Covert City

The Cold War and the Making of Miami

By: Vince Houghton, Eric Driggs

Narrated by: Eric Driggs, Vince Houghton

Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

Secret operations, corruption, crime, and a city teeming with spies: why Miami was as crucial to winning the Cold War as Washington, DC, or Moscow.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was perhaps the most dramatic and dangerous period of the Cold War. What's less well known is that the city of Miami, mere miles away, was a pivotal, though less well known, part of Cold War history. With its population of Communist exiles from Cuba, its strategic value for military operations, and its lax business laws, Miami was an ideal environment for espionage.

Covert City tells the history of how the entire city of Miami was constructed in the image of the US-Cuba rivalry. From the Bay of Pigs invasion to the death of Fidel Castro, the book shows how Miami is a hub for money and cocaine but also secrets and ideologies. Cuban exiles built criminal and political organizations in the city, leading Washington to set up a CIA station there, codenamed JMWAVE. It monitored gang activities, plotted secret operations against Castro, and became a base for surveilling Latin American neighbors. The money and infrastructure built for the CIA was integral to the development of Miami.

Covert City is a sweeping and entertaining history, full of stunning experimental operations and colorful characters—a story of a place like no other.

©2024 Vince Houghton and Eric Driggs (P)2024 PublicAffairs

Entertaining history to understand Cuban exiles

My generation grew up hearing some wild stories about Cuba before, during, and after the revolucion. Personally, this book confirmed a couple of them. There's a handful of entertaining books that deal with the history of the Cuban revolution from the outsiders perspective; like TJ English books on the American mob in Cuba and the CIA-trained Cuban exile mafia, as well as Annie Jacobsen book on CIA paramilitary operations. This book belongs right beside them as it beautifully describes the local mythos which still drives the political psychology of most Cuban exile boomers living in the USA, and is very well researched without becoming boring and academic. Worth the read.