A Miami 'cocaine cowboy' finds redemption with love locks

(AP) — When he was one of Miami's notorious "cocaine cowboys" in the 1980s, Mickey Munday made millions of dollars flying loads of drugs for Colombia's Medellin and Cali cartels.

[...] Munday, who served nearly a decade in prison, has created a makeshift park next to his quiet North Miami home.

Using his push lawnmower, Munday carved a pair of interlocking hearts in the grass above the word "love" cut into the rocky soil.

[...] he strung a series of fence posts with plastic-covered chains so people could attach padlocks as a symbol of lasting love — similar to the clusters of locks found on bridges in Europe.

Some people left little messages on them, such as "Believe," while others wrote names or initials of spouses, lovers, children, friends and pets.

Back in his cocaine cartel days, Munday was part of an organization linked to dozens of murders and shootings that made South Florida the nation's violence capital.

A self-taught pilot, Munday estimates he could make about $2.5 million a night running drugs between Colombia and Florida.

[...] rather than buying flashy exotic cars, yachts, expensive clothes and hitting the nightlife like many of his contemporaries, he invested the money into real estate.

In 1987, he was among 30 people indicted by a Miami federal grand jury on drug trafficking charges, but it took about three years for federal agents to track him down.

[...] Munday installed a new fence with metal posts sunk into concrete, and now it has an opening.

Maybe it will make people reach out and touch something.