Hollywood has come to the SDFLA. Or at least a case involving Hollywood has.
Did you see Netflix’s The Rip? If not, I can’t blame you. It was one of those direct-to-Netflix movies. But it had real star power. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon reunite on screen as members of a Miami narcotics tactical unit that discovers millions in cash inside a stash house. Netflix describes it this way: “Trust frays when a team of Miami cops discovers millions in cash inside a run-down stash house, calling everyone — and everything — into question.”
The movie opens by saying it was “inspired by true events.” According to a new complaint filed in the Southern District of Florida, the true event was a June 29, 2016 Miami-Dade narcotics investigation that led to the seizure of more than $21 million in currency from a suspected marijuana trafficker’s home in Miami Lakes.
The officers who say they supervised and led that real investigation are not happy with the movie or what it allegedly implies about them. Last week, they sued the production companies behind the film, including Artists Equity, LLC, which was founded by Affleck and Damon.
The complaint alleges that, although the film uses fictional names, it copied highly specific details from the real seizure (Miami-Dade narcotics officers, the Miami Lakes/Hialeah setting, cash hidden in orange buckets inside walls, a cash-sniffing dog, a TEC-9). It then “Holly-fied” the rest, presenting a story about corruption, theft, cartel communications, arson, and murder. As the complaint puts it, third parties began asking the plaintiffs “which character they were and how many buckets they kept.”
You can read the complaint, which is getting national media coverage, here. The case is Smith v. Falco Pictures, LLC, No. 1:26-cv-23213, in the Southern District of Florida. It’s in front of Chief Judge Altonaga.
As a postscript, Affleck apparently plays a character named “J.D. Byrne.” No comment.
I think its a ridiculous lawsuit. Hollywood always puts a spin on factual events. If the officers would be successful imagine the floodgate of lawsuits for every movie "based" on factual events. I think the officers are disappointed in portrayal but its a movie for entertainment not a documentary with real names. The BIGGEST scandal of this operation was the seizure was allegedly run past the USAO in Miami and they declined to do a search warrant because they thought it was small potatoes. When the county did it the AUSA called back the agent and said they were game only after they learned the scale of the seizure. THAT part I bet is not in the movie how the feds wanted to pass up the case but became the green eyed monster to explain to their bosses why the AUSA passed on the initial search.
ReplyDeleteThis didn't work out so good for the officers who sued Afroman.
ReplyDeleteSomeone really ought to sue Ben Affleck for the way his character, supposedly a veteran South Florida lawman, pronounces the word "Hialeah" every time in comes up.
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