(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) Baltimore Democrat Mayor Brandon Scott has watched the crime rate soar in his city and the product of his leftist policies was on full display when gang thugs halted production of an Apple TV+ miniseries.
A pair of mostly-peaceful, gun-toting gangbangers last week tried to extort the production crew of Lady in the Lake with threats of violence unless they paid a $50,000 protection fee, according to Deadline.
Police reports and a statement from the production company said the film crew was menaced by two individuals who said they would shoot the place up if filming hadn’t stopped by the time they returned. The fate could be avoided if the production company gave them $50,000, reported the Baltimore Banner.
“So although Apple thought they would be producing a show about an unsolved murder set in the 1960s what they ended up getting was a reboot of The Wire but in real-time,” cracked Dlisted.
“Friday afternoon, on the Baltimore set of our production Lady in the Lake, prior to the arrival of the cast and crew, per their call time, a driver on our production crew was confronted by two men, one of whom brandished a gun directed at our driver, and then they fled the location,” a statement from Endeavor Content informed.
While nothing became of the extortion threat, production of the show was halted as Baltimore police investigated the incident.
“‘Lady in the Lake’ production crew seems to be packing it up and heading to a different location,” reported Fox Baltimore’s Mikenzie Frost. “Security guards are standing on various corners in the area.”
The gangster-style shakedown came as no surprise to locals.
“Baltimore is now a mob controlled city. It’s not just the politicians, now!” declared one tweet.
I wonder if the production crew went through the shakedown of the squeegee boys on their was to the recording area? They could have had a lot of footage of the local culture in action in the extortion trade, all protected by order of Mayor Scott.
— Digital Dan (@Digital_Dan9) August 29, 2022
“The safety and security of our crew, cast and all who work across our productions is our highest priority, and we are thankful no one was injured,” Endeavor Content said.
“Production will resume with increased security measures going forward.”
Earlier this year, nearly 40 business owners threatened to stop paying taxes to fund Baltimore’s corrupt government, unless something was done about the skyrocketing crime rate and record number of homicides.
“What is happening in our front yard,” they wrote in a letter to the mayor, “the chaos and lawlessness that escalated this weekend into another night of tragic, unspeakable gun violence — has been going on for far too long.”
