Side (irrelevant) character.. The presentation of increasingly absurd and downright insane facts in Netflix's Tiger King docu-series is nothing short of masterful. Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin can't receive enough praise for the way each episode was shot and edited. The way it's paced, how much time and attention is given to each fantastical plot point is awe-inspiring, and the unprecedented access they had to the folks in the documentary, like former drug dealer Mario Tabraue, is astounding. I don't know any other way to put this, but a man who was once one of the biggest mover of illegal narcotics in Miami — a man who was a part of all the unsavory bits of business that went into moving feel-good contraband with his father just so he could support his exotic animal habit — is one of the most "normal" people featured in the docu-series. Let that sink in. The fact that Eric and Rebecca were able to get access to Tabraue's private zoo and feature him in the documentary is pretty significant, especially because he's an extremely private person who lives in a secure compound that's under 24-hour surveillance. Hailed by many as the inspiration for Tony Montana in the iconic drug film, Scarface, Tabraue is now the owner and founder of the Zoological Wildlife foundation in Miami. At the height of his operation, the Miami Herald reported that Tabraue was the alleged leader of a 10-year-long drug operation in the '80s worth about $79 million. In addition to spending money on big cats, the "kingpin" owned several machine guns and an enormous estate with a mirrored ceiling and a "throne" like Montana's in the movie with his initials emblazoned on it: MT (versus TM in the film). Like Tony, Tabraue is also a Cuban-American. Even though Tabraue used his exotic animal import business as a cover for smuggling drugs into Florida, his love for the majestic beasts trumped his passion for hustling narcotics. Tabraue was eventually arrested after being involved in the murder of ATF agent and informant Larry Nash. A New York Times article indicated that Nash was killed by Tabraue's cartel during a massive marijuana trafficking operation. "A drug-smuggling ring that killed an informer and cut up his body while trafficking in a half-million pounds of marijuana has been broken, the Federal authorities said today. The ring also bribed police officers to protect their operation, said Richard Gregorie, the chief assistant United States Attorney here. At one time, the indictment charged, members of the ring used Miami police officers to collect, count and disburse drug profits," the report stated. In addition to being charged with the murder of Nash, Tabraue was also accused of killing his first wife in 1981 after she threatened to reveal the inner workings of his drug trafficking operation to authorities. He was acquitted of this charge, but in 1989 he was found guilty of racketeering and was slapped with 100 years in federal prison. He complied with authorities in prison, working as an informant, and was released after a dozen years. Mario Tabraue's wife. After getting out of prison, Tabraue and his wife, Maria, run ZWF, which cares for exotic animals and offers small group tours where visitors can get a closer look his private zoo. Those who have visited the ZWF have left mostly glowing reviews and despite Tabraue's criminal past, his foundation appears to be unassailable with a huge priority placed on animal nutrition and wellness. Although Tabraue isn't necessarily the focal point of Tiger King — Schreibvogel, Baskin, and Antle's zoos take up more screen time — it's apparent he's running a much different operation than Joe Exotic's zoo, which was not only way larger by comparison, but housed a lot more animals and, at time, found difficulty in feeding the creatures it housed. Nowadays you can follow Tabraue's work with animals on his Instagram page, mariowildlife. This goes without saying, but if you haven't seen Tiger King yet, you really are in for a treat. I feel like an entire docu-series could be made on Tabraue alone and I'd imagine that a lot more people are going to be interested in ZWF and other exotic animal sanctuaries in the upcoming weeks. P.S. Watch the film just for Tabraue's part, to see how unapologetically badass he is.
When a former real life Tony Montana and a Zookeeper with a harem of women are the most normal people in the documentary you know this thing is all kinds of messed up.
I still can’t believe the guy that pretty much stole Joes zoo (forgot his name) was pulling the pussy he was in Vegas. Some of those bitches were smoke and that dude looked like a grade A weirdo.
Really tough to pick a favorite character. For me its probably either the guy who exclusively wears the evil clown things on his legs or Joe's ex who has approximately four teeth.
I'm surprised it's getting so much hype after the "Joe Exotic" podcast came out just a few months ago. I think the podcast was Wondery as well, so I figured everyone already knew this story.
Well I think it's understandable that it's blowing up now considering everyone is at home and it's right in front of their faces on Netflix. I listen to podcasts daily and had no idea such a pod existed. Plus I feel like this is something you really need to see as opposed to just hear.
Since it's a wondery pod, I'm just surprised more people hadn't heard of this story prior to the release of Tiger King. I don't think I'd have seen so many posts on social media and here if they had -- regardless of quarantine.
Posted in other thread, but: Carole did that shit. Joe set the fire. They are all horrible, horrible people
Most normal people in the doc: Ann? (Carole's dead husband's bookkeeper) Girl who joined Doc's harem, got fake boobs so she could have a few days off, then left (also has a really cool dog in the doc) Saf (missing arm) No legs Joe's campaign manager Tony Montana
Same. I listen to way too many pods and had no idea this was a podcast until someone mentioned it in the podcast thread a couple days ago
I mean they gave her the option to save her fucking harm and she said no. At that point, just sew that shit up and let her go because she clearly has no interest in being smart.
Dude blowing his brains out on camera is pretty underrated in the big picture. Seriously this shit has so many twists and turns...
Arm person didn't seem like someone that cared about that. It was back to work two days after amputation. I doubt it was demanding a top plastic surgeon.
That would have been such a gross documentary to be a cameraman for. Being around Joe and his crew in that shit hole every day would be nauseating.
I laughed real hard when Joe was seriously contemplating doing a second low fly over Big Cat Rescue, but dropping grenades the second time.
A damn footnote of the whole thing was the guy with a harem of young women had a gas chamber to kill off the tigers that aged out of cub petting. If this was a fictional movie, it would have been laughed at how unbelievable it was.
Did you not watch the doc, pal? They claimed that low fly over resulted in one of the cats having a seizure due to the loud noise.
He did one when they took aerial photos of Carol's place...she said they flew so low it gave one of her tigers a seizure. Afterwards someone said Joe was thinking about doing another one and dropping grenades.
I thought the campaign manager, Josh, was hilarious. WalMart assistant manager to campaign manager for a gubernatorial candidate just like that.
When he put on the EMT jacket after the tiger ripped that girl’s arm off, went into the gift shop and calmly announced a refund, and then he states how fucked he is financially.