Is The Gangster The Cop The Devil Based On True Story

Despite the fictionalization of the main characters, The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil maintains a high level of realism, which is why it feels like it’s straight from the headlines.

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The character of the gangster boss, Jang Dong-su (played by Ma Dong-seok), has . He is a wholly fictional creation designed to serve the film's central "enemy of my enemy" plot. There is no known record of a gangster being attacked by a serial killer, surviving, and then collaborating with the police. This character's function is to represent the "Gangster" as a form of "evil" that stands in contrast to and in competition with the "Devil" (the serial killer).

According to the filmmakers, the screenplay is loosely based on true crime, though specific details about the exact case were not officially provided. The film's opening text states that it is "based on true events," framing the story as a dramatization of actual murders from around 2005. Director Lee Won-tae used real-life events as a foundation, while also building out the fictional characters and central premise. is the gangster the cop the devil based on true story

The film tells the story of a notorious gangster named Kang (played by Choi Woo-shik), who kidnaps and tortures a detective named Kim (played by Lee Seung-gi) in an attempt to eliminate him. However, Kim's determination and cleverness help him survive the ordeal, and he eventually teams up with a prosecutor named Ha (played by Kim Jae-young) to take down Kang.

The story’s "truth-adjacent" grit was so compelling that it caught the attention of American producers. Sylvester Stallone’s production company, Balboa Productions, actually signed on for a Hollywood remake before the original was even out of theaters—with Don Lee (Ma Dong-seok) set to reprise his role as the gangster. Final Verdict

The film is set in , a year that mirrors the tail end of several notorious serial murder sprees in South Korea. Critics and viewers often point to the following real-life parallels: Despite the fictionalization of the main characters, The

The film utilizes rainy nights as a recurring backdrop for the murders, a trope heavily inspired by the real-life "Rainy Thursday Killer" (Lee Choon-jae), who terrorized the Hwaseong area in the late 1980s. Fact vs. Fiction

The investigation and turning point The turning point came when the detective secured testimony from a former lieutenant of the gangster—someone who had witnessed betrayals and feared for his life. That testimony, corroborated with financial records, wiretaps, and surveillance, exposed a series of crimes: extortion of small businesses, vote-buying schemes, and staged robberies used to intimidate rivals. Crucially, it revealed how payments moved through shell companies to officials. The detective coordinated a sting: simultaneous raids on properties tied to the network, seizures of ledgers and devices, and prearranged arrests to prevent suspects from warning one another.

While the film feels grounded and gritty, it is a work of fiction. Here is the breakdown of the film's origins and why it might seem realistic: He is a wholly fictional creation designed to

The core of the movie—a criminal teaming up with a cop—is the most dramatic, yet loosely inspired, aspect. The story explores the idea that in the face of absolute evil (the "Devil"), the "Gangster" and the "Cop" share a common interest in elimination.

The "Devil" in the movie is portrayed as a calculating, random killer who strikes without a clear motive or consistent victim profile, often staging scenes to look like traffic accidents. This randomness mimics the chilling tactics used by real-life South Korean serial killers who targeted vulnerable individuals in residential areas during that period. The Real-Life Connections