the drug empire proclaiming he owned the world.

Pastel suits to the rescue

"Miami Vice," instead, showcased the city's violent and criminal side, but with tropical style and elegance, a tourist industry worker said. "A lot of people thought because it was a cop show with violence, local authorities wouldn't like it. But it was so fashion oriented, the allure, the mysteriousness, it helped revive" the city, said Jeanne Sullivan of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Detectives "Sonny" Crockett and "Rico" Tubbs, played by Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas, wore expensive, pastel colored suits, drove around in Ferraris and speedboats with Miami a constant backdrop.

Miami Vice "really showcased the beauty of Miami, the exotic, the exciting, the international characteristics of Miami," George said.

The international success of the series put Miami back on the map, this time as a destination for tourists seeking its beaches, its nightlife and to walk along those rundown, oceanfront Art Deco buildings they admired on television.

"The Art Deco District achieved worldwide recognition as a result of the hit television show," said the Miami Design Preservation League. "The show used the Art Deco District as a backdrop in many of the episodes."

As a result of all the interest, many of the buildings were placed under municipal protection and now house chic restaurants, hotels and clubs often favored by Hollywood and music world celebrities.

But souvenirs of the bad old days can still be found in shops along South Beach.

Most amusing are pictures of "Scarface" in frames made of handgun replicas, dollar bills or bags of cocaine. "We laugh about it now, but we survived some very difficult times," George said.

AFP