Introducing: "Murder in Miami"

In the 1980s crime journalist Phil Stanford dove into the decadent and dangerous world of Miami just as the city was becoming the cocaine- and murder- capital of the United States. His path would place him in the crosshairs of a federal investigation focusing on a mysterious and controversial drug smuggling pilot who claimed to be an operative of the American government- all while flaunting his extensive illicit activity. Murder in Miami traces the connection between the murder of a missing Miami private investigator to the sprawling roots of an international money laundering scheme as Stanford tries to make sense of his role in a surreal story of spies, smugglers, killers and corruption. All reaching to the highest levels on both sides of the law.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Murder in Miami is a production of My Heart Radio.
Miami had become the murder capital of the United States.
Every day somebody was getting shot, murdered, robbed. I would
categorize it as the wild West because any Vaddy crossed
the cartails and any white that gets killed everybody it

(00:21):
was home in. Phil Stanford dove into Miami's shadowy, sinister side,
just as cocaine was captivating and corrupting the city. Down
at the end of the bar, there's this guy. Hands
me his card, says Clay Williams. Intercept Detective Agency, setting

(00:42):
Stanford on an unbelievably surreal path, and I called the
number on it. Secretary answers, She says, I'm sorry, we
don't have a Clay Williams here. Did he ever turn up?
Oh yeah, about two weeks later they found his body
in the Everglades. That's how you got rid of But
you dumped him in the Everglades with the alligators. A

(01:03):
path filled with temptation. As we say in the staff,
money talks and bullshit walks. They were making millions of
millions of dollars. Yeah, no matter what I did, I
got paid very well. I thought it was a great
job and riddled with violence. She was found beaten and

(01:24):
stopped in the trunk of her Mercedes. I thought I cut.
I knew that I had to get out of there
as fast as I could. I was scared for my life.
A world orbiting around a mysterious and controversial Manda drug
pilot by the name of Lamar Chester. And Lamar Chester,
did you ever run anything with Grass? Until I turned

(01:47):
over that load of coat to him on the island?
You offered Lamar a million dollars to land at his island.
Chester would claim he did it all for the CIA,
many into a sprawling federal investigation linked to the highest
levels of corruption and betrayal. And did he tell you

(02:09):
who he was running the guns for? It was obvious
the CIA was running that show. So Clay wasn't the
only person who was murdered. Oh no, not by a
long shot. I'm Lauren Bright Pacheco. Join me for Murder
in Miami. I talked about walking into the Devil's den,

(02:30):
my God. Listen to Murder in Miami, launching this January nineteenth,
on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you get the stories that matter to you. Turn off
your tape, reporter,