It was released in 2017 and began airing on the Starz network in 2019. White Boy Rick is a gritty, desperate story about a family whose struggles to escape poverty lead to illegal and dangerous choices. White Boy Rick, a gritty new crime film starring Matthew McConaughey, has been promoted as the true tale of a poor, dysfunctional, family battling to stay together in 1980s Detroit. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Young, as well as the allegation about Young's political ally Gil Hill. "White Boy Rick," the film based on the life of Richard Wershe Jr. opens in theaters Sept. 14. In "White Boy Rick," a new movie set in the 1980s drug world of Detroit, a teenage Richard Wershe Jr. (played by newcomer Richie Merritt) sums up his plight to the feds. Not long before the James Bond team made their decision, Sony released Demange’s “White Boy Rick” to disappointing reviews and $21.7 million total at the box office. This is how “White Boy Rick” was born. ‘White Boy Rick,’ former teen FBI informant, released from Kissimmee halfway house after serving more than 3 decades July 20, 2020 at 3:03 pm EDT By Sarah Wilson, WFTV.com KISSIMMEE, Fla. In an effort to expose the real story behind White Boy Rick and hold the justice system accountable, Ferranti teamed up with filmmaker Shawn Rech. The new blockbuster movie "White Boy Rick," starring Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey, is on the big screen right now. In 1987, at 17 years of age, Wershe was arrested for possessing cocaine in excess of eight kilograms (17.6 pounds). This United States biographical article related to crime is a stub. Ruffalo stars in the six-part drama as twin brothers Dominick and Thomas Birdsey. No. Based on a true story (but mostly fictional), the film stars Richie Merritt as Richard Wershe Jr., who in the 1980s became the youngest FBI informant ever at … In January 1988, he was incarcerated at the age of 17 for a non-violent drug crime. You can catch The VICE Guide to Right Now Podcast on Acast, Google Play, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. [7] When Wershe was 16 the FBI, having secured 20 convictions through his infiltration of a violent drug gang, ceased to employ him as an informant. According to Scott, the Hollywood film was born out of the media circus surrounding "White Boy Rick" that began in Detroit. White Boy Rick is a Yann Demange directed crime drama story about Richard Wershe Jr. A teenager who became an undercover informant for the FBI during the 1980″s and was ultimately arrested for drug-trafficking and sentenced to life in prison. That festival can elevate a discovery, but slams anything that comes up short. In 2016 a notorious former Detroit hitman alleged Hill had once tried to commission the murder of Wershe. They lived there during a period in the late 1980s and early 1990s when Detroit and many other major American cities were gaining widespread reputations for crime and violence, largely due to an influx of cocaine and the emergence of the crack cocaine epidemic. This article related to Detroit is a stub. This page was last edited on 5 April 2021, at 01:55. The Birdsey brothers aren't based on anyone in particular, nor is Lamb's book based on any real family or true story. Seth Ferranti was serving his own prison sentence when he started speaking with Richard Wershe, the notorious babyfaced drug dealer known as White Boy Rick, through an interprison mailing system. He freed from that sentence … You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. We sat down with Ferranti to talk about his correspondence and the finished film product, White Boy, a new documentary released this week. At the age of 17 Wershe was arrested for possession of 8 kg of cocaine, and with no intervention from the FBI and U.S. Attorney to tell of him being an FBI informant at 14, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Arguably, the most notable is Bill Kaplan, a Harvard Business school graduate who had also done his undergraduate studies at Harvard. Wershe sells guns illegally to make ends meet but soon attracts attention from the FBI. Infamously known as White Boy Rick, his real name is Richard Wershe Jr. and he is a Detroit native. [9][10][1][11] In 2019, his application was denied by the Florida clemency board. I was pleasantly surprised. The majority of the Titan players in the film are based on real people (see the Titans team photo below). For the first time in 30 years, White Boy Rick’s name was back in the headlines – but this time, the real story was printed underneath. This true-crime documentary exposes new facts about alleged teen drug lord "White Boy Rick" and his lesser-known role as an FBI informant. It was as if the legend of White Boy Rick had swallowed the real person at its center. Published: July 20, 2020, Deadline Detroit, September 07, 2016, Allan Lengel, "Newcomer Richie Merritt Lands Title Role in 'White Boy Rick' Opposite Matthew McConaughey", After 32 years behind bars, ‘White Boy Rick’ Wershe Jr. to be released Monday, ONE-TIME DETROIT ‘SUPER COP’ GIL HILL DIES OF LUNG DISEASE, FAMED CRIME FIGHTER NEVER SHOOK MURDER COVER-UP CLAIMS, Past Detroit Hit Man Claims Gil Hill Wanted Him To Kill Richard Wershe Jr, "Who is White Boy Rick? Their correspondence would develop into a series of articles and exposés that Ferranti wrote as he started to uncover the real story behind Wershe's conviction. It was a wild tale of injustice and negligence, in which Wershe had been recruited as an informant by Detroit's drug task force, and then later cast aside when they realized he was underaged. White Boy Rick Rick Wershe is a single father who's struggling to raise two teenagers during the height of the crack epidemic in 1980s Detroit. [3][4][5][6], Wershe and his working class family lived in a neighborhood on the east side of Detroit about seven miles from downtown. Wershe’s involvement in the drug underworld began when the FBI recruited him as a confidential informant at age 14. Now, journalists, police, federal agents and hit men are speaking for the first time about the legend of "White Boy Rick." Seth Ferranti was serving his own prison sentence when he started speaking with Richard Wershe, the notorious babyfaced drug dealer known as White Boy Rick, through an interprison mailing system. In the movie 21, an unorthodox math professor named Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey) leads the team.The 21 true story reveals that the real MIT Blackjack Team was led by three individuals, none of whom were professors. Not only is Richard Wershe Jr., aka "White Boy Rick" (Richie Merritt) taken from reality, but even the most unbelievable characters from White Boy Rick like the Curry Bros are based on real people. In 1980's Detroit, 17 year-old Richard Wershe, Jr. allegedly ran a sophisticated inner-city drug dealing operation. I had first learned this from a column about incarceration policy published last year on The Fix, a site covering drugs and addiction. 7 facts about the 14-year-old FBI informant", "White Boy Rick's Parole Hearing and Drug War Lessons Unlearned", "Here's Where White Boy Rick Is Now, Years After His FBI Involvement", Rick Wershe Jr. released from prison after more than 30 years, "See Matthew McConaughey fail tragically as a dad in exclusive 'White Boy Rick' trailer", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Richard_Wershe_Jr.&oldid=1016037035, Federal Bureau of Investigation informants, American people convicted of drug offenses, Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat-VIAF identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Spending 27 years in prison for a drug offence committed when he was 17. I hadn't read up on this story, because I wanted to watch the movie not knowing any details. 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