Black Tuna Gang

The Black Tuna gang was a Colombian marijuana-smuggling organization active in 1970s Miami. The group were responsible for bringing in around 500 tons of marijuana into the United States over the course of 16 months.

The groups name derived from their codename of their supplier, Raul Davila-Jimeno, a Colombian drug dealer operating out of Santa Marta. Jimeno presented himself to the authorities as a petroleum, sugar and coffee exporter.

The gang ran a very organized operation. They would use specialized equipment to listen in on conversations by police and US Customs. They also displayed a certain degree of creativity, once sending Jimeno a box of diapers to signal they were ready to go ahead with a drug deal. Gang members wore a solid gold medallion with a black tuna emblem to identify themselves.

The gang operated at least at one time from a suite in the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, and arranged bulk deliveries to a boathouse. They also made use of modified boats that could carry tons of contraband while remaining fairly low in the water.

The syndicate was eventually brought down by a joint FBI-DEA Operation Banco, which traced numerous transactions through South Florida banks until finally a gang member was caught making a large deposit in a Miami Beach bank.

ee also

*The Yogurt Connection

References

[http://www.dea.gov/pubs/history/1975-1980.html DEA History Book, 1975-1980]