Judge dismisses American Gangster lawsuit

A federal judge has dismissed a $US55 million ($NZ70.51m) lawsuit filed by former Drug Enforcement Administration agents against the movie studio that made American Gangster, but said the film got its facts wrong at the end.

Former DEA agents Louis Diaz, Gregory Korniloff and Jack Toal last month sued NBC Universal, owned by General Electric , for falsely claiming the movie was based on a true story and harming the agents' reputations.

The film, which grossed more then $US127 million, showed events surrounding former Harlem heroin kingpin Frank Lucas, portrayed by Denzel Washington and New Jersey Detective Richard Roberts, depicted by Russell Crowe.

The lawsuit said the movie falsely claimed in text at the end that a collaboration between Lucas and Roberts "led to the convictions of three-quarters of New York City's Drug Enforcement Agency" agents between 1973 and 1985.

US District Judge Colleen McMahon dismissed the suit in a ruling issued Thursday, saying the movie failed to "show a single person who is identifiable as a DEA agent," and therefore failed to meet defamation law standards.

But she noted the text at the end of the film was wrong and Lucas' co-operation did not lead to those convictions.

"To put it bluntly ... the 'legend' that appears at the end of the film is wholly inaccurate," she wrote in her ruling. "It would behoove a major corporation like Universal (which is owned by a major news organisation, NBC) not to put inaccurate statements at the end of popular films."

A spokesman for NBC Universal was not immediately available for comment.

- Reuters