George Mastras, who has been working on AMC’s “Breaking Bad” since it began, has signed on to draft the upcoming 90 Church, Deadline reports. Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders is attached to helm the big screen take on Dean Unkefer’s fictionalized novel, officially described as follows:
From 1950 through the late 1960s, America feared two great enemies: Communism and illegal drugs. While the espionage stories have been well publicized, the war against drugs was far more violent and has remained mostly secret.
At its peak, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) enlisted only 350 agents worldwide. In New York City, the center of organized crime and rum import, there were only 35 street agents in the bureau’s office at 90 Church Street. While the FBI refused even to acknowledge organized crime, these agents stood alone against a well-organized Mafia and vicious drug cartels. To survive against impossible odds, the agents used incredibly brutal and cunning tactics to make cases and bring the war to a stalemate. Their violent exploits on the streets of New York City became legendary to other law enforcement agencies and the underworld.
Using an ever-expanding network of enslaved criminal informants held together by secret immunity deals, the sinister reputation of 90 Church grew along with the rising body count. In 1968, alarmed politicians, who did not understand – nor could be told – about 90 Church operations, launched an ill-fated and arrogant investigation. Accusations were made against the agents based on taking undercover operations out of context and believing testimony from criminal informants. Now fighting a war on two fronts, 90 Church was dissolved and its agents discredited.
The book is a memoir based upon real cases and actual people. It is a story of a young agent’s downward slide into hell as he falls victim to addiction, deception, violence, and shifting loyalties. It is a desperate struggle in front-line combat to find justice and redemption. Ultimately, it is also the age-old tale of deals with the devil and what happens when something that is right is sacrificed to fight what is wrong.
Deborah Giarratana, Palak Patel and Joe Roth are all attached to produce.
