The Year of Dangerous Days

April 27, 2020
In this cinematic chronicle, journalist Griffin (Ping Pong Diplomacy) examines how an influx of immigrants, violent race riots, and a cocaine epidemic all collided in Miami in 1980 and led to the radical transformation of the city. Griffin explores these developments through the experiences of Miami Herald reporter Edna Buchanan, who broke the story of the police killing of African-American insurance salesman Arthur McDuffie; homicide bureau captain Marshall Frank, who investigated McDuffie’s death while confronting a surging murder rate brought on by cocaine trafficking; and pro-business, socially liberal mayor Maurice Ferré. These three are on the front lines as the acquittal of McDuffie’s killers sparks one of 20th–century America’s worst race riots, the Mariel boatlift brings thousands of Cuban refugees to Miami’s shores, and the $7 billion cocaine trade “corrupt everyone from real estate brokers and developers to lawyers, car dealers and detectives.” Griffin lucidly describes drug cartel operations, the history of Miami’s racial tensions, and investigations that lead to the arrest of the city’s biggest money launderer and a crackdown on corrupt banks. Out of this tumultuous year, Griffin contends, Miami emerged a stronger, more cosmopolitan city with a broader economic base. This vivid and well-documented urban history offers hope that crisis can bring about lasting change. Agent: Becky Sweren, Aevitas Creative Management.

May 1, 2020
Race, cocaine, politics, and corruption all figure in this portrayal of a violent showdown in 1980 Miami. Miami-based journalist Griffin employs his trade with gusto in this deeply investigated account of real American carnage at the height of the drug war. The narrative begins with the death of Arthur McDuffie, a black former Marine who was killed by police after a high-speed chase. The events that follow would have massive ramifications. Rather than simply depicting the big picture, the author zeroes in on three critical figures to parse the tumult from different points of view: Edna Buchanan was the Miami Herald crime reporter who not only fielded the murder investigation, but unearthed the vein of corruption and police brutality inside the department. Inside the police force, we meet Capt. Marshall Frank, the lead investigator, who characterized the McDuffie case as a "jigsaw puzzle." Charged with uniting the city in the face of multiple crises was Mayor Maurice Ferr�, who engaged the media, the tourist industry, and the city's powerful businessmen to help a simmering city that was on the verge of falling apart. Two other factors added dynamite to the bonfire. One was the infamous Mariel boatlift, during which Fidel Castro attempted to rid his country of criminals, patients in insane asylums, troublesome activists, and other "antisocial elements" by dumping 125,000 Cuban refugees into the state of Florida. The other was the relatively new phenomenon of cocaine smuggling, which added significantly to both the proliferation of corruption and the city's crime rate, especially violent crimes. This is a series of stories that have been depicted in other books and publications, but Griffin's engrossing use of primary sources and cogent analyses of how all the pieces fit together results in a propulsive story about the dangerous ways people learn to live together. An engrossing, peek-between-your-fingers history of an American city on the edge.

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