The makers of hit movie American Gangster are being sued for an astonishing $55 million by a group of former New York drug cops. The former officers all insist the movie - starring Denzel Washington as former drug kingpin Frank Lucas - trashes their reputations.
In the movie, officers are made to look like they had sticky fingers and did not do enough to stop the drug trade blossoming in Harlem.
The ex-agents say they were slandered by a claim at the end of the movie that Lucas' "collaboration led to the convictions of three-quarters of New York City's Drug Enforcement Agency".
Ex-agent Gregory Korniloff and two other former agents filed a lawsuit demanding a piece of the $130 million the movie made in the box-office.
They also want a statement from producer NBC Universal telling "the truth" about the agency's role in the Lucas case and a "class-action" certification that could allow hundreds of DEA agents to share in any award.
According to the lawsuit, Lucas' testimony never resulted in the convictions of DEA agents or New York City police officers.
The lawsuit insists: "Millions of people were induced to pay for viewing this film who would not have paid had they known the truth.
"The movie is riddled with falsity. The whole premise of 'American Gangster' would have been eviscerated if the truth were revealed and the defendant would not have made the money it did make if the libel was not made."
"This is absolutely off the wall," said Dominic Amorosa, a prosecutor in the federal case against Lucas in 1975 who now represents the DEA agents.
"I don't know what these people were thinking, but they are going to pay for it."
However Universal spokesman Michael Moses said the lawsuit is "entirely without merit".
"'American Gangster' does not defame these or any federal agents," he added.
NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said he wasn't aware of any officers prosecuted in connection with Lucas, who claimed he smuggled pure Southeast Asian heroin to the U.S. in the coffins of Vietnam War veterans.
"Hollywood is famous for distorting reality," Browne said.
"If we sued every time the movies made reality unrecognizable, there would be time for nothing else."
By Owen Williams, Jan 17 2008 © Copyright 2008 - Showbiz Spy
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