One of Atlanta’s most notorious crimes – a robbery in which more than a million dollars was stolen – will soon be revisited by actors such as Kevin Hart, Don Cheadle, Samuel L. Jackson and Taraji P. Henson in Peacock’s Fight Night: The Million Dollar Robbery.
On the evening of October 26, 1970, dozens of wealthy boxing fans were invited to an after-party for the fight between Muhammad Ali and Jerry Quarry. However, when about 100 guests arrived, a team of six to eight men with sawed-off shotguns forced them into the basement of the house, ordered them to strip naked, and took their valuables. The New York Times reported. The robbers stole watches, rings, bracelets, necklaces, pins, earrings and cash, which they stuffed into pillowcases.
“I once said that if there is such a thing as a black mafia, the black mafia got robbed,” said Detective JD Hudson, played by Don Cheadle in the series. “If you start listing some of the names of the criminals in New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, Los Angeles and Chicago – these people got robbed. Their wives got robbed. I heard they were some of the best-dressed women you ever saw.”
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Read on to learn more about the true inspirations behind the characters.
Kevin Hart as Gordon “Chicken Man” Williams
Kevin Hart plays Gordon “Chicken Man” Williams, the main character of the series. Rumor has it that Williams was a crook and drug dealer who organized the after-party that was targeted by robbers and owned the house where the party was held.
Police initially believed that Williams had actually planned the robbery to pay off a large debt, so The New York Times.
“Chicken Man loves the streets because they feed him,” said executive producer Will Packer about the character Vanity Fair. “He’s a numbers guy, and to be good at that, you have to know people – be charismatic, be able to talk fast. So when he gets to a place where his life on the road and his life at home are completely at odds with each other, he’s forced to look unflinchingly at himself and his true self in the mirror. It’s tough.”
Hart described his character as challenging and emotionally unpredictable.
“You’re talking about a crook, you’re talking about a real entrepreneur – a guy who was chaotic to some extent but determined,” Hart said to Vanity Fair“He was a visionary. He saw that Atlanta was going to become so much more than Atlanta probably imagined.”
Taraji P. Henson as Vivian Thomas
Taraji P. Henson will play Vivian Thomas, Chicken Man’s right-hand woman and lover.
“The woman is paying attention, and what I love is that she is finally getting her power,” said Henson Vanity Fair of her character. “Every obstacle she encounters, she uses as an opportunity to learn something and as a stepping stone to the next point she wants to reach in life.”
Henson is known for her role as Cookie Lyon alongside Terrence Howard’s Lucious in the series Richwhich ran from 2015 to 2020. Henson’s portrayal of the tough matriarch of the Lyon family earned her an Emmy nomination.
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Samuel L. Jackson as Frank Moten
Among the powerful and prominent guests at the party who became victims were alleged members of the Black Mafia Family, including Frank Moten, known as “The Black Godfather.” He is played by Samuel L. Jackson, who has played similar characters in films such as Argyll, in the series. According to Yahoo, Moten was a powerful crime boss and rumored to be one of the leaders of the Council of Twelve, the bosses of the black underworld.
Jackson turned out to be the perfect person for the role of the mafia boss. He actually lived in Atlanta at the time of the robbery. Vanity Fair reported and even knew people who were involved in the robbery.
According to Yahoo, Chicken Man was so worried about Moten being a victim in his home and the consequences he might face that he reportedly flew to New York and proclaimed his innocence directly to Moten and the Council of Twelve.
Terrence Howard as Richard “Cadillac Richie” Wheeler
Samuel L. Jackson will work closely with Terrence Howard, who plays Richard “Cadillac Richie” Wheeler, a fellow gangster and member of the Council of Twelve.
On the Fight Night In a podcast, Wheeler was described as someone who “was involved in everything from numbers deals to drugs, but his crime of choice was armed robbery. He was simply known as the Robber.”
In real life, Terrence Howard is a family man. Rich The actor is the father of five children, Aubrey, Hunter, Heaven, Qirin and Hero, according to People.
Don Cheadle as J.D. Hudson
John Davis “JD” Hudson, the first black detective in the desegregated Atlanta Police Department, is played by the enigmatic Don Cheadle. According to the Fight Night PodcastHudson was directing security for the Ali fight when the robbery occurred and then became lead investigator in the brazen robbery case.
“It reads like something out of a storybook. So classic. You see things like this on TV or in movies,” Hudson said of the robbery in an article in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution Magazine in June 1971.
In an interview with the Atlanta History Center between 2005 and 2006, Hudson described how, as a black police officer, he was initially not allowed to arrest white people for any crimes and could only patrol black neighborhoods. His experiences are described in Fight Night.
“I want people to leave this event feeling like they got an authentic insight into the lives of black Americans in Atlanta in the 1970s,” Packer said in Vanity Fair.
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Marsha Stephanie Blake as Delores Hudson
Hudson’s wife, Delores, is played by Marsha Stephanie Blake. Delores was a teacher in Dekalb County Public Schools and later in Atlanta Public Schools. According to her obituary, she and her husband had two children together, John Tony and Renee.
Blake has starred in several shows over the years, including Orange is the new black and NBC’s this is usShe also appeared in The last days of Ptolemy Greywhich was produced by her co-star Samuel L. Jackson and his wife LaTanya Richardson.
Dexter Darden as Muhammad Ali
A key character in the series is the man himself: Muhammad Ali, played by Dexter Darden. Ali’s return to the ring after a three-year suspension saw him face Jack Quarry in Atlanta on October 26, 1970. The fight attracted worldwide attention and brought celebrities from all over the world to Atlanta, including Sidney Poitier, Arthur Ashe and Diana Ross.
Ali has been portrayed many times in film and television over the years, and now Darden, who is considered a rising talent in Hollywood, is getting his chance. Darden appeared in Peacock’s revival of Saved by the belland all three Maze Runner Films, after deadline.
Lori Harvey as Lola Falana
Singer and entertainer Lola Falana is played by Steve Harvey’s stepdaughter Lori Harvey. Falana was once the highest-paid woman to perform in Las Vegas, according to Latin American Magazine, and the Afro-Cuban star was known as the “Queen of Las Vegas” in the 1960s and 1970s. She appeared on the covers of magazines such as EBONY in July 1967 and even had her own show for a time.
Fight Night is one of Lori Harvey’s first television roles. Before becoming an actress and model, the actress competed in horse riding competitions, a hobby that allows her to combine fitness with her love of animals.
“My love for the sport just took over. I love horses. It literally took up all my time. I was there from the opening of the stable until it closed,” she said. Hectic in 2021.
Sinqua Walls as McKinley Rogers
Three men were eventually charged with the infamous Atlanta robbery, including McKinley Rogers, played by Sinqua Walls.
Walls has made a name for himself over the years by appearing in numerous shows, including Once upon a time, PerformanceAnd American Soul.
Watch Peacock’s limited series Fight Night: The Million Dollar Robbery Streaming on Peacock on September 5, 2024. New episodes are released every Thursday.