Miami's Wildest Decade: An 80s True Crime and History Tour

Meet & Greet at the Marina — Cigarette Boats & Distribution Channels. Your journey starts right where it all did — on the water. After a warm welcome and quick intro to your guide, we'll walk the marina together and take a close look at the cigarette boats: the sleek, high-speed vessels built to outrun the Coast Guard during Miami's smuggling boom. You'll learn how these boats became the backbone of a booming distribution network in the late '70s and '80s — including the surprising story of the boat builder behind them, and how a design meant for racing ended up defining an entire era of Miami history. A relaxed, walk-and-talk start to set the scene for everything ahead

No Miami history tour is complete without a taste of the real thing. Before we head toward the skyline, we'll make a quick stop for an ice-cold AC's Icees lemonade — a beloved, old-school Miami treat. It's a lighthearted breather between stories, and a nice reminder that alongside all the '80s drama, this city has always known how to enjoy a hot afternoon the right way.

Miami Skyline — Real Estate & Money Laundering
As we make our way toward the Miami skyline, we'll slow down for photos and a story that explains a lot about the city you're looking at. Behind those glass towers is a history of cash that needed somewhere to go — and real estate became the answer. You'll hear how laundered money helped fund much of Miami's building boom in the late '70s and '80s, from unexplained cash surpluses at the local Federal Reserve to high-profile cases decades later that followed the very same playbook. It's a different way to look at a skyline most visitors only ever see as a postcard.

Coconut Grove Houses — Neighborhood History
We'll wind through the quiet, tree-lined streets of Coconut Grove, one of Miami's oldest and most storied neighborhoods. Long before the '80s, these blocks were shaped by early settlers — which is also why you'll spot peacocks wandering the area today. But by the height of that wild era, the same privacy that made this neighborhood charming also made it useful to people who didn't want questions asked. We'll share the stories, and the legends, that still linger on these streets.

Our final stop is the legendary Mutiny Hotel, the epicenter of Miami's most notorious era of nightlife. Grab a snack and get comfortable while we share the story of this Coconut Grove landmark — opened in 1969, and by the late '70s selling more champagne than almost anywhere else in the country. Its members-only club upstairs mixed celebrities, musicians, and the era's most powerful criminal figures and syndicate bosses, often in the same room. It's also part of the reason Scarface looks the way it does — the filmmakers studied this building while designing their fictional hotel. A fitting, story-filled way to close out the tour.