Gangster's Paradise

According to the boob tube, Miami is where the lawless hide out to strike like gators crouching in the saw grass. It's been the backdrop to a machine-gun-wielding Tony Montana, crime-fighting playboys Crockett and Tubbs, and more recently, Dexter as he hacks into another victim; it's even hosted the hookers...

By Amanda McCorquodale

February 18, 2010

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According to the boob tube, Miami is where the lawless hide out to strike like gators crouching in the saw grass. It's been the backdrop to a machine-gun-wielding Tony Montana, crime-fighting playboys Crockett and Tubbs, and more recently, Dexter as he hacks into another victim; it's even hosted the hookers and bad drivers of Grand Theft Auto. Lest you think Miami has been unfairly typecast as some sort of vulgar apocalypse, consider its history. As you'll see in the "Crime in Miami" exhibit, now on display at the Historical Museum of Southern Florida, this city has always been mired in illicit activity, from gambling lodges, Prohibition-era rum runners, and gangsters like Al Capone to the cocaine cowboys of the 1980s.
Tuesdays-Sundays. Starts: Feb. 18. Continues through Aug. 29, 2010

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