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Film lovers across the country are familiar with “Paid in Full,” a classic 2002 crime drama about three young men who become Harlem drug kingpins. But most aren’t aware of the tragic true story that inspired the movie.

Syracuse University professor J. Christopher Hamilton III and his team, which also included SU students and alumni, set out to reclaim the movie’s narrative with a new documentary series centered on the people whose lives were dramatized in the film.

“The documentary is about surfacing the true events and having those accounts provided from people that lived them,” Hamilton said. “What really happened, who did it happen to, why did it happen? Not the social media banter and conspiracy theories or the scuttlebutt rumor.”

The project began less than two years ago, when author Ms. Tee approached Hamilton about adapting her memoir “Harlem Heroin(e): My Love Affair With Harlem Street Life And The Men Who Ruled It.”

Ms. Tee has connections to a network of legendary Harlem figures including Azie Faison, Rich Porter and Alpo Martinez, whose lives were depicted in “Paid in Full.” The project, co-produced by Hamilton and Ms. Tee, quickly evolved into a broader investigation of the true stories behind the film.

Faison, Porter and Martinez became three of Harlem’s most infamous drug dealers of the 1980s. But a series of brutal attacks at the end of the decade tore their empire apart. After a home invasion left Faison seriously injured in 1987, the trio lost their grip on the business. Tensions rose between the three men for years until Martinez murdered Porter, his friend and close associate, over a drug-related dispute in 1990.

Martinez was eventually charged with fourteen counts of murder, including Porter’s, and given a reduced sentence of 35 years in federal prison in exchange for his testimony against former associates. He was released into the Witness Protection Program in 2015, and lived under an assumed identity for several years.

Last October, Martinez was shot and killed in Harlem, reportedly as part of a feud over his reckless motorcycle driving habits. He had played an active role in the documentary’s production before his death, and had even participated in several interviews with Hamilton.

“It is a shame that his life was taken, because he’ll never be able to really provide perspective on his growth from who he was then to who he is now — because to people he’ll be known as the man he was when he was in the streets,” Hamilton said. “But I guess that’s just the reality of war, you know?”

Students who participated in a Newhouse summer immersion experience with Lionsgate Studios helped to shoot a press kit for the documentary series.

Senior Sophia D’Ambrozio, who participated in the program, reflected on the value of the experience she gained on the project and the skills she acquired for her career.

“It really helped me learn more about a camera compared to when I took my intro camera classes at Syracuse, because I took those when it was the middle of a pandemic,” D’Ambrozio said. “So it was kind of hard to get that hands-on interaction through a Zoom camera.”

Shikhar Kapadia, another senior who helped with the documentary, said he looked up to Hamilton, and appreciated the opportunity to work with him.

“Hamilton really opened himself up to (the idea of) ‘oh, I really want you guys to have some creative control here and give me some thoughts, ideas, and collaborate with me,’” Kapadia said.

Dylon Goris, who earned his master’s degree from SU last year, screenwriter and Hamilton’s former student, has also worked on the project for the past year. Goris said collaborating so closely with his professor and mentor in the early stages of his career has been a rewarding experience.

“That’s a really exciting thing, to be partnered with somebody in this venture who has years of experience and connections and can guide me, and has become so invested in my professional growth,” Goris said. “I’m honored to have met him when I did.”

Hamilton, Tee and Goris’ plans don’t end with the documentary series. They have plans to develop the story into a multimedia series, which will include both documentary and scripted content following a variety of prominent Harlem figures.

“When you sit down and you talk to these people, a movie is forming in your head while the words are coming out of their mouth,” Goris said. “Their memory of the events are so vivid, the stakes are so high, the action is so intense that anybody would listen to this and say this is something that needs to be seen.”

Published on October 4, 2022 at 10:19 pm