{{Use American english|date=April 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Short description|1980s counter-drug operation in Florida}} {{Infobox law enforcement operation |name = Operation Everglades |codename = |partof = |image = |image_upright = |alt = |caption = |type = |scope = |planned_by = |initiated_by = |executed_by = U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) |country_names = United States |countries_number = |objective = |method = |target = |date_begin = |date_end = |duration = |date_executed = 1981–1984 |suspects_number = |arrested_number = |indictments_number = |complaints_number = |information_number = |convictions_number = |convictions_appealed = |other_appeals_number = |misc_results = |initial_budget = |final_expenditure = }} '''Operation Everglades''' was a large American drug interdiction operation in Collier County, Florida, that took place between 1981 and 1984, during the "war on drugs".
== Operation == During July 1981 Operation Everglades was implemented to identify and neutralize marijuana drug traffickers operating along the southwest coast of Florida. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, United States Coast Guard, U.S. Customs Service, Internal Revenue Service, and the Collier County Sheriff's Office joined in this investigation.<ref name=1986progressreport />
The operation was centred on Everglades City, Florida, a city surrounded by miles of waterways surrounded by mangrove forest and nearby Chokoloskee, Florida, an unincorporated island community. In the early 1980s the National Park Service announced it would ban commercial fishing in Everglades National Park from 1986, which led to economic uncertainty for the local residents.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1984-10-07 |title=Florida town struggles with drugs |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/07/us/florida-town-struggles-with-drugs.html |access-date=2026-04-20 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Residents, knowing the waterways, began drug running for Jamaican and Mexican cartels, sailing on fishing boats out to meet motherships to smuggle square grouper, earning up to {{USD|10000}} a night.<ref name="weird">{{Cite book |last=Kleinberg |first=Eliot |url=http://archive.org/details/weirdfloridaiiin0000klei |pages=81-83 |title=Weird Florida II : in a state of shock |date=2006 |publisher=Cocoa, FL : Chapin House |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-9771079-3-3}}</ref><ref name="saveur">{{Cite web|url=https://www.saveur.com/florida-man/|title=The Crab-Fishing Drug King of Everglades City|first=Jamie|last=Feldmar|date=March 7, 2017|website=Saveur}}</ref> They dubbed themselves, "Saltwater Cowboys".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.naplesnews.com/story/news/local/2018/07/20/operation-everglades-stands-out-among-everglades-citys-problemed-past/803108002/|title=Operation Everglades stands out in Everglades City's problem-plagued past|first=Brent|last=Batten|website=Naples Daily News}}</ref> In April 1983, Deputy Saunders of Collier County estimated that up to 225 of the 534 city residents were suspected of taking part in the smuggling.<ref name="nyt1">{{Cite news|date=1982-08-15 |title=Everglades city shifts from fishing to drugs |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/08/15/us/everglades-city-shifts-from-fishing-to-drugs.html |access-date=2026-04-20 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
Phase I of the operation was executed early morning on July 7, 1983. Authorities blocked off Florida State Road 29, the only entrance to the communities, and carried out arrest warrants, leading to the arrest of 39 defendants.<ref name="Fishlock" /><ref name=1986progressreport /> Phase II was initiated immediately thereafter, and was concluded on June 29, 1984 with the arrest of 40 defendants.<ref name=1986progressreport>{{citation|title=Federal Drug Enforcement Progress Report|publisher=National Drug Enforcement Policy Board, United States Department of Justice|year=1986|p=40|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5mEvAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA40}}</ref> As part of Phase II, a DEA undercover vessel accepted delivery of 24,000 pounds of marijuana from a violator's mothership in April 1984. In May, the undercover agents met with the traffickers and brokers and arrested nine violators, six of whom were leaders of the drug organization.<ref name=1986progressreport/> The joint federal, state, and county investigation resulted in arrests or indictments of 256 people, almost 80% of the adult male population. More than 580,000 pounds of marijuana, with an estimated value of more than $252 million, were seized, along with cars, boats, and property worth more than $5 million.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.floridahistorynetwork.com/july-7-1983---operation-everglades-drug-bust-rocks-everglades-city.html|title=July 7, 1983 - 'Operation Everglades' drug bust rocks Everglades City|website=Florida History Network - Your one-stop source for celebrating and preserving Florida's past, today}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|series=From Territories to Today: Fort Myers Division – Drug Smuggling|publisher=United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida|website=Official website|title=Drug smuggling|url=https://www.flmd.uscourts.gov/drug-smuggling|access-date=April 20, 2026}}</ref><ref name="Fishlock">{{Cite book |last=Fishlock |first=Trevor |url=http://archive.org/details/stateofamerica0000fish |page=45 |title=The state of America |date=1987 |location=London |publisher=Faber |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-571-14873-8}}</ref><ref name="saveur" />
Phase III of Operation Everglades, now called Operation Trident, continued into 1986, where the State of Florida established a proprietary business.<ref name=1986progressreport/>
== Reaction == Locals of Everglades City criticised the operation calling it a publicity stunt designed to humiliate the town.<ref name="weird" /><ref name="Fishlock" />
==See also== *List of cannabis seizures
==References== {{reflist}}
== Further reading == * {{Cite news |date=1983-07-08 |title=28 Suspects Arrested In Florida Drug Raid |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/08/us/28-suspects-arrested-in-florida-drug-raid.html |access-date=2026-04-13 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} * {{Cite news |last=Chiles |first=Lawton |date=Jul 28, 1983 |title=Drug operation rated a success |url=https://archive.org/details/1983-07-28-herald-observer |work=The Herald Observer |pages=4–5}} * {{Cite book |last=Fuss |first=Charles M. |url=http://archive.org/details/seaofgrassmariti0000fuss |page=107 |title=Sea of grass : the maritime drug war, 1970-1990 |date=1996 |publisher=Annapolis, Md. : Naval Institute Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-1-55750-276-6}} * {{cite news|title='Saltwater Cowboys' reunite, speak bluntly about drug smuggling past|author=Victoria Macchi|newspaper=Naples Daily News|location=Naples, Florida|date=June 25, 2011|url=https://archive.naplesnews.com/news/local/photos-saltwater-cowboys-reunite-speak-bluntly-about-drug-smuggling-past-ep-391451017-342890922.html/}}
{{US government sources|article=Federal Drug Enforcement Progress Report|year=1986|publisher=United States Department of Justice|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5mEvAQAAIAAJ}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Everglades, Operation}}
Category:1983 in cannabis Category:1983 in Florida Category:Anti-cannabis operations Category:War on drugs