The untold story of how a network of pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors, and retailers worked together to orchestrate and perpetuate the opioid crisis that has killed over half a million people in America. Here, we meet a criminal gang that diverted pills from the “opioid glut'' in Florida up to Boston, and how they were unwittingly working for the pharmaceutical distributors. In an ironic twist, these criminals, who served time in jail and accepted responsibility for their actions, seem far more remorseful about their role in the opioid crisis than the exceedingly well-paid CEOs of the companies that flooded the country with the pills.

Programmer Notes:

It plays like a thriller while being very informative and at times emotional. The scale of corporate greed and the lengths gone to for profit from opioids paint a damning portrait of for-profit medicine, doctors and the pharmaceutical industy that drives them. 

About the Director:

Producer and director Brendan FitzGerald is a 3-time Emmy award nominee known for his work with Vice, Netflix, HBO, and Viceland. Notable credits include executive producer for the Emmy Nominated show Gaycation and the HBO Special “A World in Disarray.” He was also an executive producer for Jim and Andy: The Great Beyond. The Oxy Kingpins is Brendan’s feature directorial debut.