FBI Snitch Who Brought Down Global Drug Cartel Threatens Mark Wahlberg to Correct ‘Slanderous’ Claims In New Docu-Series

FBI informant RJ Cipriani is threatening legal action against actor/producer Mark Wahlberg over an upcoming Amazon Sports documentary series about Owen Hanson, a former USC football player convicted of drug trafficking and money laundering.

A professional gambler, Cipriani claims the documentary — based on Hanson’s book “The California Kid” — might misrepresent his role in the case. In 2015, he was initially recruited by Hanson to launder money but later became a key witness for federal authorities, helping expose Hanson’s criminal network.

Cipriani, 63, has vowed to pursue legal action if the film inaccurately depicts his involvement.

In an interview with The U.S. Sun, he stated he would take “every legal remedy at my disposal to clear my good name.”

He further stated he would have no problem suing Wahlberg, his Unrealistic Ideas production company, and Amazon Studios to protect his reputation.

“I wouldn’t buy the book no matter what, but friends have sent me excerpts that, once I read them, are defamatory and slanderous toward my involvement with Owen Hanson,” Cipriani said.

He added, “Wahlberg and Unrealistic Ideas are now put on notice. … If the docuseries paints me in any way as being knowingly complicit with Owen Hanson and his crimes, then do so at your own legal peril.”

The untitled documentary series is slated for release at the beginning of 2025. Cipriani says he needs to contact the actor and executives at Amazon before it streams. He also says that none of his calls to them has been returned over the past few months.

The gambler says he was once in contact with Wahlberg about the project, recalling that the producer had approached him about appearing in the series.

Cipriani turned him down, saying he had other plans. While speaking to Deadline in 2023, Cipriani talked about his decision to turn the “Boogie Nights” star down.

“As great a docuseries that this will be,” he said, “Unfortunately, I can’t participate without an executive producer credit and fee, and I’m already partnered with my dream collaborator Sony Pictures Television and Nic Stoller and company to propel this story as a scripted series instead of a docuseries.”

Wahlberg announced he was producing the story about the athlete-turned-kingpin in 2023, noting that Jody McVeigh-Schultz would be the director of the project.

Their goal is to share how Hanson built a violent drug empire starting while in college and how he expanded across the U.S., South America, and Australia through illegal gambling, money laundering, and narcotics trafficking.

A major part of the story was his federal indictment and his being sentenced to over 21 years in prison. In addition to his incarceration, Hanson was also ordered to forfeit $5 million in assets, including luxury vehicles, real estate, and gold coins.

The FBI worked with New South Wales Police to dismantle his operation, arresting over 21 of Hanson’s associates. Cipriani, aka Robin Hood 702, one associate who cooperated with the authorities, had lost $2.5 million laundering Hanson’s money during the height of his empire.

When Hanson found out that Cipriani was talking to law enforcement, he retaliated with death threats and defaced his former friend’s late mother’s headstone.

Hanson, who will be getting out of a halfway house on June 26, 2025, released his book about his experience in 2019.

Hanson’s book tells a different story than Cipriani has shared, so both documentary projects are likely to have different slants.

That’s at the crux of the hustler’s beef with Wahlberg’s series and will be at the root of any lawsuit that might come up.

“Pray it up, Marky Mark!” Cipriani joked in the interview about the journey ahead.

“Mark, understand this,” he said, while issuing a warning, “I go after bad guys no matter who they are. … I’m the real-life superhero that you always pretend to be in your dumb, fake-ass movies. Remember, I’m Jackpot. Govern yourselves accordingly.”

Wahlberg has not responded publicly to the threat.