Employees of the catering service for Antoine Fuqua‘s Equalizer 3 are in boiling water after being raided by Italian paramilitary police in search of illegal activity. According to reports, the Italian paramilitary outfit arrested two catering service members after seizing 120 grams of cocaine on Tuesday.
The Italian newspaper Il Giornale says Carabinieri officers burst into hotel rooms in Maiori’s oceanside resort, located along the Amalfi coast. Police organized the raid after the film’s catering service leader died of a sudden heart attack on Monday evening. Officers discovered several packages of cocaine in the caterer’s clothing, pointing toward a more significant problem on the set. After confiscating 120 grams of cocaine, two catering service members were arrested for alleged drug charges. A third member was detained and arrested, though they only had a small amount of the drug on their person at the time of the arrest.
Leaving no stone unturned, officers searched a nearby Maiori port where production for Equalizer 3 is taking place. Equalizer 3 hails from Sony Pictures and has a script by Richard Wenk. Todd Black of Escape Artists, Jason Blumenthal, and Steve Tisch produce alongside Washington and Fuqua.
Everyone is keeping the plot of The Equalizer 3 under wraps, though we know it will feature the return of Denzel Washington‘s Robert McCall. The original film, released in 2014, focuses on a man who believes he’s put the past behind him but can’t stand by when he meets a young girl under the control of ultra-violent Russian gangsters. A sequel was released in 2018, featuring McCall going on a rampage to serve unflinching justice for someone he loves.
The Equalizer earned $194 million at the box office in 2014, while The Equalizer 2 grossed $190 million worldwide. The Equalizer 3 is aiming for a release date of September 1, 2023. There’s no telling how these arrests will affect production, so keep your eyes peeled for updates.