The tag "Cocaine Cowboys" is thrown out a lot especially due to the movies and recent documentary Cocaine Cowboys about the life and times of Sal Magluta and Willie Colon who were the largest coke dealers in Miami and brought in a blizzard of Blow that lasted a decade.
In reality, The Cocaine Cowboys were three non Hispanic Americansn named Mickey Munday, Max Mermelstein and Jon Roberts, hence the label "Cowboys". While they all dealt with numerous Hispanics, the core of the operation were those three Americanos and that's why they were called Cowboys. It wasn't until the movies in 2006. 2008 and the new documentary that came out this year, that term was applied to the Cubans and Columbians down here like Griselda Marcos, Sal Magluta and Willie Colon who while living extravagant lifestyles, were as much "cowboy" as Lucky Luciano was.
The names take on a life of their own, especially online. There was also a group called "The Wild Cowboys" in the Bronx, that was small time, but a book that was an exaggeration of their power made them a legend for a while. I also think that the Purple Gang name was picked up and build up in New York, with different people saying they were in it.
