*Netflix announced in a Tweet on Tuesday that Will Smith will play crime boss Nicky Barnes in an upcoming film that the actor will also produce.
“Will Smith is set to produce and star as Nicky Barnes in ‘THE COUNCIL’ – the never-before-told story of the Harlem-based crime syndicate that set out to create Black equity and self-sufficiency during the 1970s and early 80s,” the post reads.
Netflix says the plot will center around “the Shakespearean court intrigue” between Barnes, the Council’s king, and its various members.
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Nicky Barnes, ‘Mr. Untouchable’ of Heroin Dealers, Is Dead at 78 – https://t.co/3GmHk7dtEu –
“Nicky Barnes is not around anymore,” said the balding, limping grandfather in the baggy Lee dungarees.
“Nicky Barnes’s lifestyle and his value system is extinct,” he went on, speaki… pic.twitter.com/dmCOH7BHtS— Trending Press News (@trendingpress1) June 8, 2019
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The Council controlled a large part of the heroin trade in New York, and eventually partnered with the Italian-American mob on international drug trafficking. Peter Landesman, who directed Smith in “Concussion,” wrote the screenplay and will direct, per upi.com.
The New York Times once dubbed Barnes “Mr. Untouchable,” but he was ultimately arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1978. When he became a federal informant, The Council disbanded. Nicky Barnes died in 2012.
Cuba Gooding Jr. previously played Barnes in the 2007 movie “American Gangster,” which focused on Nicky’s rival Frank Lucas, who was played by Denzel Washington in the film.
