Scott Sherouse’s years smuggling drugs in the late 1970s and ‘80s provide abundant material for this autobiographical tale.
Sherouse was a Florida kid who boated on coastal waters before taking a civilian job with the U.S. Navy in the Bahamas. When opportunities to illegally move marijuana and, later, cocaine, yielded rushes of adrenaline and easy cash, the hard-drinking, genial Sherouse brought the skills and temperament to be a player.
He was just a boring deliveryman, he admits, but for the work’s scale and risk: exchanging cash for enormous quantities of drugs brought via plane or boat, then delivering the product for even more cash. Smugglers dodged law enforcement, while remaining wary of each other. Indeed, Sherouse expresses no qualms about frequently cheating people during deals while managing to maintain a good reputation.
The titular kingpin is Alex DeCubas, a high-school peer and fellow successful wrestler whose story had been well-documented in print and ESPN specials. Sherouse paints a sympathetic portrait of his friend, whom Sherouse brought into the business, but the ambitious DeCubas’ presence fades until the book’s abrupt conclusion in 1985.
Sherouse fictionalizes some characters and events in his largely chronological account brightened with long passages of dialogue. Short chapters are well paced, even as the author serves up pithy facts about the region’s colorful smuggling history, geography, guns, and much more.
Like the newspaper reports of busts and murders that he cites, as well as in shows like Miami Vice, however, the book—600-plus pages—is often too much of a good thing. It’s weaker for its lack of a narrative arc, admirable characters or satisfying wrap-up. It’s also a glaring blemish on the author’s charming rogue persona that women exist here only as objects of the then-married father’s crude desire. The initial rush readers feel may give way to unease.
Overall, though, this is an exciting read. Sherouse brings tremendous insight and context to thrilling, dangerous southern Florida life in the drug-money-fueled 1980s.
Also available as an ebook.