Is The Gangster The Cop The Devil Based On True Story -

In the pantheon of modern Korean cinema, few films blend brutal action with moral ambiguity as deftly as Lee Won-tae’s 2019 masterpiece, The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil (Korean title: Akinjeon). Starring the legendary Ma Dong-seok (also known as Don Lee) as a crime boss and Kim Moo-yul as a rogue detective, the film delivers a visceral cat-and-mouse game where the lines between law enforcement and organized crime vanish completely.

But after watching the film’s relentless violence and its central premise—a gangster and a cop forced to team up to catch a serial killer—viewers are left with a burning question: Is The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil based on a true story? is the gangster the cop the devil based on true story

The short answer is yes, but with significant dramatic license. While the characters are fictionalized and the plot amped up for cinematic thrills, the film’s core narrative engine—a serial killer who attacks a mob boss, leading to an unlikely alliance—is rooted in a bizarre and real criminal incident from the early 2000s. In the pantheon of modern Korean cinema, few

Let’s dive deep into the true story that inspired the film, the real-life “cop-gangster” alliance, and how Hollywood and Korea adapted the same legend. In the early 2000s, Seoul’s underground was ruled

| Element in Film | Based on Real Events? | |----------------|------------------------| | Serial killer stabbing random victims | Yes — patterned on Yoo Young-chul’s crimes | | Gangster survives attack | No confirmed real case | | Police-gangster alliance | No — pure fiction | | Specific killer’s methods (stabbing, calm demeanor) | Partially inspired by real killer profiles | | Final arrest via cooperation | Loosely inspired, but dramatized |

In the early 2000s, Seoul’s underground was ruled by organized crime factions. One particular mob boss, whose identity has been protected in official records (though local journalists nicknamed him "Mr. Kim"), was driving home late one night. Like in the film, he was rear-ended by another vehicle at a traffic stop.

Thinking it was a minor fender bender, the gangster got out of his luxury sedan to inspect the damage—and to intimidate the other driver. This was a fatal miscalculation. The driver of the other car was not a terrified citizen; he was a serial killer named Kang Ho-sung.