The Black Tuna gang was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 marijuana-smuggling

Smuggling

Smuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...

 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

Santa Marta

Santa Marta is the capital city of the Colombian department of Magdalena in the Caribbean Region. It was founded in July 29, 1525 by the Spanish conqueror Rodrigo de Bastidas, which makes it the oldest remaining city in Colombia...

. Jimeno presented himself to the authorities as a petroleum

Petroleum

Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...

, sugar

Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...

 and coffee

Coffee

Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...

 exporter.

The gang used 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

Fontainebleau Hotel

The Fontainebleau Miami Beach or the Fontainebleau Hotel is one of the most historically and architecturally significant hotels on Miami Beach. Opened in 1954 and designed by Morris Lapidus, it was considered the most luxurious hotel on Miami Beach, and is thought to be the most significant...

 in Miami Beach, and arranged bulk deliveries to a boathouse. They also made use of modified boats that could carry tons of contraband without riding low in the water.

The syndicate was eventually brought down by a joint FBI-DEA

Drug Enforcement Administration

The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...

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.