Florida anglers are now going fishing for bricks of cocaine dropped by drug smugglers… and many are keeping the narcotics for themselves

Some fishermen in the Florida Keys are hoping to net more than just their dinner off the coast.When they anchor their boats, most are hoping to catch a red or black grouper fish, but some are finding a completely different kind of prize: a plastic-wrapped...

Ghanamma

October 11, 2026Ghana

By ALYSSA GUZMAN, US NEWS REPORTER 17:17 11 Oct 2026, updated 17:17 11 Oct 2026

Some fishermen in the Florida Keys are hoping to net more than just their dinner off the coast.

When they anchor their boats, most are hoping to catch a red or black grouper fish, but some are finding a completely different kind of prize: a plastic-wrapped block of marijuana or cocaine. The bounty is often jokingly referred to as a ‘square grouper.’

Although the tightly wrapped bricks are wholly illegal, some residents are risking prison time to profit.

In August, three men were sentenced up to 10 years in prison for operating a large-scale cocaine trafficking operation in the Keys.

John Robert Strama Jr, 44; Pedro Luis Lugo Jr, 38; and Elvis Lazaro Ruiz, 34, all of Marathon, were among the 27 people who were federally charged with distributing cocaine from 2020 to 2023.

Strama, the leader of the group, largely got the drug through square groupers he found at sea, the Justice Department said in a statement.

He used his knowledge of the waterways to recover dozens of bricks. He then distributed the drug to his co-conspirators, prosecutors said.

Charter boat captain, Bradford Picariello, 65, was arrested in January for trafficking cocaine. He pleaded not guilty in September and faces 10 years to life in prison if convicted.

Picariello has been accused of selling a kilo to an undercover detective for $10,000. He allegedly told the agent to bring a cooler to make it look as if he was getting fish, the police report said. He is also accused of telling the officer he was selling 100 pounds of cocaine.

His arrest led to the discovery of 23 kilos, NBC 6 reported.

Picariello’s attorney, Joseph Rosenbaum, said they will fight his charges.

‘Every old fisherman that I talk to tells me he’s got a sterling reputation,’ Rosenbaum told The New York Times.

For Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay, someone turning up to his office with another brick is a weekly occurrence, he told the Daily Mail.

Many people find it while offshore fishing, he said.

Ramsay estimates only half ever make it back to the sheriff’s office. He suspects the majority makes its way to Miami.

‘It’s a lot of money, a kilo is potentially $20,000. So people want to get rich quick,’ he said. ‘At some point in time, greed gets in place.’

In the past year he estimates that 40 to 50 kilos of uncut cocaine have made it to his office, where it will eventually be passed off to federal authorities.

Authorities believe it is coming from the Caribbean, Colombia and the Bahamas. And the symbols they are marked with, such as numbers or photos, indicate the recipient, not the owner.

The county, which encompasses the Keys and the southwest tip of the mainland, has also seen a ‘significant’ increase in recent years as US-Mexico border security ramped up.

‘Now that that southwest border is shut down, we’ve seen more dope floating up the last couple years, which would give us an indication that more dope is starting to come back in through the water,’ Ramsay said.

Unlike in the 1970s through 1990s, where hundreds of kilos washed up, today it is usually 50 to 100 kilos, Ramsay said.

This is partly due to the vessels changing. Decades ago, smugglers had high-speed boats that could out-race police. Now, smugglers have changed tactics, including using hidden compartments in sailboats, Ramsay said.

In the 1970s, the bricks largely contained marijuana. This changed in the 1980s, when cocaine became the dominant drug, Local Historian Brad Bertelli told the Daily Mail.

‘For a lot of local fishermen, that used to be their side gig,’ he said. ‘[Fishermen] came back to shore with more than the catch of the day.

‘A lot of people knew what was going on.’

Places like the Everglades and the Keys were notorious for it, Bertelli said.

‘It became a way to make a living. It was risky, but it was good money.’

Sometimes square groupers are exchanged boat-to-boat, while others are offloaded by smugglers if they feared federal authorities were nearby, the historian said.

In the 1980s, Sea Oats Beach on Islamorada saw plenty of square groupers wash ashore, lending it the nickname Bale Beach, Bertelli said. A bale is another term for the packages.

In 2024, $1.6 million worth of drugs washed ashore on the island after Hurricane Debby tore through, ABC 7 reported.

Twenty-five packages of cocaine worth $1 million were found by one individual. A week later, boaters found a 56-pound batch worth $625,000 near Everglades City.

The frequency of finding a square group became so common that the islands have embraced their reputation.

A restaurant was named after a square grouper and is one of the most popular in the Keys, Bertelli said.

‘It’s definitely an embraced culture for sure,’ Bertelli said.

The Daily Mail has reached out to Rosenbaum for comment.

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