How ‘Miami Vice’ Came to Make the Galco Miami Classic Holster Famous

By Tactical Life

It was 1984 and director Michael Mann was hard at work on a new TV show set in Miami. Mann had previously directed the James Caan film Thief, and the propmaster for that movie had outfitted a minor character with a Jackass Rig from The Famous Jackass Leather Company. Mann thought that such a dramatic and photogenic holster rig would be ideal for the hero of his new show – a vice detective named Sonny Crockett – portrayed by Don Johnson.

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“Miami Vice” Magic & the Galco Miami Classic

However, by the time production on “Miami Vice” began, Propmaster Charlie Guanci was unable to contact The Famous Jackass Leather Company. In 1980, Jackass founder Rick Gallagher had changed the company name to Galco – the Great American Leather Company – and in 1983 had moved it from Chicago to its present home in Phoenix. In the days before the internet, this made it quite difficult for Guanci to track down the holster Michael Mann wanted Don Johnson to wear!

Desperate to get a facsimile of the Jackass Rig for Mr. Johnson to wear, Guanci approached a local holster maker who tried …Read the Rest

Source:: Tactical Life