Must-see TV putting Jacksonville on center stage including many locals and shots of Downtown, the beaches, our marshes and the local FBI office on Gate Parkway:
McMillion$ is a global hit 6-part documentary series by HBO (available on select streaming services) featuring Jacksonville's "backwater" FBI office making the "big time" and local participants for about 50% of the air time in each episode. It's about the "almost got away with it" 1987-2001 theft and investigation of McDonald's high value Monopoly game tickets, including virtually all of its $1 million winners, which were then sold to a far flung complex web of "winners" including many in or from Jacksonville, its ultimate epicenter. Total ticket theft: $24 million.
The cast of characters begins with a starring local FBI agent who breaks all the stereotypes of a G-man to the point of disbelief that he actually is an FBI agent. Other characters include a member of the Colombo crime family who meets an untimely death and his take-no-BS chain smoking wife, an unreformed drug dealer, a surprise mystery informant not revealed until the very end, a hard charging local US attorney who takes no prisoners (better to say he doesn't allow anyone to avoid prison), a McDonald's corporation executive that works with an FBI undercover operation and a whole host of other characters that defy reality. Plus, no one can figure out how the theft took place despite tight security measures until the mysterious "Uncle Jerry" reveals it on the stand in the courtroom here in Jax.
The story is presented with a mix of humor and strong character building with the real life participants mostly telling the story in their own words. It also paints the impact of the scam on the lives of its participants and innocent victims.
The only reason some may not remember this national scandal is because the trial in Jacksonville began the day before 9/11. Recently, Ben Afflick and Matt Damon bought the movie rights so look for it in theaters one day.
https://www.hbo.com/mcmillions
https://www.npr.org/2020/02/04/802220592/crooks-go-all-out-to-take-home-the-grand-fries-in-mcmillionshttps://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/feb/03/mcmillions-bizarre-story-how-one-man-stole-24m-mcdonalds-hbohttps://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/mcmillions/s01Spoiler alert here!
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2020-03-09/mcmillions-hbo-informant-finale-recapAnd, spoiler alert here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/03/arts/television/mcmillions-hbo-explained.html
