Is ‘The Rip’ Based On A True Story? Inside The Real Case That Inspired The Film

Netflix’s new crime thriller The Rip is now streaming, with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck starring as two Miami cops who stumble upon a massive stash of cash at a cartel house. The film is inspired by an actual incident involving the Miami-Dade Police Department, but how much of it is true?

In The Rip, Lieutenant Dane Dumars (Damon) and Detective Sergeant J.D. Byrne (Affleck), members of the Tactical Narcotics Team (TNT), come across $20 million in cartel money in a derelict stash house. Under Miami law, they are required to count it before leaving the premises.

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The cops and their team have only a limited amount of time to count the money before the dangerous men who stashed it there return to claim it. As they count the cash, trust within the squad begins to fracture. “They have to count the money not knowing necessarily who to trust, including one another,” writer-director Joe Carnahan told Netflix’s Tudum.

The cast includes Damon, Affleck, Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Sasha Calle, Néstor Carbonell, Lina Esco, Scott Adkins and Kyle Chandler.

Is The Rip Based On A True Story?

Yes, The Rip is based on the true story of Chris Casiano, a real Miami cop who discovered a massive sum of money stashed in a house while serving as head of the Miami-Dade Police Department’s Tactical Narcotics Team.

The cash was hidden in containers inside the walls “that they sledgehammered out,” Carnahan explained to Gold Derby, adding that — just like in the film — there was also a dog outside barking and going nuts. “I just thought that was really wild. I had never experienced a cop story like that.”

Casiano was a close friend of Carnahan and his experience inspired the director to create the movie. “The Rip came out of a deeply personal experience that my friend went through, both as a father and as head of tactical narcotics for the Miami Dade police department,” Carnahan explained to Netflix.

Carnahan added that he was also inspired by classic 1970s cop thrillers “that really valued the character and interpersonal relationships and became touchstones of that era — films like Serpico and Prince of The City and more recently, Michael Mann’s Heat,” he told Tudum.

Who Was Jake William Casiano?

In The Rip, Damon’s character, who is loosely based on Casiano, is grieving the loss of his 10-year-old son, Jake, to cancer. This storyline is inspired by Casiano’s real-life son, Jake William Casiano, who died of leukemia in 2021. The film is dedicated to Jake.

Carnahan opened up to Decider about how he approached telling such a deeply personal story.

“He [Casiano] lost his son, unfortunately, very tragically, to cancer at 11. [The movie] was me trying to conceive something that would help my friend deal with grief—the crushing, agonizing, sadness that that would bring,” he explained.

“It’s a parent’s worst nightmare. Nobody wants to outlive their child. I can’t think of a worse fate. [This was] a clumsy way of trying to give him something. Through art, we could build a memorial, a monument, to Jake and his time here—his short, 11-year life.”

Carnahan told Gold Derby that when he showed Casiano the film before its release, they both became emotional, calling the experience “cathartic and amazing.”

“It was really important to me that [Jake] be the first name you see, because you understood that there was a beating heart at the center.”

What Is Fictionalized In The Rip?

While the basic concept of The Rip — officers finding millions in cartel money and being required to count it — is true, most of what unfolds in the film, including the corruption, dirty cops, and the confrontation over the money, is not.

Although Carnahan confirmed that the dirty-cop storyline was made up, he noted that “all that stuff about counting [the money] on the seizure, on scene,” is absolutely true. In the real situation, he revealed, it took 42 hours to count the cash.

“You’re required to count it twice, actually, by hand. The real rip—Sasha’s character [Desi, played by Sasha Calle], in real life, that was an older man,” he explained. “At some point they sat this guy down to start counting. [Laughs.] They had to get the guy that owned the place also counting! If you’re off by a dollar, Internal Affairs gets involved. This is a very real thing.”

Carnahan added that his responsibility was to “take the elements of it that I thought were cinematic and parse through it.” Since they couldn’t make a 42-hour film, “certain things were expedited, certain things were snipped, and so on,” he said.

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Warning: Spoiler for the ending of The Rip below.

Was The Amount of Money Casiano Found the Same As In The Rip?

By the end of The Rip, the final tally comes out to $20,650,480 — the same amount Chris Casiano discovered in real life.

“They’re watching this counter, it hits a number, the final tally. Chris removes a business card and shows it to the DEA guy, it’s the same number, which I thought was lovely,” Carnahan added. “There’s not enough stories like that, where they do the right thing.”

The Rip is streaming on Netflix. Watch the official trailer below.