According to local media, Italian paramilitary police raided hotel rooms used by employees of a catering company at The Equalizer 3 on the Amalfi Coast and arrested two caterers after they seized more than 100 grams of cocaine on Tuesday.
Italian newspaper Il Giornale reported that Carabinieri cops broke into hotel rooms used by the Equalizer 3 caterers in the seaside resort of Maiori after the head of the film’s catering service died suddenly of a heart attack on Monday night. Several small packets of cocaine were then found in the man’s clothing, raising suspicions that other drugs may be on the production site.
The police search turned up 120 grams of cocaine and resulted in two other members of the film’s catering provider being placed under house arrest for alleged drug dealing at the hotel. A third employee of the catering company was found in possession of a small amount of cocaine and had his driver’s license revoked.
In addition to the hotel, police searched an area of the small port of Maiori where the film’s production was encamped, the newspaper reported.
Equalizer 3 – which Sony Pictures is collaborating with Italian company Eagle Pictures – is currently in its fourth week of shooting on the Amalfi Coast, with Maite Bulgari’s local team Garbo Produzioni handling the film’s physical production. The picture took advantage of Italy’s generous production incentives through Garbo.
A Garbo Produzioni representative said Wednesday the company had no comment.
Directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by Richard Wenk, Equalizer 3 stars Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning nearly 20 years after starring in Man on Fire. Italian Gaia Scodellaro (“You Me and the Apocalypse”) also stars. Plot details are being kept under wraps and the film will be released on September 1, 2023. Producers are Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Washington, Antoine Fuqua, Clayton Townsend, Alex Siskin, Steve Tisch, Tony Eldridge and Michael Sloan.