It was in September, 2011 that we wrote about Storming Las Vegas in this column. For those who missed it the first time around, here's a recap, after which we'll give you the the update, such as it is.
The movie is based on a book of the same name (subtitled "How a Cuban-Born, Soviet-Trained Commando Took Down The Strip to the Tune of Five World Class Hotels, Three Armored Cars, and Millions of Dollars"), a real-life a heist thriller about mercenary-turned-casino robber Jose Vigoa, who masterminded a 16-month crime spree in Las Vegas during the 1990s and is currently serving a 500+-year sentence, without possibility of parole.
Described by then-Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger as "one of the most dangerous criminals in the history of Clark County," according to the book Vigoa was a Cuban-born, Soviet-trained commando (hence that subtitle), who fought in Angola and Afghanistan and was responsible, among many other crimes, for the robbery of armored cars at MGM Grand, Desert Inn, Mandalay Bay, Bellagio, and New York-New York, not to mention the murder of two security guards in a Henderson shopping mall during a robbery-gone-wrong, which was designed only to confuse the cops and throw them off Vigoa's scent.
We found an interesting account of his life prior to this period from a 2008 article on Bodog.com, where we learned that Vigoa fled Cuba during the Mariel boatlift and tried to make an honest living in Las Vegas, but found himself unable to support his family on casino wages. He first got busted for making cocaine deliveries, for which he served some time. When paroled, Vigoa claims his criminal record made it even harder for him to find gainful honest employment, and that's when he came up with the plan to target the Brink's trucks...
Unfortunately for him, Vigoa couldn't pull off his heists alone and was evidently unable to recruit any "quality" members for his crew: His team consisted instead of a band of "bumbling fools" whose errors included once leaving the getaway vehicle in "drive" (Vigoa saw the car rolling away and had to abort a robbery in progress), and on another occasion accidentally leaving $2 million of the booty behind during a heist. Although Vigoa himself is credited with being intelligent, and generally planned his crimes meticulously, even his own eventual undoing was due to a poor disguise that enabled Bellagio surveillance to capture some distinct images that facilitated his identification and subsequent arrest, following a 100 mph chase through the city.
The movie is based on the generally well-received 2008 account (we haven't read it) by former Miami Herald columnist John Huddy, who apparently received the cooperation not only of the prosecuting attorneys, but also of the incarcerated Jose Vigoa himself. With Lt. 23-year veteran Lt. John Alamshaw as the counterpoint to the villain, the story certainly has all the necessary ingredients -- "stakeouts, shootouts, car chases and a charismatic villain," as the New York Times put it -- for a screenplay. Hence, it was no surprise when, in the summer of 2011, news broke that Summit Entertainment -- a subsidiary of Lionsgate -- had picked up the movie rights.
According to the IMDb.com at the time, Storming Las Vegas was "in production," with a 2014 release date penciled. While no details of possible cast members were released, Training Day director Antoine Fuqua, whose name has also been linked to a possible Tupac Shakur biopic, was attached to the project early on as director and co-producer, along with Lorenzo di Bonaventura (G.I. Joe, Tranformers, Salt). In addition to those heavy hitters, Lionsgate production president Erik Feig, motion picture production and development president Mike Paseornek, and motion picture production and development Senior VP John Sacchi were apparently overseeing the project for Summit, so it definitely sounded like the studio was taking the project seriously.
Still, we'd heard nothing further about Storming Las Vegas until your question prompted us to revisit, so we did a little googling and learned that in the interim, a newbie writer from Quincy, Mass. has been picked to adapt the book for the big screen. A recent graduate from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, Chuck MacLean evidently was mentored by Steven Bochco ("NYPD Blue") and crime writer George Pelecanos, and earned his place on the team by writing a couple of well-received specs. Talk about a sweet first gig, if it happens.
That's all we found online in terms of new news, so we called the office of John Sacchi and spoke with a very helpful person, who informed us that the project is still "very much alive" but just currently on a back burner due to other commitments. A perusal of the Summit Entertainment and Lionsgate websites gives a good indication of just how busy both companies are, but he enthusiastically suggested we call back in a couple of months, when he was confident there would be some more concrete news. So, if you'd care to remind us down the line, we'll do just that and report back.
