Attorneys of Miami

Miami Babylon: Crime, Wealth, and Power--A Dispatch from the Beach

Description

Here, in all its neon-colored, cocaine-fueled glory, is the never-before-told story of the making of Miami Beach. Gerald Posner, author of the groundbreaking investigations Case Closed and Why America Slept, has uncovered the hair-raising political-financial-criminal history of the Beach and reveals a tale that, in the words of one character, "makes Scarface look like a documentary."

From its beginnings in the 1890s, the Beach has been a place made by visionaries and hustlers. During Prohibition, Al Capone had to muscle into its bootlegging and gambling businesses. After December 1941, when the Beach was the training ground for half a million army recruits, even the war couldn't stop the party. After a short postwar boom, the city's luck gave out. The big hotels went bankrupt, the crime rate rose, and the tourists moved on to Disney World and the Caribbean. Even after the Beach hosted both national political conventions in 1972, nobody would have imagined that this sandy backwater of run-down hotels and high crime would soon become one of the country's most important cultural centers.

But in 1981, 125,000 Cubans arrived by the boatload. The empty streets of South Beach, lined with dilapidated Art Deco hotels, were about to be changed irrevocably by the culture of money that moved in behind cocaine and crime. Posner takes us inside the intertwined lives of politicians, financiers, nightclub owners, and real estate developers who have fed the Beach's unquenchable desire for wealth, flash, and hype: the German playboy who bought the entire tip of South Beach with $100 million of questionable money; the mayoral candidate who said, "If you can't take their money, drink their liquor, mess with their women, and then vote against them, you aren't cut out for politics"; the Staten Island thug who became king of the South Beach nightclubs only to have his empire unravel and saved himself by testifying against the mob; the campaign manager who calls himself the "Prince of Darkness" and got immunity from prosecution in a fraud case by cooperating with the FBI against his colleagues; and the former Washington, D.C., developer who played hardball with city hall and became the Beach's first black hotel owner.

From the mid-level coke dealers and their suitcases of cash to the questionable billions that financed the ocean-view condo towers, the Beach has seen it all. Posner's singular report tells the real story of how this small urban beach community was transformed into a world-class headquarters for American culture within a generation. It is a story built by dreamers and schemers. And a steroid-injected cautionary tale.

Reviews

Rating: 3 / 5
Date: 2010-06-21
Summary: "Well Researched, Intriguing, Yet Oddly Unfulfilling"

"Miami Babylon" subtitled "Crime, Wealth, And Power--A Dispatch From The Beach" is at once oddly intriguing yet ultimately unfulfilling. Perhaps my expectations were inappropriate as I enjoyed the book and the attendant history yet I sought more of a defining theme to interlace all the various eras, heroes, villains, and developments. Nonfiction and real life documentaries are, by nature, usually less exciting material than fiction--yet parts of "Miami Babylon" are gripping, especially for those readers who lived through a great part of the history and development of South Beach. Ultimately, perhaps the disappointment for this reader emanates from Posner's choice of focus and perspective--a great deal of attention to the real estate purchases, zoning battles, and political corruption with much less focus on the arts, cultural, and sociological long term effects as well as for its "thin" or superficial characterizations at times.

The book is largely a chronological narrative of the growth and development of Miami Beach from unwanted swampland to Art Deco center to drug/crime capitol to the glitz of a celebrity Disneylandish playground. Considerable detail is presented of the shenanigans, the visionaries, the predators, and the significant players in South Beach's development, especially over the last 40 years. Read of the poltical infighting and back-stabbing that has been a staple of its development; the cocaine and drug wars; the misery brought with the Marielito Boatlift of 1981 that ultimately changed the face of Miami forever; and experience the battles between expansionist developers vs. historical preservationists, Jewish retirees vs. Cuban refugees, and art/culture vs. glitzy nightclubs and towering apartment buildings.

Ultimately, "Miami Babylon" is a well researched resource on the history and development of Miami Beach with special focus on the speculative land development, economic bubble growth, and inevitable crash of both the 1920's and the 2000's. The South Beach of today is a far cry from its humble beginings but it is also a far cry from the Miami Vice/cigarette boat craze of the 1970's. If a reader is searching for the history, the drive, and the soul of a big time American city, "Miami Babylon" should be a must read.

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Rating: 3 / 5
Date: 2010-04-26
Summary: "Newspaper-ish"

Posner's book is in essence a dissertation based on a careful review of the Miami Herald's archives. The strength of this book is its parallel between the speculative boom and bust of the 1920s and the 2000s. Jorge Perez commenting on Carl Fisher? Delicious.

Its weakness is the unbalanced chronology. Halfway through the book, you've gone through Miami Beach's 20th century history. The other half focuses - way too closely, on the Beach's recent history. The lack of balance can discourage a reader, and gives the impression that Posner had the benefit of online search engines to research the Beach's recent past.

There is gossip, several interesting behind-the-scenes vignettes, and a mighty struggle to pull together the thematic parallels between Fisher and Perez. On the latter, Posner succeeds, but just barely so.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-03-29
Summary: "Fascinating history of Miami Beach"

First off - I read it from cover to cover. It held my attention firmly, and that's a great testament to the author's writing style and skill.

I bought this in Books and Books on Lincoln Road, Miami Beach, as I wanted some background context on this rather bizarre place that I was staying for a few days (if you're in Miami area - get to Books and Books - a beautifully curated bookstore).

Reading the book whilst on South Beach gave me a context which I'd never get from a guidebook - it added a layer of experience to wandering around South Beach's environs.

The book balances exciting stories about criminal activity and racy celebrity vignettes with the drier, but frankly, more important background to the key property Developers and Preservationists that physically shaped the city blocks and buildings I saw in 2010.

The many, many interviews and obviously deep research for this book are presented in a chronological structure, and this does mean the chapters 'jump' - from a vignette about Don Aronow's speedboats being used for drug transport, for example, to a chapter on a showdown between Art Deco preservationists and corrupt Planning Officials. Sometimes makes the chapters feel less connected, but I didn't feel any disconnect, which is a testament to the author's skill - there's a lot of information in this book!

Towards the end, the book covers the fading of Miami Beach's 90's scene, the inevitability of the corporate takeover of Lincoln Road and the gaudiness of Ocean Drive, but only touched on the changes to Miami's Art and Design scene, which I wished there had been more of (of course, this is a book in itself).

I learn a lot reading this book, and not just about Miami Beach, but broader lessons about urban gentrification, preservation and unfettered property development.

Lastly - an idea for the publisher - it would make a great project to markup lots of the places/buildings from chapters into Google Earth's view of Miami Beach...

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-03-04
Summary: "The most digusting city in the U.S."

This book is very well written about the crime, corruption, and immorality in the once beautiful city, which now is going to the dumps. The people in Miami live in a fantasy world due to the corrupt Cubans politicians and all the savage Indians from Central and South America who imigrated along with the Hatians and started a complete mess.
I lived in Miami (Dade County) once and hated every minute of it, there is nothing good in this disgusting city. This book tells it as it is. Buy it and learn what a group of delinquents from the Islands can do to a once beautiful city.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-02-27
Summary: "Miami Undone"

This book was well written with very few grammatical errors.
It contains a ton of references that indicate the author did
a thorough research.
It is really sad that such a beautiful area of our country
has to endure the criminal element and some of the most
corrupt politicians in America.