'Weymouth has never seen anyone like me': Series about cocaine smuggler George Jung debuts

George Jung, the drug smuggler immortalized by Johnny Depp in “Blow,” left Weymouth for California in the late ’60s with pennies in his pocket, two cases of Budweiser in the backseat and his best pal riding shotgun.

Forty years – and four prison stints later – Jung returned to visit his boyhood home at   30 Abigail Adams Circle. He was unsure if neighbors would throw rocks or tell him to “politely leave town.”

Jung’s homecoming can be seen in the documentary “Boston George,” which charts his improbable journey from Patriot Ledger newsboy to Weymouth High football star to cocaine trafficker for Pablo Escobar’s Medellin Cartel.

Subtitled “Famous Without the Fortune,” the documentary’s first two episodes premiere Friday, July 22, on Fandor, with one episode per week each  successive Friday. Cinedigm will make each episode available on demand the next day.

“We covered every corner of his life,” said producer Georgette Angelos by phone Monday. “George is such a broad character that it is so hard to zero in what our direction was going to be, but it naturally fell into place.”

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The five-part series, directed by Clint Choate, looks back at Jung’s life with “no sugarcoating,” as Jung says in Episode 1 between puffs on his unfiltered Camels.

Acquaintances reunite with Jung, who filmed the series before he died May 5, 2021, at age 78. Among them is Depp, bestselling author Bruce Porter, girlfriend Ronda Clay Spinello and Weymouth friend Waino “Tuna” Tuominen (Ethan Suplee in “Blow”).

One episode is devoted to Jung’s 1985 arrest that resulted in a 15-year sentence. It was later reduced to four years after Jung agreed to to testify against his partner, Carlos Lehder. Former undercover DEA agents Tom Tinnerington and Mike McManus share a meal with Jung and relay how they pinched the smuggler in Fort Lauderdale with 660 pounds of pure Colombian cocaine. The bust was the culmination of the sting “Operation Blow.” Other episodes concentrate on Jung’s love affair with California, his South Shore upbringing, the operational side of drug smuggling, and his flashy lifestyle full of yachts and Hollywood parties when he was a 30-year-old kid with $100 million.

“There are many different sides of George,” Angelos said. “We wanted to get to know the man, the reasons behind what his motivations were, what drove him to lead the life that he did. And I was really interested in digging into his psyche and talking about his feelings and his mother, past lovers and all that stuff.”

As the documentary delves deeper, Jung’s revelations become increasingly candid:

“If I knew what I know today, I wouldn’t have moved a gram.” ... “I loved the game.”

His most haunting regret was not having a relationship with his daughter, Kristina.

“I was more in love with myself,” he says.

'A very charming outlaw'

Jung, aka “Boston George” and “El Americano,” enjoyed the enduring popularity of "Blow" and kept in touch with Depp ever since its debut in 2001. The documentary marks Depp’s first screen appearance since a jury ruled in his favor in his defamation trial against ex-wife, Amber Heard.

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On screen, Depp calls Jung a “pirate, not a criminal.” He describes him as “one of my favorite people instantly,” and as “a very charming outlaw.”

The producers said Depp’s involvement was the last piece of the puzzle for a  project that started in 2016.

“You add the name of Johnny Depp to anything and it makes the project bigger," said Angelos’ co-producer, Chris Chesson.

Angelos said reuniting Depp and Jung was “very serendipitous.” Depp’s band, Hollywood Vampires, was in Palm Springs for a gig and she sent a “heartfelt” email to his management team. She had no expectations of ever hearing back.  An hour later, they were setting up the reunion.

“I knew that George’s time was coming,” Angelos said. “His kind of last wish, if you will, was to see Johnny. He said to me, ‘Please, please, please try to get me and Johnny back together. I’d love to see him. It would make this whole project.’ ”

It all started in Weymouth

Jung was born Aug. 6, 1942, to Frederick and Ermine Jung. He spent his childhood on Abigail Adams Circle, which he revisits in the documentary. He also stops at the football field and remembers the “crazy days at Weymouth High” fueled by Budweiser and vodka.

Back then, Jung recalls, “We were all schemers.” 

“I get goosebumps even thinking about it,” Angelos said of filming Jung’s hometown visit. “George was so nervous before. He didn’t know how people were going to react.”

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In the second episode, featuring an interview with a Patriot Ledger reporter, Jung remembers “happy days” in Weymouth and describes himself as “a good all-American kid,” who played sports and helped put the shingles on his family’s Cape-style house.

“Weymouth has never seen anyone like me,” Jung says walking though his childhood home. Later, he adds, “I didn’t want to be a smuggler or desperado.”

And though they've “lived and breathed” George Jung since 2016, Angelos and Chesson are not yet done with him.

“We have close to 70 terabytes of film. That’s a lot of talking. We had to delete a lot of cool stuff, so the plan is to tell more with a podcast,” Chesson said.

Back in Weymouth, Angelos said everyone seemed “genuinely happy to see him. Weymouth was so good to him. He looked at me and Chris multiple times after that and said, ‘You guys just made my life complete. To them, I'm not Boston George, I’m just George.’”

While living on California’s Manhattan Beach, Jung began shipping high-grade pot to Massachusetts. Eventually, his prolific drug trafficking exploits – which he chalks up to the "Gods of Chaos"  – cost Jung more than two decades behind bars. He was released from prison for the final time on July 4, 2017. Angelos and Chesson were there with a camera.

Five years later, the documentary arrives on the heels of its own chaotic delays: a pandemic, another prison stretch (Jung went back behind bars shortly after production started in 2016 for a parole violation) and the high-profile Depp-Heard trial in April that stalled the release until the actor "was able to clear his name in the courtroom," Chesson said.

"Some people we talked to were scared to mention his (Depp's) name," Chesson said. "Now everybody loves him again."

A week after the jury ruled in Depp's favor, a press release was sent to announce the long-awaited series premiere.

"There were a few challenges," Chesson said, with a laugh, "What I like to call the 'George Curse.'"

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Reach Dana Barbuto at dbarbuto@patriotledger.com. 

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: 'Boston George' series about Weymouth drug smuggler George Jung debuts