 This movie was based on the real life FBI sting operation in the  1980s to infiltrate the Boston mob teamsters. An FBI agent went  undercover as a movie studio executive and contracted  George Moffly (qv), an aspiring filmmaker, to create it.  Throughout the whole time George had no idea that he was making a  fake movie. The sting only captured a few minor Mob members. The  details of this unusual story can be found in a GQ article (March  2000).