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'Cocaine Cowboys' filmmakers take us inside the making of their new Netflix docuseries - from the star witness reaching out on MySpace to getting Pitbull to rap the theme song

<ul class="summary-list"><li><strong><keyword id="10145928" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="billy-corben">Billy Corben</keyword> and <keyword id="11785357" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="alfred-spellman">Alfred Spellman</keyword> talked to drug dealers and hitmen to make "<keyword id="11785359" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="cocaine-cowboys">Cocaine Cowboys</keyword>."</strong></li><li><strong>When criminals get out of prison, they want to tell their stories to Corben and Spellman.</strong></li><li>The latest story in the franchise, "Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami," hits <keyword id="128682" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Netflix">Netflix</keyword> Wednesday.</li></ul><p>Born and bred in Miami, Florida, director Billy Corben and producer Alfred Spellman grew up knowing a simple fact: Their city has been, and will always be, a sunny place for shady people.</p><p>Whether it's the refuge for retired mafia kingpins of the past, or the stomping grounds of infamous figures like O.J. Simpson and the late Jeffrey Epstein, The Magic City has never been able to shake its notorious reputation.</p><p>For Corben and Spellman, memories of being kids in Miami include racing home after coming upon a massive drug bust and suddenly realizing all their neighbors were driving around in fancy cars, had big boats, or were building additions on their houses - all while the rest of the country was going through a recession in the '80s.</p><p>And then there was "Miami Vice."</p><p>Spellman told Insider in a 2017 interview that growing up in the city, "the big thing was finding, in town, where 'Miami Vice' was shooting."</p><p>"They were always just shooting the other day near your friend's house, that was the talk. It was a huge thing in elementary school," he recalled.</p><p>So because of all that, when Corben and Spellman (who've known each other since the 9th grade) grew up and decided to get into making <keyword id="406" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Movies">movies</keyword> through their production company <a href="https://www.rakontur.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rakontur</a>, they didn't set up camp in Los Angeles or New York City.</p><p>They stayed put and decided to tell Miami's taboo stories.</p><div type="image" title="cocaine cowboys magnolia pictures" height="1080" width="1920" msid="85025291" hostid="261"></div><h2><strong>Their documentary 'Cocaine Cowboys' is the real-life 'Scarface' movie<br /></strong></h2><p>Miami was the entry point for cocaine moving into the country in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It made the people who were trafficking it extremely rich, but it also made Miami, in that time, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/19/magazine/can-miami-save-itself-a-city-beset-by-drugs-and-violence.html">the most violent place in the country</a>. The Colombian and Cuban drug cartels set up hits almost on a daily basis around the city.</p><p>It was a story Corben and Spellman felt had been glamorized in movies and TV, but never told in a realistic way the documentary format would allow. They planned to do that with their first film, "Cocaine Cowboys" - to tell the story through the firsthand accounts of the people who were actually there. And not just on the law enforcement side, but within the underworld as well.</p><p>But there was a problem. Corben and Spellman had zero connections in the city's drug world of that era. However, there's another simple fact about Miami: "You are basically two degrees of separation away," Corben told Insider. "You'll be at a bar and end up sitting next to a former smuggler."</p><p>And that's what happened to Corben's cousin on a sunny Miami day in 2003. While Corben and Spellman were beginning their research on the movie, Corben got a call.</p><p>"My cousin called me and he said, 'Do you know who Jon Roberts is?' And I'm like 'No, but let me ask the office.' And Alfred yells out, 'Yes!'" Corben said.</p><p>In his research, Spellman had come across the book "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Made-Snow/dp/0671703129" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Man Who Made It Snow."</a> Roberts is featured in the book, as a former New York City club owner who moved down to Miami to deal marijuana and ended up being one of the major players dealing cocaine for the Medellín Cartel, the powerful Colombian drug cartel founded and led by <a href="https://www.insider.com/who-killed-notorious-colombian-drug-kingpin-pablo-escobar-2016-12">the infamous Pablo Escobar</a>.</p><p>"It turns out Billy's cousin met him at a pool and Jon wanted to know if we wanted to do lunch and meet," Spellman said.</p><div type="image" title="Jon roberts magnolia" height="702" width="1248" msid="85025292" hostid="261"></div>Up until this point, Corben and Spellman had hit closed doors whenever it came to talking to the people behind the cocaine that flooded into Miami in the 1980s. By the early 2000s, "Scarface" was a bonafide classic constantly referenced on TV shows and in rap songs, but for people living in southern Florida, the topic was still a sensitive subject.<p>"In Miami, you didn't talk about cocaine, it's just an era that had never been talked about," Spellman said.</p><p>"My grandfather, who was a real-estate developer in Miami Beach and South Florida, he was appalled we were doing the movie," Corben said.</p><p>But after a sit down with Roberts, in which they explained to him that the movie would not feature a narrator, or have an agenda, and instead would be focused on the first-person accounts, the former drug trafficker was on board. And Roberts' partner, Mickey Munday, a modern-day pirate who was in charge of smuggling the drugs into Miami through air and sea, quickly followed suit.</p><p>Then, the filmmakers went a step further - they tried to talk to the hitmen.</p><h2>Getting a notorious hitman on camera led to some of the most compelling footage in 'Cocaine Cowboys'</h2><p>Landing someone who would go on camera and speak about the murders they committed was obviously a huge challenge. In most instances, the hitmen were in prison for a single murder, so the person could only speak on what they had been convicted of. Corben and Spellman would want to talk to someone who could speak about a wide range of criminal activity.</p><p>With the help of a homicide detective, Corben and Spellman reached out to three hitmen serving prison sentences. One was a man convicted for the murder of <a href="https://www.insider.com/tom-cruise-plays-barry-seal-in-american-made-review-2017-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Barry Seal</a>, the drug smuggler for the Medellín Cartel who <a href="https://www.insider.com/every-tom-cruise-movies-ranked-2020-5">Tom Cruise</a> played in the 2017 movie "American Made." They also reached out to Miguel Perez, who is featured in "Cocaine Cowboys" as a hitman who once killed a target at an airport in broad daylight with a bayonet.</p><p>They didn't get either on camera, but they struck gold with Jorge "Rivi" Ayala.</p><div type="image" title="Jorge Ayala in a blue prison jumper" height="701" width="1032" msid="85025293" hostid="261"></div><p>An enforcer for drug lord <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-godmother-of-cocaine-was-killed-in-yesterday-2012-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Griselda Blanco</a>, aka "The Godmother of Cocaine," Ayala was unique to the other hitmen the filmmakers reached out to. Why? Because Ayala had turned on Blanco and cooperated with authorities. Instead of getting the death penalty, he had immunity and could speak about over 20 homicides instead of just the one he was convicted on.</p><p>For five to six hours a day, for three visits, Corben and Spellman, along with a film crew, visited Ayala. And what they got from the interviews is some of the most compelling and memorable footage of "Cocaine Cowboys." Ayala held nothing back as he talked about the people he killed and how insane his boss, The Godmother, was.</p><p>"Cocaine Cowboys" premiered at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival and was later bought by Magnolia Pictures. Though its theatrical release wasn't that impressive, the movie would later gain a loyal following on the bootleg market and quickly became a popular title in the hip-hop world.</p><p>The movie has grown in popularity in the years since its release, partly thanks to it constantly showing up on Netflix.</p><h2>Talking to the hitman led to the making of 'Cocaine Cowboys 2'</h2><p>Corben and Spellman realized they possessed a tool that the former gangsters desperately needed to get back on their feet after years in prison: notoriety.</p><p>"Most people coming out of prison don't have anything," Corben said. "It's life reset. You're not helpless, but you have no income, you have no savings, some people don't have any support system when they come out because people have disowned them. So you come out and all you have is your stories. I don't want to call it your currency, but that's what you have."</p><p>"We say, 'When you get out of prison the first call you make is to your mother and the second is to Rakontur,'" Spellman added, referencing his and Corben's production company.</p><p>That's what led to the making "Cocaine Cowboys 2."</p><p>Released in 2008, the follow-up delved deeper into the reign of Blanco, almost a decade before Hollywood took on a dramatized version of the Blanco story in the 2017 Lifetime movie "Cocaine Godmother" with Catherine Zeta-Jones in the lead role.</p><p>The sequel was made because the main subject of the movie, Charles Cosby, had seen that the promotional material for the first "Cocaine Cowboys" featured a photo of him and Blanco. Cosby reached out to Spellman to get the photo, which led to the two talking and eventually deciding to do "Cowboys 2."</p><p>While Corben and Spellman said they have never paid for an interview, they do not take their subjects' life rights, which means the people they interview are free to use the notoriety they get from the movie to try and land a book or movie deal.</p><p>Thanks to the success of "Cocaine Cowboys," both <a href="https://www.npr.org/2011/10/30/141696333/from-mafia-soldier-to-cocaine-cowboy">Roberts</a> and <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9889689/Mickey-Munday-Tales-from-the-last-Cocaine-Cowboy-standing.html">Munday</a> did just that - though Munday has <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-cocaine-cowboys-smuggler-mickey-munday-auto-fraud-20180117-story.html">since been imprisoned once again</a> after a federal jury found him guilty on auto fraud-conspiracy charges and sentenced him to 12 years in prison in 2018.</p><h2>Netflix's 'Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami' features speedboat champs who were the biggest drug trafficers in the 1980s</h2><div type="image" title="Sal Magluta and Willy Falcone in their race suits" height="1080" width="1920" msid="85025294" hostid="261"></div><p>This time, Corben and Spellman are going the docuseries route to tell the latest chapter in their "Cocaine Cowboys" saga, which focuses on the speedboat-riding, drug-trafficking tale of Sal Magluta and Willy Falcon.</p><p>Launching Wednesday on Netflix, <a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/80996810" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami"</a> is a thrilling and darkly funny six-episode journey into the heart of a Miami drug-running family.</p><p>The new series tracks the rise and fall of childhood friends Magluta and Falcon, starting with the two crafting a multibillion-dollar drug empire and ending with the authorities indicting them in <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1995/10/16/nation-s-biggest-cocaine-case-goes-to-trial-today/">one of the largest drug cases in US history</a> after the duo were accused of smuggling over 75 tons of cocaine into the US during the 1980s.</p><p>Corben and Spellman elevate their storytelling by getting many of the major players in this crime family on camera to tell their stories firsthand.</p><p>Longtime fans of the "Cocaine Cowboys" franchise will recognize other figures mentioned in "The Kings of Miami" as the primary subjects of the filmmakers' past documentaries. And for newbies, it's time to buckle up and prepare for fast-paced storytelling that is as much an obsessive deep dive into the subject matter as it is wildly entertaining.</p><p>Corben believes what has made their unlikely franchise so successful over the years (spawning several films, the new Netflix docuseries, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cocaine-cowboys-being-made-into-a-play-2019-3">even a stage play they were developing in 2019</a>) is that they are completely honest with their subjects. They don't have fixers or field producers trying to track people down and convince them to be on camera, as other movies and TV shows do. It's just Corben and Spellman building the relationships.</p><p>"I don't even know what a fixer is," Corben said with a laugh.</p><p>And they are also meticulous in the edit room, working with their longtime editor David Cypkin to make sure nothing a subject says on screen is taken out of context. To date, the filmmakers say no one featured in one of their movies has ever said they were depicted unfairly.</p><p>"You're dealing with people who would be <em>very upset</em> if we weren't truthful," Spellman said.</p><h2>Check out the trailer for 'Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami,' out August 4, below:</h2>

How the 'Cocaine Cowboys' filmmakers have built a career interviewing Miami's most notorious gangsters

<p>There was a time when Michael Corleone Blanco didn't want to hear the name Billy Corben, let alone sit across from him.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-cocaine-cowboys-documentary-franchise-was-created-2021-8">Corben's 2006 documentary "Cocaine Cowboys,"</a> which chronicles the Miami drug war of the late 1970s, was the spark that arguably ignited the modern-day fascination with Blanco's mother <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/griselda-blanco-jail-true-story-netflix-sofia-vergara-2024-1">Griselda Blanco</a> — also known as the "godmother of cocaine" — in pop culture.</p><p>Since then, her story has been told as everything from a Netflix series starring Sofia Vergara and a Lifetime movie starring Catherine Zeta-Jones to a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.rakontur.com/confessions-of-a-cocaine-cowboy">stage play</a>.</p><p>But Michael Corleone Blanco, the famed drug kingpin's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/griselda-blanco-sons-now-michael-blanco-lawsuit-netflix-2024-1">only surviving son</a>, learned quickly that true-crime fame is a double-edged sword.</p><p>At the same time Corben was making his first "Cocaine Cowboys" movie — the franchise now includes two more documentaries and a Netflix series —<strong> </strong>Blanco was also pitching his family's story around Hollywood. But Corben's documentary found audiences first.</p><p>"They were my archnemesis because they were doing what I was planning to do," Blanco told Business Insider, referring to Corben, his producing partner Alfred Spellman, and editor David Cypkin, who make up the Miami-based media studio Rakontur.</p><p>Fast forward almost twenty years, and Corben and Blanco have joined forces for the podcast "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?">The Real Griselda,</a>" which picks apart the Netflix hit series <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/griselda-blanco-son-michael-corleone-blanco-netflix-series-inaccurate-2024-2">"Griselda" to reveal what's fact and what's fiction</a>.</p><p>Across eight episodes of the podcast, which is hosted by Corben, Blanco points out the creative liberties taken in "Griselda," often backing them up with colorful stories. He says his mother never lit kilos of cocaine on fire in an empty pool, for example, and notes that some of the murders were more gruesome in real life than in the show. In the case of his <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/griselda-blanco-husbands-killed-dario-sepulveda-alberto-bravo-carlos-trujillo-netflix-2024-1">father's murder</a>, in real life, young Michael didn't just see it happen; his father held him tight in his arms, shielding him from the gunshots that killed him (the hit on his father is believed to have been ordered by Griselda).</p><p>The podcast also sheds some light on Michael's life following the events shown in the Netflix series. He lived with foster families while his mother served three 20-year prison sentences for murder concurrently (upon her release in 2004, she was deported to Colombia, where she died of a gunshot wound in 2012). He briefly followed in his family's footsteps and dabbled in the drug trade.</p><p>Now, Blanco is determined to make it by going legit: he's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.mymotherthegodmother.com/">written a book</a> and says he's developing TV shows and movies. He's eager to prove that there is a future for the Blanco name beyond its notorious past.</p><p>"When you're from a drug trafficking family, and you're fucking Miami monarchy, Miami royalty, it takes a lot for you to understand that that life has gone away," Blanco said. "You have to evolve as a man. And the only way I could evolve was legalizing my story."</p><p>BI spoke over the phone with Corben and Blanco about why they teamed up for a podcast, the actor Blanco believes did the best portrayal of his mother, and how Corben got close to becoming a victim of the cocaine godmother's wrath.</p><div type="image" title="Billy Corben and Michael Corleone Blanco sitting in front of microphones" height="3024" width="4032" msid="107899577" hostid="261" sizebytes="738860"></div><p><strong>The podcast makes it sound like you two have known each other for years. Billy, when was your first interaction with Michael?</strong></p><p><strong>Corben:</strong> This goes way back. It was probably between the release of "Cocaine Cowboys" and "Cocaine Cowboys 2." Michael, does that sound right?</p><p><strong>Blanco:</strong> Yeah. I would say 2006 or 2007. I remember like it was yesterday, walking to The Colony Theatre for the second movie. Still being part of that underground world back then, I wanted to make a statement. So, I showed up with 20-30 goons. I let people know South Beach was my stomping grounds.</p><p><strong>Michael, you speak on the podcast about the animosity you had toward Billy and his filmmaking partners at that time. When did you figure out that you could also make money off your family?</strong></p><p><strong>Blanco:</strong> Not that long after that. One thing my mother taught me was how to pivot. From the moment I got a call from one of their movie's investors for the first movie, I knew that I had to put some pep in my step and get on their level. I was a rookie in the industry.</p><p>But I will say the smartest thing I ever did was not to listen to my lawyer or my mother and put a cease and desist on the first "Cocaine Cowboys" movie. I knew that one day, the Griselda Blanco story and the Blanco family story would have to be told, and with them already telling some of the story, it was going to help me out.</p><p>Then, when Billy put together the play "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cocaine-cowboys-being-made-into-a-play-2019-3">Confessions of a Cocaine Cowboy</a>" in 2019, which also played at The Colony, I didn't see Billy, Alfred, and Dave as my archnemesis anymore. I remember having a drink with Billy back then, and I told him thank you. Because if it wasn't for that wave you created I wouldn't be here right now. Because now I make the big bucks. It's a full-circle moment, being on this podcast.</p><p><strong>Corben: </strong>And as much as Michael and his mother felt that something had been taken from them, remember, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ocala.com/story/news/2006/10/28/film-on-drug-trade-a-bootleg-hit/31173480007/">"Cocaine Cowboys" blew up because of the bootleg market</a>. They were sold in flea markets, barbershops, strip club bathrooms. Bootlegs of our movie was how it blew up.</p><p><strong>Blanco:</strong> I would autograph their movie. It blew my mind. I had a tattoo parlor, and people would come in with the bootleg and ask if I could autograph it. Let me put it to you more plainly: I remember being in federal detention, and someone snuck in a DVD, and with his back to the security camera, someone would come up to me and say, "Mr. Blanco, can you sign this for my wife?"</p><p><strong>Billy, how close were you to not just doing a "Cocaine Cowboys" documentary with the cooperation of Michael, but also getting Griselda on camera?</strong></p><p><strong>Corben:</strong> Michael can answer that better than me.</p><p><strong>Blanco:</strong> We were one meeting away and around six figures.</p><p><strong>Corben:</strong> [<em>Laughs</em>.] Yeah. That sounds about accurate to me. As "Cocaine Cowboys" turned into a franchise of documentaries, there was definitely a desire to have the story of "La Madrina" told by La Madrina. The conversations continued but unfortunately did not consummate.</p><p><strong>Blanco:</strong> We were almost there. Prior to 2012, my mother and I had the conversation. Money talks and bullshit runs the marathon. So when we were able to close not one but two motion picture deals based on her life rights and my life rights, by that time, my mother understood that we had something that the masses wanted.</p><p>She gave me the power of attorney, and that's when I started negotiations with Billy. And like I said, I think we were one meeting, and probably six figures away.</p><div type="image" title="Sofia Vergara as Griselda Blanco in &quot;Griselda.&quot;" height="2000" width="3000" msid="107896042" hostid="261"></div><p><strong>Billy, Michael says in the podcast that you "almost got the knock on the door," referring to Griselda's thought of putting a hit on you. Back when you made the "Cocaine Cowboys" movies, did you fear for your life?</strong></p><p><strong>Corben:</strong> We were pretty young and naive back then, so I wouldn't call it a fear, but I would very much call it a concern. We talked about it. We would hear from people whose parents were murdered during that time period in Miami. Some were depicted in the documentaries.</p><p><strong>Blanco:</strong> It was an offense that these stories were being let out of the bag.</p><p><strong>I assume you thought, "Who gives these people the right to tell the public what I know?"</strong></p><p><strong>Blanco:</strong> Yeah. And now it's like, "Who the hell are you to tell me and Billy Corben about what went down? We're the fucking experts!"</p><p><strong>Billy, is that what led to making "The Real Griselda" podcast? Basically fact-checking the Netflix "Griselda" show?</strong></p><p><strong>Corben:</strong> It was one of those things where it develops really slowly, and then something happens that just accelerates that plan. And what's amazing about this is we basically came up with the same idea at the same time. We were thinking late last year, independent of each other, that this "Griselda" thing was going to come out on Netflix. The marketing machine was already firing up, and it was apparent they were going to put a lot of juice behind pushing this series. We thought, what can we do? We knew there would be a great deal of creative license. What can we do to tell the real story?</p><p><strong>Michael, which portrayal of your mother is more impressive: Catherine Zeta-Jones' in "Cocaine Godmother," or Sofia Vergara's in "Griselda"?</strong></p><p><strong>Blanco:</strong> I would love to be able to comment on that, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/griselda-blanco-family-settles-lawsuit-against-netflix-sofia-vergara-2024-2">but I cannot</a>.</p><p><strong>Corben:</strong> But, Michael, you really liked the portrayal done in the play, right?</p><p><strong>Blanco:</strong> I loved that.</p><div type="image" title="Zilah Mendoza in a white fedora and dress" height="601" width="1200" msid="107896043" hostid="261"></div><p><strong>Corben:</strong> I remember Michael holding that woman and crying outside the theater after the show. Zilah Mendoza is her name.</p><p><strong>Blanco:</strong> I have been following her career on Instagram. I have sent her some DMs. She's a hell of an actress. She came very close to my mother's state of being in general. My mother was a very rigid lady. But she was very comical. Her dark humor was that of a woman who came from humble beginnings. My mother was a tough cookie, and I think Zilah came very close to that.</p><p><strong>Billy, is there a highlight from the podcast for you?</strong></p><p><strong>Corben:</strong> We have a funny exchange that didn't fully end up in an episode. We talk about how Sofia Vergara lights a huge pile of cocaine on fire that's stacked in an empty pool. I couldn't even zoom in and count the number of kilos; that's how many there were. Hundreds if not thousands of kilos, and she lights it on fire. And I asked Michael if she ever did that; that's like lighting hundreds of millions of dollars on fire. He said of course not. The Joker does it in "The Dark Knight" because he's an anarchist and insane. But Griselda was a businesswoman.</p><p><strong>Why is Griselda Blanco such a fascination for people? From the documentaries, the rap songs, the TV shows, the play, why has she become a fixture in pop culture?</strong></p><p><strong>Corben:</strong> I think it starts with pop culture having a fascination with banditos and people we see as the villains. Ask any actor why they prefer to play the villain than the hero; they are just more interesting.</p><p>I think the problem is when people reduce these characters to single dimensions. And that's what makes Griselda so compelling is that she is so multifaceted. She's one of the most successful cocaine traffickers in history. At the dawn of the modern industry she was a mother, a wife, a daughter, a grandmother, a godmother. What was Al Capone? He was a gangster. He was a bootlegger. There's not a lot to him. She's a far more dynamic person and personality.</p><div type="image" title="Michael Corleone Blanco speaking into a microphone" height="1080" width="1920" msid="107896044" hostid="261"></div><p><strong>Michael, you mention a "generational curse" multiple times on the podcast. Your namesake, Michael Corleone in "The Godfather," is the brother who is meant to bring legitimacy to the Corleone family. I can't help but see the similarities between that fictional character's quest and your own. Do you believe that you went through all this because you were chosen to bring legitimacy to the Blanco name?</strong></p><p><strong>Blanco:</strong> Thank you for that. 100%. I tell my two older boys that all the time. It's a common friend of ours who said, "Sometimes you have to remind people of your achievements," and I've had to remind myself of my achievements.</p><p>I was part of that generational curse for so long. I speak about this in my book; as a 45-year-old man, I may not be the wisest, but I have lived what people don't live in two or three lifetimes. My brothers and mother would say all the time, "You have to show the face for the family. You have to make this shit legit."</p><p>But in return, I was robbed of my innocence since I was a child. We have a saying in Colombia: "Innocence lost, a kilo for a life," and I believe all generational curses have been broken in my family's bloodline. I'm the first Blanco to bring legit money home and I'm so happy and proud of that. Even this podcast was 100% legit. My mother always told me if you do something, you do it big or you keep your ass at home, and we did it big, and we did it legit.</p><p><em>This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.</em></p>

Everyone wants to cash in on Griselda Blanco. Most of all, her son.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The <keyword id="328446" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Pitbull">Pitbull</keyword> song "Blood Sport" was originally recorded for a "Cocaine Cowboys"-inspired soundtrack.</li><li>But when plans for that were scrapped, director Billy Corben held it for <keyword id="128682" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Netflix">Netflix</keyword>'s "Kings of Miami."</li><li>"I thought the song was brilliant," Corben told Insider.</li></ul><p>Netflix's "<a href="https://www.insider.com/netflix-cocaine-cowboys-the-kings-of-miami-director-interview-2021-8">Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami</a>" is a thrilling look inside the rise and fall of Sal Magluta and Willy Falcon, who were Miami's biggest drug traffickers during the 1980s.</p><p>The filmmakers behind the six-episode docuseries, director Billy Corben and producer Alfred Spellman, knew they had to have a hype theme song to live up to their high-octane story.</p><p>Luckily, they had an original song from a major recording artist already in their back pocket.</p><p>Kicking off every episode of "Kings of Miami" is the song "Blood Sport," written and performed by Pitbull. Though it sounds perfect for the series, it actually was created for a previous project by Corben and Spellman that never panned out.</p><p>Corben and Spellman are known best for creating the <a href="https://www.insider.com/how-cocaine-cowboys-documentary-franchise-was-created-2021-8">"Cocaine Cowboys" documentary franchise</a>, including 2006's "Cocaine Cowboys" and its sequel two years later.</p><p>Corben wanted to do a hip-hop soundtrack to accompany the release of 2014's "Cocaine Cowboys: Reloaded," which featured footage and interviews that didn't make it into the 2006 doc.</p><div type="image" title="Sal Magluta and Willy Falcone in their race suits" height="1080" width="1920" msid="85349258" hostid="261"></div>The movie's composer put together some tracks with music similar to the score and then Corben and Spellman sent it out to Miami-based rappers who in the past were supporters of "Cocaine Cowboys," asking if they would add their raps to it.<p>"Pitbull was the only artist to send something back," <a href="https://www.insider.com/netflix-cocaine-cowboys-the-kings-of-miami-director-interview-2021-8">Corben told Insider</a>.</p><p>Though the "Cocaine Cowboys" hip-hop soundtrack idea was scrapped, the filmmakers held onto Pitbull's "Blood Sport" track. And when "Kings of Miami" became a reality, it became the docuseries' theme song.</p><p>"I thought the song was brilliant," Corben said. "It's all from the perspective of cocaine. He takes over the voice of cocaine and talks about it in the first person, which I thought was very clever."</p><p>One lyric in the song Pitbull raps goes: "They'll kick in your door like Bruce Lee / just to have an intimate love affair with me / I corrupt governments / yeah that's me / I built the streets / listen closely."</p><p>The filmmakers said they don't know if Pitbull has watched the series yet, as he's currently on tour, but they are trying to get his theme song released on Spotify and iTunes.</p>

The catchy theme song for 'Cocaine Cowboys,' a show about Miami's biggest drug traffickers, is actually a Pitbull track that was recorded years ago

<ul class="summary-list"><li>"<keyword id="10108034" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="537-votes">537 Votes</keyword>" director <keyword id="10145928" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="billy-corben">Billy Corben</keyword> and executive producer <keyword id="666597" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Adam-McKay">Adam McKay</keyword> spoke to Insider about the making of the <keyword id="35012" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="documentary">documentary</keyword>.</li><li>The <keyword id="71946" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="HBO">HBO</keyword> doc examines the events surrounding the presidential recount in Florida, which decided the 2000 election.</li><li>Both believe the event is a cautionary tale of what could occur if this year's presidential election, between Trump and Biden, is a tight race.</li><li>"If this is a close election in a number of swing states, I think it's going to be a legitimate constitutional crisis," Corben said. "Far worse than 2000 ever could be."</li></ul><p>In 2000, the US was thriving economically and technologically. But when it came to <keyword id="6358883" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="politics">politics</keyword> we were on pace for a major low point. And that all came to a head in the presidential election between Republican nominee, George W. Bush, and Democrat nominee, Al Gore.</p><p>In what would become one of the closest presidential elections in history, Bush won over Gore by a tiny margin of 537 votes. But how we got to that point showed the extremely ugly side of American politics.</p><p>Director <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cocaine-cowboys-billy-corben-alfred-spellman-miami-2017-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Billy Corben</a> ("Cocaine Cowboys", "Screwball") felt on the 20th anniversary of that contentious outcome it was important to spotlight what may be the most #BecauseFlorida moment in the history of the country. Not just to look at where we've been politically, but as a cautionary tale of what could come.</p><p>"537 Votes," a documentary Corben and his producing partner Alfred Spellman made with their own money, chronicles the circus that occurred in South Florida to decide the election in 2000 — which included a divided region due to the international custody battle over then 5-year-old Cuban citizen Elian Gonzalez, hanging chads on voting ballots, and Republican operatives like Roger Stone stirring the pot.</p><p>Corben is convinced what happened in 2000 could repeat itself during this year's presidential election.</p><p>"The question is, do the Democrats have the stomach and fortitude for the fight that they will have to undertake," Corben told Insider.</p><h2>Adam McKay came on board as an executive producer after the movie was finished</h2><div type="image" title="Adam McKay Jon Kopaloff Getty" height="2182" width="2910" msid="78788160" hostid="261"></div>Corben and Spellman have prided themselves throughout their careers in staying outside of the Hollywood machine. But when they had wrapped "537 Votes" and hadn't identified a distributor to release it, one of the biggest fish in the Hollywood pond was there to help out.<p>Adam McKay, the writer-director known best for his comedies with Will Ferrell ("Anchorman," "Step Brothers"), was a huge fan of their work. Through a mutual friend — ESPN host Dan Le Batard — McKay was able to see a sizzle reel of the documentary.</p><p>"Their intentions rang clear in the sizzle reel," McKay, who's also created satire films such as "The Big Short" and the <a href="https://www.insider.com/adam-mckay-interview-netflix-dont-look-up-jennifer-lawrence-comedy-2020-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dick Cheney biopic "Vice,"</a> told Insider, while on the phone with Corben last week.</p><p>With McKay now on board as an executive producer, "537 Votes" found a home at HBO Documentaries and got what Corben had wished all along: a voice in this year's election cycle.</p><p>"It was a labor of love," Corben said of his period doc. "We wanted to be involved in the 2020 cycle. We didn't want it to be Trump-centric, but we wanted it to be timely and relevant."</p><h2>Roger Stone was interviewed before his trial</h2><div type="image" title="537 votes roger stone hbo" height="1080" width="1440" msid="78788162" hostid="261"></div>"537 Votes" is hardly a cut-and-dry look at politics run amuck. Thanks to Corben's unconventional style, the movie explores this moment in history with a lighthearted touch, which is something desperately needed in today's climate, McKay believes.<p>"There's always a bounce of life to his storytelling," McKay said of Corben. "I think that's the proper way to interpret this story that's tragic and ridiculous and absurd."</p><p>At times it also feels like a heist movie as it gives a blow-by-blow of how Republican operatives caused havoc during the recount process in Florida's Miami-Dade county.</p><p>One standout story is when Corben <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooks_Brothers_riot">detailed the "Brooks Brothers riot,"</a> in which a demonstration took place with the goal of shutting down the recount. Thought to be just angry Floridians, it was later revealed that the protesters were paid Republican operatives. And getting those operatives to talk on camera was a colorful experience.</p><p>In the case of landing Stone for the documentary, Corben said he and Spellman had an unforgettable first meeting with the infamous conservative political consultant last August at a Fort Lauderdale steakhouse.</p><p>"We got to the restaurant and within minutes the skies opened and it got pitch black and there was a thunderstorm that came out of nowhere. Suddenly the doors opened [with] this storm raging, and in came Roger Stone without a drop of rain on him," Corben said, which brought a roaring laugh from McKay.</p><p>"We broke bread with him. He ordered a Stoli martini and said to us, 'Don't tell anyone I drink Russian vodka,' and agreed to an interview, but said we should 'schedule it forth with, as time is of the essence.'"</p><p>Three months later Stone <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/roger-stone-convicted-false-statements-witness-tampering-2019-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">went to trail for witness tampering</a>, obstructing an official proceeding, and five counts of making false statements connected to the Robert Mueller Special Counsel investigation.</p><h2>Corben and McKay are scared of the potential harm Trump could do to the country as a lame duck president</h2><div type="image" title="Billy Corben Santiago Felipe Getty" height="2000" width="2666" msid="78788166" hostid="261"></div>Corben said through post production what he loved about working with McKay were the notes of encouragement to keep things light in the doc, which paid off.<p>"While I wouldn't call '537 votes' escapist fare, we certainly approached it tonally the way we did because we didn't think people would opt in for some of the Trump s--t show," Corben said. "We needed to create something that tonally was going to be more watchable."</p><p>By the end of the movie, Corben ties in the current election and drives home the importance to vote. But both he and McKay believe even if Trump loses on election night he will not fade into the background.</p><p>"I think he uses his lame duck session to dismantle the government and maybe try and create some sort of crisis that does allow him to stay in office even though he lost the election," McKay said. "I don't think it's going to end well."</p><p>"I don't think we've seen the bottom yet of what this man is capable of," Corben added.</p><p>"I think the lesson in the doc is that close elections can be stolen," he continued. "If this is a close election in a number of swing states I think it's going to be a legitimate constitutional crisis — far worse than 2000 ever could be."</p><p><em>"537 Votes" airs on HBO and HBO Max beginning Wednesday.</em></p>

Adam McKay and the director of 'Cocaine Cowboys' said history could repeat itself for the 2020 presidential election

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Joe Readle/Getty</span></p><p class="caption">Biogenesis founder Anthony Bosch, the subject of the documentary, "Screwball."</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>Billy Corben, the director behind the acclaimed documentary "Cocaine Cowboys," turns his focus to the world of performance-enhancing drugs for his latest movie. </strong></li><li><strong>His Toronto International Film Festival entry, "Screwball," is a comedic documentary that looks at the rise and fall of Anthony Bosch, the doctor who provided PEDs to some of the biggest names in Major League Baseball, including Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez.</strong></li><li><strong>Corben and his longtime producer Alfred Spellman tell Business Insider why the rise and fall of Bosch's empire had to be told through casting kids in the doc's reenactments and why it's the most Florida story they have made yet.</strong></li></ul><p><br />In the office of Rakontur, the South Florida-based production company of "Cocaine Cowboys" director Billy Corben and producer Alfred Spellman, there's a spreadsheet that the duo have been building for most of their professional careers. It's a unique wish list with the names of shady characters who became notorious in their hometown of Miami that they hope to one day make movies about.</p><p>Checked off that list already are the figureheads behind the cocaine blizzard that hit the beaches of Miami in the 1980s, which became the subject of their breakout documentary <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cocaine-cowboys-billy-corben-alfred-spellman-miami-2017-8">"Cocaine Cowboys."</a> There's also the outlandish University of Miami football program during the 1980s, which they profiled in "The U" as part of ESPN's "30 for 30" documentary series. And within the last year, they were surprised to check another off the list: Biogenesis owner Dr. Anthony Bosch, better known as the man <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biogenesis_baseball_scandal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">who provided performance-enhancing drugs to numerous Major League Baseball players</a>, including Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez.</p><p>Though Bosch isn't the first to disgrace the MLB with PEDs - before Bosch there was the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BALCO_scandal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BALCO scandal</a> that outed users like Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi, and also led to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitchell_Report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mitchell Report</a> - it's how Bosch operated that fascinated Corben and Spellman, who have made a living making documentaries about, as they coin it, "Florida f---ery."</p><p>And with Bosch, they had hit the jackpot.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Alex Rodriguez, who was suspended an entire season after it was revealed he used performance-enhancing drugs provided by Anthony Bosch.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Having its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday night, Corben's "Screwball" is a zany documentary that looks inside Bosch's Biogenesis operation, which was touted as being a rejuvenation clinic operating out of Coral Gables, Florida, when in reality it was a one-stop shop for athletes to get their human growth hormones, obtained by Bosch often on the black market through the help of gangsters who were using South Florida tanning salons as a front. And it was all overseen by Bosch, who never had a license to practice medicine in the US and studied just three years at a medical school in Belize.</p><p>It inevitably all crumbled when Porter Fischer, a disgruntled "professional tanner" who was helping out Bosch with marketing for the company, wasn't paid back $4,000. So Fischer took notepads and documents that revealed the big-name clients Bosch had and handed it all over to a reporter for the New Miami Times, which ran an explosive story about MLB players' involvement with Bosch. It led to suspensions for 13 MLB players in 2013, including a full-season suspension for Rodriguez, then the highest-paid player in the game.</p><p>"This is our most Florida movie," Spellman told Business Insider over the phone earlier this week. "This story is so insane it always struck me as a Coen brothers movie meets Elmore Leonard story."</p><p>And strangely it all fell in Corben and Spellman's laps very quickly.</p><h2>The subjects come calling</h2><p>Months before Bosch would be sentenced in 2014 for conspiracy to distribute testosterone, Spellman got a call out of the blue from a friend of Bosch's who said the doctor wanted to talk to him and Corben about making a documentary. The plan was that Corben would interview Bosch before he went to prison, which Bosch assumed would take a little time as he was currently in a drug rehab program. But on the day of sentencing, Bosch was hit with a four-year sentence and immediately hauled off to a white-collar prison in Alabama.</p><p>Miraculously, things didn't end right there. A few months after Bosch's sentencing, Corben got a call saying that the whistleblower behind the collapse of Bosch's empire, Porter Fischer, also wanted to tell his side of the story.</p><p>Corben couldn't ignore the good fortune.</p><p>"Sometimes these stories have to ripen, we weren't sure if this was too soon," Corben told Business Insider. "And though I don't believe in spirits or the universe or fate, I said to Alfred, someone is trying to tell us this was the time to make this movie."</p><p>After writing letters to Bosch in prison, Corben learned that he would only do 20 months of his sentence (thanks to cooperating with prosecutors), so once Bosch finished his time in prison, Corben went forward with the movie. He interviewed Bosch and Fischer separately over the span of six days last year.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Seth Browarnik/WorldRedEye.com</span></p><p class="caption">(L-R) "Screwball" director Billy Corben and producer Alfred Spellman.</p></div><p></p></div></div>From the start, Corben was taken by how vivid both Bosch and Fischer's recollections of events were.</p><p>"They were very excited and animated," he said. "They would tell these stories and almost perform what the other person was saying in addition to what they said. It all was very in-the-moment."</p><p>Corben wanted to capitalize on the storytelling talents of his two main subjects. Knowing this movie wouldn't have a lot of archival footage like his past work, as most of the story revolved around chats in Bosch's office, night clubs, or in tanning salons, for the first time in his career Corben would have to film reenactments. However, with a title like "Screwball," they couldn't be conventional.</p><p>"I was starting to assemble the interviews we shot and I thought, 'My God, all these guys are acting like such children,' and the light bulb went off," Corben said.</p><p>The director would cast kids to reenact the scenes Bosch and Fischer told so vividly.</p><h2>Big-boy story, but played out by kids</h2><p>It was an idea that had been in the back of Corben's mind for at least a decade. It started all the way back when he wanted to do a documentary on Scientology and stumbled across an off-Broadway musical in the East Village of New York City titled, "A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant." The cast was made up of elementary school students telling the life story of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.</p><p>At the time, Corben wanted to option the rights to the musical so he could use it as a framing device in his Scientology movie. He even got as far as talking to the writers of the musical. But the project fell though and was never made. However, with Bosch's wacky story, Corben felt the kid aspect could fit perfectly with the doc's tone.</p><p>"Our vision was that this was always an Elmore Leonard farce," Corben said. "It wasn't like halfway through the movie we were like, 'It's a comedy!' It was well established and the kids were something to continue building on that."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Rakontur</span></p><p class="caption">The child actor who plays Anthony Bosch in "Screwball."</p></div><p></p></div></div>From the start of "Screwball" that comedic feel is laid out to the audience, as the opening goes from a traditional talking head interview with Fischer and cuts to a kid version of Fischer in a reenactment of what he's describing in voiceover. The rest of the story Fischer tells is then reenacted by kids, who are even lip syncing what Fischer is saying (think of an episode of Comedy Central's "Drunk History").</p><p>And along with kid versions of Fischer and Bosch, there's reenactments that feature kid Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, Miami gangsters, MLB investigators, and even Miami hip-hop legend Pitbull.</p><p>And though the reenactments have a playful tone, Corben was extremely serious about authenticity, picking out the wig himself that the kid playing Anthony Bosch would wear, and insisting that costumes for the Miami police were designed to represent the correct municipality by color of the uniform and correct badge style.</p><p>"It took a very Wes Anderson level of attention to detail, it almost killed us," Spellman said half-joking of the 10-day reenactments shoot, which included them filming at some of the actual locations Bosch and Fischer reference in their recollections.</p><p>And then there's the story itself told in "Screwball," which at times is more bizarre than watching kids playing gangsters and Major League players.</p><h2>Sunny place for shady people</h2><p>Bosch weaves a stranger-than-fiction tale in "Screwball" of his ascent to becoming pro baseball's go-to guy for PEDs (though he also provided them for college and even high school ball players). He recounts his first meeting with Manny Ramirez, when the player didn't greet him with a handshake but instead patted him down to make sure he wasn't wearing a wire. And he talks of later becoming a part of Alex Rodriguez's entourage. Bosch claims one night when they partied at the posh Liv night club in Miami, he lost a vial of Rodriguez's blood he had just drawn from him in the bathroom and the two crawled around the nightclub looking for it.</p><p>And things get even more bizarre when the MLB begins to investigate Bosch. Throwing cash around South Florida like it's Monopoly money (with Rodriguez's camp doing the same to try to get him out of trouble), instead of getting assistance, they get conned by gangsters.</p><p>In all, it makes "Screwball" the ultimate "Florida Man" story, which begs the question, what motivated Bosch to go on camera and retell his rise and humiliating fall?</p><p>"People get to a certain point in life sometimes when all they have is their story," Corben said. "We've experienced this with other people we have interviewed, opportunities are now limited and all they have is their story, and so they are inclined to share it, for better or worse."</p><p><em>"Screwball" is currently seeking distribution.</em></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/domhnall-gleeson-movie-accents-little-stranger-star-wars-harry-potter-2018-8">A top movie actor reveals how he learns different accents</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

How the 'Cocaine Cowboys' director used the doping scandal that brought down Alex Rodriguez to create a comedic documentary about Miami gangsters

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><ul><li><strong>Filmmakers Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman used the perspective of drug dealers and hitmen to tell the story of "Cocaine Cowboys."</strong></li><li><strong>When criminals get out of prison, they want to tell their stories to Corben and Spellman.</strong></li><li><strong>Corben and Spellman explained their failed attempt to make the real-life story of Martin Scorsese's "Casino."&#xa0;</strong></li></ul><p>Born and bred in Miami, Florida, director Billy Corben and producer Alfred Spellman grew up knowing a simple fact: their city has been, and will always be, a sunny place for shady people.</p><p>Whether it's the refuge for retired mafia kingpins of the past, or most recently O.J. Simpson's likely new home once he's released from prison in October, The Magic City has never been able to shake its notorious reputation.</p><p>For Corben and Spellman, m<span>emories of being kids in Miami</span>&#xa0;include racing home after suddenly coming upon a massive drug bust on their way to school and&#xa0;realizing that all their neighbors suddenly were driving around in fancy cars, had big boats, or were building additions on their houses - all while the rest of the country was going through a recession in the '80s.</p><p>And then there was "Miami Vice."</p><p>"The big thing [growing up] was finding, in town, where 'Miami Vice' was shooting," Spellman told Business Insider. "They were always just shooting the other day near your friend's house, that was the talk. It was a huge thing in elementary school."</p><p>When the two grew up (they've known each other since the 9th grade), and decided to get into making movies through their production company <a href="http://www.rakontur.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rakontur</a>, they didn't set up camp in Los Angeles or New York City. They stayed put in Miami and decided to tell the taboo stories of the city.</p><p>The first: making the real-life "Scarface" movie.</p><h2><strong>The Smugglers</strong></h2><p>Miami was the entry point for cocaine moving into the country in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It made the people who were trafficking it extremely rich, but it also made Miami, in that time, the most violent place in the country. The Colombian and Cuban drug cartels set up hits almost on a daily basis around the city.</p><p>It was a story Corben and Spellman felt had been glamorized in movies and TV, but never told the real way in documentary form. They planned to do that with "Cocaine Cowboys" - tell the story through the accounts of the people who were there. And not just on the law enforcement side, but the underworld&#xa0;as well.</p><p>But there was a problem. Corben and Spellman had zero&#xa0;connections in&#xa0;the city's drug world of that era. However, there's another simple fact about Miami: "You are basically two degrees of separation away," Corben told Business Insider. "You'll be at a bar and end up sitting next to a former smuggler."</p><p>And that's what happened to Corben's cousin on a sunny Miami day in 2003. While Corben and Spellman were beginning their research on the movie, Corben got a call.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>"My cousin called me and he said, 'Do you know who Jon Roberts is?' And I'm like 'No, but let me ask the office.' And Alfred yells out, 'Yes!'" Corben said.<p>In his research, Spellman had come across the book "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Made-Snow/dp/0671703129" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Man Who Made It Snow,</a>" and in it Roberts is featured as a former New York City club owner who moved down to Miami to deal marijuana, and ended up being one of the major players dealing cocaine for the Medellín Cartel.</p><p>"It turns out Billy's cousin met him at a pool and Jon wanted to know if we wanted to do lunch and meet," Spellman said.</p><p>Up until&#xa0;this point, Corben and Spellman had hit closed doors whenever it came to talking to the people behind the cocaine that flooded into Miami in the 1980s. By the early 2000s "Scarface" was a bonafide classic constantly referenced on TV shows and rap songs, but for people living in southern Florida, the topic was still a sensitive subject.</p><p>"In Miami, you didn't talk about cocaine, it's just an era that had never been talked about," Spellman said.</p><p>"My grandfather, who was a real estate developer in Miami Beach and South Florida, he was appalled we were doing the movie," Corben said.</p><p>But after a sit down with Roberts, in which they explained&#xa0;to him that the movie would not feature a narrator, or have an agenda, and instead would be focused on the first-person accounts, Roberts was on board. And Roberts' partner, Mickey Munday, a modern-day pirate who was in charge of&#xa0;smuggling the drugs into Miami through air and sea, quickly followed.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Corben and Spellman realized they possessed a tool that the former gangsters desperately needed to get back on their feet after years in prison: notoriety.<p>"Most people coming out of prison don't have anything," Corben said. "It's life reset. You're not helpless, but you have no income, you have no savings, some people don't have any support system when they come out because people have disowned them. So you come out and all you have is your stories. I don't want to call it your currency, but that's what you have."</p><p>Though Corben and Spellman said they&#xa0;never paid for an interview, they do not take their subjects' life rights, which means the people they interview are free to use the notoriety they get from the movie to try and land a book or movie deal. (Thanks to the success of "Cocaine Cowboys," both Roberts and Munday have done just that.)</p><p>After snagging Corben and Spellman, the filmmakers now had law enforcement, newspaper reporters, and smugglers all retelling how cocaine got to the shores of Florida. But they still didn't have any Colombian enforcers.</p><h2><strong>The Hitman</strong></h2><p>Landing someone who would go on camera and speak about the murders they committed was obviously a huge challenge. In most instances, the hitmen were in prison for a single murder, so the person could only speak on what they had been convicted of. Corben and Spellman would want to talk to someone who could speak about a wide range of criminal activity.</p><p>Through the help of a homicide detective, Corben and Spellman reached out to three hitmen serving prison sentences. One was a man convicted for the murder of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Seal" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Barry Seal</a>, the drug smuggler for the Medellín Cartel who Tom Cruise will be playing in the upcoming movie "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woE4GQdvu8E">American Made</a>." They also reached out to Miguel Perez, who is featured in "Cocaine Cowboys" as a hitman who once killed a target at an airport in broad daylight with a bayonet.</p><p>"This guy was described to us by a veteran homicide detective in the documentary as one of the scariest people he had ever encountered in his life," Corben said of Perez.</p><p>Perez agreed to be interviewed. But after weeks of preparing, and hours on the day setting up lights and dolly track at the prison, Perez appeared from his cell to tell the filmmakers he would no longer do the interview after speaking to his lawyer.</p><p>"This took months to get to this point," Corben said. "I'm on the other side of the room with the crew and I see Alfred wagging his finger at Miguel saying, 'We came all the way here….'"</p><p>"I'm just yelling at him," Spellman added. "And he said he couldn't do it."</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>The third person was Jorge "Rivi" Ayala. An enforcer for drug lord <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griselda_Blanco" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Griselda Blanco</a>, aka "The Godmother," Ayala was unique to the other hitmen the filmmakers reached out to. Why? Because Ayala had turned on Blanco and cooperated with authorities. Instead of getting the death penalty, he had immunity and could speak about over 20 homicides instead of just the one he was convicted on.<p>For five to six hours a day, for three visits, Corben and Spellman, along with a film crew, visited Ayala. And what they got from the interviews is some of the most compelling and memorable footage of "Cocaine Cowboys." Ayala held nothing back as he talked about the people he killed and how insane his boss, The Godmother, was.</p><p>After "Cocaine Cowboys" premiered at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival, the movie was bought by Magnolia Pictures. Though its theatrical release wasn't that impressive, the movie would later gain a loyal following on the bootleg market, and quickly became a popular title in the hip-hop world. The movie has since found even more fans on Netflix and airs on movie channels like Showtime.</p><p>The filmmakers have also built up their status through their popular ESPN "30 for 30" documentaries "<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1199479/?ref_=nm_flmg_prd_4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The U</a>" and "<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2181824/?ref_=nm_flmg_prd_8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Broke.</a>"</p><p>That has made Corben and Spellman's job of landing interviews with shady characters much easier. A major reason why "Cocaine Cowboys 2," which delved deeper into the reign of Blanco, was made is because the main subject of the movie, Charles Cosby, saw that the promotional material for "Cocaine Cowboys" had a photo of him and Blanco. Cosby reached out to Spellman to get the photo, which led to the two talking and eventually deciding to do a movie.</p><p>And their two movies released in 2011, "<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1418702/?ref_=nm_flmg_prd_9" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Limelight</a>" and "<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1466067/?ref_=nm_flmg_prd_10" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Square Grouper</a>," were made when the subjects reached out to the filmmakers directly. In the case of "Square Grouper," main subject Robert Platshorn's first call after 29 years in prison for marijuana smuggling was to Corben and Spellman.</p><p>"We say, 'When you get out of prison the first call you make is to your mother and the second is to Rakontur,'" Spellman said.</p><h2><strong>The real 'Casino'</strong></h2><p>But the pair hasn't landed every movie idea they've gone after.</p><p>Shortly after the theatrical release of "Cocaine Cowboys" in 2007, Corben's cousin came&#xa0;through again. He told him that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Rosenthal" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal</a>, a mob associate and the person Robert De Niro's character is based on in Martin Scorsese's "Casino," lived in Miami Beach. As "Cocaine Cowboys" was spun as the real "Scarface," Corben and Spellman felt it was time to tell the real-life "Casino."</p><p>The duo tracked down Rosenthal, who suggested they meet at the posh Joe's Stone Crab in Miami Beach.</p><p>Rosenthal, impeccably dressed as Corben recalled, dazzled the filmmakers with stories about his power plays with Hollywood, like how he forced the studio that released "Casino," Universal, to change the real-life names of the mobsters for the movie. In the movie, Rosenthal's name is changed to Sam "Ace" Rothstein. But when Corben pitched to Rosenthal the idea of a documentary about him, Rosenthal's reaction was simply that he'd "consider it."</p><p>"So a two-hour, $250 lunch later, we walked out with a definite maybe," Spellman said.</p><p>Two more very expensive lunches followed, including one in which Spellman had to move Rosenthal's car so it wouldn't get towed &#xa0;- "I'm walking to the car and I'm thinking, 'Are people still after him?' I took a deep breath and started the car," Spellman said - but they were still at a stalemate. Months after the final lunch, Rosenthal died.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>"Funny enough, a month or so later I have lunch with an FBI agent we know, and I was spitballing ideas with him, and I told him the whole story about Lefty and he looked at me and paused and said, 'He was the biggest snitch we ever had. He ratted on people until the day he died.' So I realized he was still an asset of the agency and didn't want to put himself out there with doing a movie," Spellman said.<p>Corben believes what has made them successful over the years is they are completely honest with their subjects. They don't have fixers or field producers trying to track people down and convince them to be in the movie, like other movies and TV shows. It's just Corben and Spellman building the relationships.</p><p>"I don't even know what a fixer is," Corben said with a laugh. "So much of what we do and the candid nature, we're asking people to recount embarrassing, unflattering, or humiliating parts of their lives, like going to prison. Those relationships are so much about trust. I don't know how we could do this any other way."</p><p>And because of that they also are meticulous in the edit room to make sure nothing a subject says on screen is taken out of context. To date, the filmmakers say no one featured in one of their movies has ever said they were depicted unfairly.</p><p>"You're dealing with people who would be <em>very upset</em> if we weren't truthful," Spellman said.</p><p>The duo aren't done with the "Cocaine Cowboys" franchise. A third one, which will focus on a Miami Cuban crime family headed by Willie Falcon and Sal Magluta, is currently being made into a six-hour miniseries. But before that, there will be another documentary we'll see from them. At the moment they are keeping that under wraps, but you can bet it will be set in Miami and involve shady people.</p><p>"All I'll say for that one is the people called us on the way to prison and then on the way out," Corben said.</p><div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-celebrities-look-like-symmetrical-faces-2017-7">Here's what celebrities would look like with symmetrical faces</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

How the 'Cocaine Cowboys' filmmakers built a career interviewing Miami's most notorious gangsters

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Fran Beautrand</span></p><p class="caption">"Confessions of a Cocaine Cowboy" is a stage adaptation of the 2006 documentary "Cocaine Cowboys."</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>"Confessions of a Cocaine Cowboy" is a stage play adaptation of Billy Corben's 2006 documentary, "Cocaine Cowboys."</li><li>Corben co-wrote the play, which will have its world premiere at the Colony Theatre in Miami, Florida, on March 16.</li><li>Corben decided to adapt his doc after getting the narrative rights back.</li><li>For close to a decade, Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer Television attempted to make the doc into a TV series.</li></ul><p> </p><p>Documentary filmmaker Billy Corben has never played it safe, and his latest venture is the perfect example.</p><p>After nearly a decade of Hollywood heavy hitters like Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer being unsuccessful in adapting Corben's hit 2006 documentary, "Cocaine Cowboys," into a TV series, Corben has taken back the narrative rights and is preparing a stage adaptation titled "<a href="https://www.colonymb.org/ccc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Confessions of a Cocaine Cowboy.</a>"</p><p>The play will have its world premiere at the Colony Theatre in Miami, Florida, on March 16, with the hope of later doing productions in Los Angeles and New York. "Confessions" is written by Corben and Aurin Squire and uses the wild events highlighted in the movie to weave a story about 1980s Miami after cocaine hit its shores.</p><p>Corben told Business Insider he's looking at the play, in some sense, as a proof of concept to show his doc can work in narrative form.</p><p>"It has always felt like a bit of unfinished business," Corben said while taking a break from rehearsals on "Confessions." "We thought we had a good handle on how to dramatically adapt this world and never really got our chance."</p><h2>Waiting on Hollywood</h2><p>A year after "Cocaine Cowboys" hit theaters and gradually became a bootleg sensation - getting in the hands of rappers, athletes, and even making the rounds in the criminal underworld - Corben and his longtime producer Alfred Spellman optioned the TV rights of the movie to Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer Television. For Corben and Spellman, who were both in their 20s at the time, it was an education inside how the Hollywood machine works.</p><p>"We were the low guys on the totem pole, which we accepted as a fact of Hollywood when you have these power players," Corben said. "I think the extent of our contribution was going to be maintaining some historical accuracy in the story."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Magnolia Pictures</span></p><p class="caption">"Cocaine Cowboys."</p></div><p></p></div></div>Over the years, both would be on development calls as Bruckheimer's team discussed the show. Corben and Spellman would read through every draft of the script and when a new showrunner entered the project, they would go down to Miami and Corben and Spellman would give them what they called the "'Cocaine Cowboys' tour."</p><p>"We would take them to all the shady Miami sites," Corben said. "So they could get a feel of the environment of the time and then go back to L.A. and try to write this world."</p><p>But as the project moved all over town, making brief stops at HBO and TNT, it became obvious it was in development hell.</p><p>"It felt like we were holding onto the caboose of this Hollywood train trying to get this show made," Spellman said.</p><p>So in 2015, Corben and Spellman's Miami-based production company, Rakontur, took back the rights. Then within the last few years, they watched as shows related to the birth of the cocaine trade that they documented in "Cocaine Cowboys" (and its sequels) inundated TVs and movie theaters.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Lifetime</span></p><p class="caption">Catherine Zeta-Jones in "Cocaine Godmother."</p></div><p></p></div></div>"Narcos," "Cocaine Godmother," "Queen of the South," and the Tom Cruise movie "American Made," were just a few projects that glanced on or directly touched what "Cocaine Cowboys" first brought to the screen.</p><p>Corben could have been bitter about missing his shot to cash in, but observing the craze, he realized all these projects missed one major aspect of the story: Miami.</p><h2>Telling stories beyond docs</h2><p>"Cocaine Cowboys" shows that a major reason why coke became such a huge drug in the US was because it found the right port. And that was 1980s Miami. So what better place to give a narrative telling on the story but in the Magic City?</p><p>Corben teamed with non-profit theater company Miami New Drama, which is located on the same street as Rakontur's office in Miami Beach, to put on a stage production of "Cocaine Cowboys."</p><p>Memorable characters from the doc like Jorge "Ravi" Ayala and The Black Widow herself, Griselda Blanco, are front and center in the play (actors play multiple characters), but Corben said Miami is also very much a character.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Santiago Felipe/Getty</span></p><p class="caption">Billy Corben.</p></div><p></p></div></div>"No one has treated Miami like the way 'The Wire' treated Baltimore," Corben said of the other birth of cocaine projects that have come out. "Here's a line from the play: 'Miami is like "Game of Thrones" in paradise with slightly fewer dragons.' So to understand the cultural conflict that eventually became violent conflict that defined that era, Miami has to be a character."</p><p>To accomplish this, Corben said "Confessions of a Cocaine Cowboy" is told in numerous settings and timelines to suck you into the environment.</p><p>Now if all this sounds a little out there - turning a documentary into a play - Corben would be the first to agree. But recently he's been taking big swings to show that he's capable of more diverse things.</p><p>Even "Screwball," his latest documentary, which looks at the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cocaine-cowboys-director-used-the-alex-rodriguez-doping-scandal-to-make-new-documentary-2018-9">doping scandal that brought down Alex Rodriguez</a> (in theaters March 29), goes against the grain as he cast children to play Rodriguez and the movie's other subjects when filming recreated scenes from stories of the real-life subjects.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Rakontur</span></p><p class="caption">Billy Corben's upcoming movie, "Screwball," has kids starring as adults in its reenactment scenes.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Corben said the experience of bringing "Cocaine Cowboys" to Hollywood in his 20s taught him that you have to make your own luck. He hopes that "Confessions" and "Screwball" is a one-two punch that will prove he can do more than straight-up documentaries.</p><p>"The bottom line is we know we can do it, but you have to prove to other people who are going to invest in you that you can do it," he said. "I hope people will take notice and say, 'Let's give these guys a shot to do something a little bit bigger.'"</p><p><em>"<a href="https://www.colonymb.org/ccc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Confessions of a Cocaine Cowboy</a>" is currently in preview performances at the Colony Theatre in Miami Beach, Florida.</em></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oscars-academy-awards-rigged-best-picture-nominations-win-2019-2">There's a formula to winning the Oscars, and it's all in the statistics</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

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