Gather round, children, it’s time to learn an important lesson. If you’re committing a crime, make sure you don’t leave behind any clues referencing popular movies. Case in point, a package containing cocaine-filled coffee beans was recently intercepted in Italy, and this came about because the main villain from John Wick: Chapter 2 was mentioned.
According to Euronews, approximately 500 coffee beans were cut open, filled with cocaine and then were tightly closed with dark brown tape. The package containing these illicit beans might have reached its intended recipient had it not been for the name on the package. Police became suspicious when seeing that the recipient was identified as Santino D’Antonio, the man responsible for most of the trouble Keanu Reeves’ character faces in John Wick: Chapter 2.
The two kilogram package containing 150 grams of cocaine within those 500 or so coffee beans had been mailed from Medellín, Colombia and made it to Milan's Malpensa airport, but was was intercepted from there. With the package being addressed to a tobacco shop in Florence, police followed it to its final destination and proceeded to arrest the 50-year-old man who collected the drugged-up bundle. This operation was dubbed “Caffe' Scorretto” (translation: Improper Coffee), a play on the Italian drink Caffe’ corretto.
So the criminals and the police in this story have something in common: they’re all John Wick fans. Alas, for those on the unlawful side of this caper, mentioning Santino D’Antonio proved to be their undoing. It just goes to show that if you’re mailing cocaine-filled coffee beans, or any illegal materials at all, don’t name the recipient after a movie character, particularly someone from one of the most popular action franchises in recent years. Just come up with a pseudonym on your own.
For those who need a refresher on John Wick: Chapter 2, after seizing back his stolen car at the beginning of the movie and dropping it off with Aurelio to be fixed, Keanu Reeves’ John was approached by Riccardo Scamarcio’s Santino D’Antonio, who helped John accomplish his “impossible task” all those years ago and was back to demand the assassin repay his debt. John initially refused, leading Santino to destroy his house.
Despite John Wick begrudgingly agreeing to carry out Santino D’Antonio’s request, the crime lord nonetheless betrayed the assassin by attempting to have the assassin killed after the mission was over tie up loose ends. All this ultimately culminated in John shooting Santino in the head on Continental grounds, which is a big no-no in the assassin community. As punishment for his offense, John was declared excommunicado and the contract on his head was doubled to $14 million by The High Table, leading the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum to unfold.
Since launching in 2014, the John Wick franchise has been a critical and commercial powerhouse, with last year’s John Wick 3 ranking at 90% among professional critics on Rotten Tomatoes and raking in over $326 million worldwide off a $75 million budget. In addition to John Wick: Chapter 4 coming down the pipeline, the spinoff Ballerina and the TV series The Continental are also in the works to flesh out this world of colorful criminals.
John Wick: Chapter 4 hits theaters on May 27, 2022, so keep checking back with CinemaBlend for updates on how that project is coming along. Keep track of the movies that are supposed to arrive much sooner with our 2020 release schedule.
