Weymouth Native George Jung, Subject Of Johnny Depp Movie 'Blow,' Returns Home

WEYMOUTH, MA – George Jung, a former drug smuggler and key player in the cocaine trade of the '70s and '80s, returned to his native Weymouth last week to film parts of a documentary about his life called "Boston George." The now-75-year-old told the Patriot Ledger, which first reported on his homecoming, he was not sure what kind of welcoming he would receive and wondered if he would "get stoned, literally."

Jung was expecting animosity; it was anything but. In an interview with the Ledger, Jung said he received a warm welcome when he returned home for the first time in over three decades. This time, instead of federal agents, he had a film crew in tow.

Jung's rise and fall during the height of the international cocaine trade, as well as his relationship with the Medellin cartel, is solidified in pop culture lore. This is thanks in large part to Johnny Depp's portrayal of Jung as a slick, modern-day outlaw in the 2001 film "Blow."

According to the Boston Globe, Jung became a major player in the drug trade when he met Medellin kingpin Carlos Lehder Rivas in prison in the 1970s and began working with the cartel. The partnership ended in 1985, when Jung was arrested with 660 pounds of cocaine during a sting and flipped on Rivas in exchange for reduced time.

"Boston George," which takes its title from one of Jung's nicknames (he was also known as "El Americano"), will follow Jung from his Weymouth roots to his success as an international drug smuggler, a co-producer of the project told the Globe.

Photo: Jung (left) and Anthony Curcio, by Nish242 via Wikimedia Commons