The majority of the unofficial Miami drug war took place between two rival cartels. On one side, as Billy Corben, the director of the "Cocaine Cowboys" documentaries explained to Distraction Magazine, was the infamous Medellín Cartel, originally founded by the drug lord Pablo Escobar, but at this time it was in the vicious hands of Griselda Blanco. On the other side of the war was Luis "Papo" Mejia who created a drug network all the way to New York, according to Gangster Report, and who Corben tells NPR was constantly at war with Blanco. But why?
That fancy New York drug trade network Papo created was the start of the problem. It was an unauthorized expansion he started while his father was still in power, and Blanco wasn't a fan. In return, she had Papo's father murdered along with 11 members of Papo's crew. The Miami drug war raged on with two of the most powerful drug lords at each other's throats, and things got bad.
About a year after Papo's father was killed, Blanco tried to have Papo killed as well, while he was at Miami International Airport. One of the hitmen hired for the deed stabbed Papo 10 times with a WWII bayonet given to him by Blanco because, so it's rumored, he was a "pig" and deserved to be "stuck like a pig." The hit didn't go to plan though, and Papo survived.
