"Cocaine Cowboys" Gets a Writer

Gonzo journalist-screenwriter Evan Wright (pictured) has signed on to write the feature Cocaine Cowboys for Paramount. And he certainly has the creds to do it.

Mark Wahlberg and Peter Berg have been attached to star in and direct, respectively. The story follows Jon Roberts, an injured Vietnam vet who by age 20 got involved in gangland takeovers of New York City nightclubs in the early ’70s. Maybe you’ve heard of his uncle, Carlo Gambino.

By the late 1970s, Roberts landed in Miami, dealt billions of dollars worth of coke for the Medellin drug cartel, and ultimately spent 10 years in prison.

Wright has already met with Roberts, now in his late 50s, and his partner Mickey Munday, in Florida. Wright was a Rolling Stone reporter embedded with the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion Marines for two months during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

He went on to co-write the HBO miniseries, Generation Kill, airing this month. He’s also adapting his March 2007 Vanity Fair article, Pat Dollard’s War on Hollywood, for Fox and Scott Free Prods.

Image: Picapp.com; Source: The Hollywood Reporter