Kings of South Beach

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Kings of South Beach
Cover of the DVD
Directed by	Tim Hunter
Produced by	Nicholas Pileggi Kip Konwiser
Written by	Nicholas Pileggi
Starring	Jason Gedrick Donnie Wahlberg
Cinematography	Patrick Cady
Editing by	Sunny Hodge
Country
Language	English
Official website
IMDb profile

Kings of South Beach is a film about an infamous operator of nightclubs in the South Beach section of Miami Beach, Florida. The lead character is portrayed by Jason Gedrick and his best friend is portrayed by Donnie Wahlberg. The film premiered on March 12, 2007 on the A&E Network and is now available on DVD.

The film is based on the true life exploits of Chris Paciello, a transplanted New Yorker who escaped hard times and hard crimes back in his hometown where he was involved with the Mafia. He built an empire in South Beach of models, money and celebrity friends including Madonna.

After an intense undercover investigation reminiscent of Donnie Brasco, Paciello was finally arrested on racketeering and murder charges and went on to testify against known members and associates of the Colombo and Bonanno crime families.

The film was written by Nicholas Pileggi of GoodFellas and Casino fame.

Another film regarding the same subject, Unmade Man, is currently in production.

[edit] Reception

New York Post critic Linda Stasi rates Kings of South Beach as a "four star film" with a casting described as “perfect.” ^[1] Robert Bianco of USA Today describes "Gedrick and Wahlberg as absolutely first-rate, as these fine actors tend to be." ^[2] Scott Weinberg, DVD Talk-Review, disliked some “stereotypes” regarding true crime stories. ^[3]