Universal Sets Breaking Bads George Mastras To Pen Cop-Mafia Clash 90 Church
By MIKE FLEMING JR
Universal Pictures has set Emmy-nominated Breaking Bad writer/producer George Mastras to adapt the Dean Unkefer book 90 Church: The True Story Of The Narcotics Squad From Hell to be directed by its Snow White And The Huntsman director Rupert Sanders. The project will be produced by Huntsmans Joe Roth and Palak Patel, wholl produce with Deborah Giarratana.
90 Church refers to the address of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics when it was formed in New York City to combat organized crime and drug traffic in the mid-1960s through early 70s. While the FBI refused even to acknowledge organized crime, 30 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. Using an ever-expanding network of criminal informants held together by secret immunity deals, the sinister reputation of 90 Church grew along with the rising body count. The book is fictionalized but based on true events, written by one of the agents who worked in the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. That bureau later merged with another and became the DEA. The studio bought the book preemptively last summer.
Mastras, who was Emmy-nominated for writing the Dead Freight episode in Breaking Bads final season, is repped by CAA and manager Dan Halsted.
