This is where the "true story" diverges and converges with the film. After the gangster boss survived the attack (he was critically wounded but lived, thanks to his heavy leather jacket and quick emergency response), he was furious. The police, at the time, had no idea that a serial killer was staging car accidents. They assumed these were isolated robberies gone wrong.
The central premise of the film hinges on the "devil" (the killer) attacking the "gangster" (Jang Dong-su), making it personal for the underworld boss. In the film:
If you want to know more about the real cases behind the film, let me know: Should we dive deeper into the case files? is the gangster the cop the devil based on true story
In the movie, the killer targets random motorists by staging minor fender-benders. Similarly, the real-life Yoo Young-chul committed a series of brutal murders between 2003 and 2004, often targeting those he perceived as vulnerable or "deserving" of his wrath. The Gangster Connection:
The film’s screenwriters have confirmed in multiple interviews that the inspiration came from a real event that occurred in . This is where the "true story" diverges and
While the skeleton of the story is real, the movie takes enormous creative liberties. Here is a breakdown of what is true and what is Hollywood (or Seoul) fiction.
A formal, handshake partnership between a top mafia don and a lead homicide detective is cinematic fiction. In real-life South Korean legal history, police officers utilized underworld informants to track suspects, but a public, cooperative hunt where a mob boss actively assisted in police investigations never occurred in this manner. Cinematic Realism: Capturing 2000s South Korea They assumed these were isolated robberies gone wrong
Released in 2019, this neo-noir action thriller captivated audiences with its "enemy of my enemy" premise: a high-ranking mob boss (Ma Dong-seok) teams up with a rogue detective (Kim Mu-yeol) to hunt down a nihilistic serial killer (Kim Sung-kyu).