10 Greatest Crime Movies Based On Real Criminals

There are a lot of great crime movies throughout history, but some of the best pull the stories from real-life criminals, even if these stories are often embellished. It is always important to remember that crime movies based on true stories are biopics, and they are not true-crime stories. They are often fictionalized versions of the events that happened. Even when the names are kept the same, the events and most personal information are often changed for dramatic purposes.

However, that is what makes these crime movie biopics so fun. Each film dramatizes a real criminal, so the fascination is the tension between the movie and the documented truth. These movies include real criminals from all walks of life, from depression-era outlaws and Wall Street fraudsters to serial killers and mob enforcers. The movies are also a strong mix of critically acclaimed releases, box office hits, and even National Film Registry entries.

It should also be noted that, no matter how great a movie is, many of the real-life criminals dispute the stories, or in some cases, the criminals praise the tales, and law enforcement claims the retellings have a dubious basis. From Martin Scorsese’s masterpieces to a film that earned Charlize Theron an Oscar and several films by the best stars of their generation, these movies showcase the best from this crime subgenre.

Blow (2001): George Jung

George Jacob Jung, also known as Boston George of Weymouth, Massachusetts, was a major 1970s and ’80s cocaine smuggler who, with partner Carlos Lehder, moved product for Colombia’s Medellín Cartel. Jung was sentenced to 60 years in 1994, with his sentence reduced to roughly 20 years after testifying against Lehder. He ended up being released in 2014.

In Blow, Johnny Depp plays Jung, Penélope Cruz plays his wife, Mirtha, and Franka Potente plays his first love, Barbara. In this movie, Lehder is fictionalized as Diego Delgado (Jordi Mollà). The Ted Demme-directed movie was mostly faithful to real life, but it was dramatized and compressed for the film.

White Boy Rick (2018): Richard Wershe Jr.

Directed by Yann Demange, White Boy Rick stars Richie Merritt in his film debut as Richard Wershe Jr., while Matthew McConaughey plays his father, Richard Wershe Sr., a small-time illegal gun dealer in 1980s-era Detroit. The criminal in this film is Richard Jr., who became an FBI confidential informant from ages 14 to 16, the youngest known in FBI history. He infiltrated a Detroit drug gang before the FBI stopped using him.

At 17, he was arrested in possession of cocaine in excess of eight kilograms and sentenced to life in prison under Michigan’s 650-Lifer Law. He ended up being paroled in 2017, and he was released on July 20, 2020, after roughly 32 years incarcerated. White Boy Rick tells the story of the FBI using him and then throwing him away, which led to him suing the FBI and the Detroit police department. White Boy Rick was only loosely based on the true story and had strong creative additions to the film.

Monster (2003): Aileen Wuornos

Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman) made her directorial debut with the 2003 serial killer movie Monster. This film tells the story of Aileen Wuornos, a woman who, between 1989 and 1990, shot, killed, and robbed seven male clients in Florida. She was sentenced to death for six murders (one body was never found) and was executed by lethal injection on October 9, 2002. Charlize Theron plays Wuornos in the movie, while Christina Ricci plays Selby Wall, a semi-fictionalized version of Wuornos’s real girlfriend, Tyria Moore.

Theron gained around 30 lbs, shaved her eyebrows, and wore prosthetic teeth, becoming almost unrecognizable in her role. This was enough to win Theron her first Oscar for Best Actress, with a performance that many people compared to Robert De Niro’s performance in Raging Bull. The film has the real murders, but it compresses the timeline and dramatizes the confession, while making Selby a little more naive than Moore was.

The Irishman (2019): Frank Sheeran

The Irishman was a mobster movie directed by Martin Scorsese for Netflix. This 2019 crime film is based on Charles Brandt’s 2004 book I Heard You Paint Houses. It stars Robert De Niro as Frank Sheeran, Al Pacino as Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa, and Joe Pesci as crime boss Russell Bufalino. The main character here is Sheeran, a World War II combat veteran turned labor official and mob enforcer, who was convicted of labor racketeering in 1980. He served 13 years of a 32-year sentence.

However, there were some major complaints about the accuracy of the story. Sheeran’s deathbed claim that he killed Hoffa in 1975 is rejected by most historians. No physical evidence linked him, while blood at the scene did not match Hoffa’s DNA. Several people have claimed to have killed Hoffa since his disappearance.

Catch Me If You Can (2002): Frank Abagnale

Catch Me if You Can is a Steven Spielberg movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio as con artist Frank Abagnale Jr. In his memoir, which Spielberg based the movie on, Abagnale claimed that he impersonated a Pan Am and TWA pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer, cashing 17,000+ forged checks totaling around $2.5 million from the ages of 16 to 21. Tom Hanks plays Carl Hanratty, a fictionalized FBI agent chasing Abagnale down.

In reality, Hanratty was a fictional composite of real agents. Interestingly, Alan C. Logan’s 2020 book The Greatest Hoax on Earth argues that most of Abagnale’s story is fabricated. The book claims that the years-long pilot con was really only a few weeks, and documented records show a 1965 check-theft conviction and later car-theft imprisonment were all that this criminal faced.

American Gangster (2007): Frank Lucas

Directed by Ridley Scott, American Gangster stars Denzel Washington as Frank Lucas, a Harlem heroin kingpin, while Russell Crowe appears as the detective Richie Roberts, who is trying to bring Lucas down. In real life, Lucas built a Harlem heroin empire after mentor Bumpy Johnson’s death by sourcing near-pure product from Southeast Asia’s Golden Triangle, branded Blue Magic. His 1975 arrest netted around $584,683 in cash.

Lucas was sentenced to 70 years, which was reduced after he agreed to be an informant. He was released around 1991. The movie was criticized because of claims Lucas made that have been called into question. Lucas’s boast that he smuggled heroin using dead soldiers’ coffins is widely disputed, and no evidence was found that it was true. Furthermore, former DEA agents sued Universal for their depiction, but the case was dismissed.

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013): Jordan Belfort

The Wolf of Wall Street is another crime movie that uses the memoir of the criminal it showcases. Martin Scorsese directs the movie, which tells the story of Jordan Belfort, a white-collar criminal played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Belfort’s firm, Stratton Oakmont, ran pump-and-dump schemes, manipulating shares of at least 34 companies and defrauding over 1,500 investors of around $200 million. He was indicted in 1999.

Belfort was sentenced in July 2003 to four years. He served around 22 months after a plea deal, at which time he became an FBI informant, wore a wire, and testified against his associates. He was also ordered to pay $110.4 million in restitution to 1,513 victims. As of 2018, prosecutors said he still owed around $97 million, with only close to $12.8 million reaching victims. The movie earned five Oscar nominations, although critics claimed it glorified the criminal rather than satirizing him.

Bonnie and Clyde (1967): Clyde Barrow And Bonnie Parker

Bonnie and Clyde was released in 1967 and tells the story of depression-era outlaws Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway play Bonnie and Clyde in this movie, which shows how the two bank-robbing murderers become cult heroes to people in small towns who felt held down and looked up to them. However, their gang was responsible for 13 deaths, including nine police officers.

Parker and Barrow led the Barrow Gang across the central U.S. from 1932 to 1934, and they were killed in a police ambush near Sailes, Louisiana, on May 23, 1934. The police officers fired around 130 rounds into their car. The movie was heavily fictionalized, since the two mostly robbed small stores and gas stations rather than banks. Texas Ranger Frank Hamer’s family sued the producers for defamation and settled out of court. However, the film earned 10 Oscar nominations, and it remains a foundational New Hollywood film.

Donnie Brasco (1997): Joseph Pistone

In 1997, Mike Newell directed Donnie Brasco, based on the 1988 nonfiction book by Joseph D. Pistone and Richard Woodley. Johnny Depp plays FBI agent Joseph D. Pistone, undercover as jewel thief Donnie Brasco. Al Pacino plays Bonanno soldier Benjamin “Lefty” Ruggiero, his mentor. The real story saw Pistone’s undercover work lead to over 200 indictments and over 100 convictions.

The movie did fictionalize much of the story, especially concerning Lefty Ruggiero. In the movie, he leaves at the end in a scene hinting that he is going to his own execution at the hands of the family. However, in real life, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison and then was released in 1993, after which he died of cancer. In real life, the mafia put a reported $500,000 contract on Pistone, who has lived under an assumed name since the operation.

GoodFellas (1990): Henry Hill

GoodFellas remains the crime drama that stands as one of the best of Martin Scorsese’s career. It is based on the 1985 Nicholas Pileggi nonfiction book Wiseguy, following real-life informer Henry Hill (Ray Liotta). Hill was a Lucchese crime family associate from 1955 until his 1980 narcotics arrest. At this time, he became an FBI informant whose testimony produced around 50 convictions. He entered Witness Protection but was later expelled in 1987.

The movie changed the names and ages of some of the real figures. The real Tommy DeSimone was around 28 when he was killed, while actor Joe Pesci was 46. The real Hill also was not an active participant in the 1978 Lufthansa heist, which Burke (Robert De Niro) orchestrated. The movie remains a huge success, with six Oscar nominations, and Pesci winning Best Supporting Actor. GoodFellas was added to the National Film Registry in 2000.