Netflix Thriller The Rip Unveils Miami’s Hidden Millions

On a sultry June night in 2016, the quiet suburb of Miami Lakes, Florida, became the unlikely stage for one of the most astonishing police raids in recent memory. At the heart of it all was a palm-lined house on 169th Terrace, where Miami-Dade Police officer Chris Casiano and his narcotics team were about to make history. What they found—24 orange buckets filled with $100 bills, totaling a staggering $24 million—was the largest cash seizure ever recorded by the Miami-Dade Police Department. But the story, as it turns out, was just getting started.

This real-life drama has now found a second life on screen in The Rip, a Netflix crime thriller that premiered January 16, 2026. Starring Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor, Catalina Sandino Moreno, and Kyle Chandler, the film draws heavily from Casiano’s experience and the events that unfolded during that fateful raid. According to TIME, the movie is as much about the psychological toll of temptation as it is about the mechanics of a police operation: “It’s really about human beings. It’s about the connections between people: what your team means to you, what your friends mean to you, and what the people you love mean to you,” says writer-director Joe Carnahan.

The roots of the story stretch back years before that night. The Miami Lakes home belonged to Luis Hernandez-Gonzalez, who ran Blossom Experience, a North Miami gardening supply shop that, according to investigators, was a front for a sprawling marijuana trafficking operation. Law enforcement had been tracking Hernandez-Gonzalez for over a decade, using confidential sources, wiretaps, and cross-state surveillance. Despite several close calls—DEA agents heard him discussing marijuana sales as early as 2005, and a confidential source recorded him talking about cultivation in 2010—no charges stuck until 2016.

That year, a wiretap caught Hernandez-Gonzalez advising known traffickers on growing techniques. The investigation kicked into high gear, first targeting his business and then moving to his Miami Lakes residence. Outside the house, a cash-sniffing dog “alerted”—even urinating as a signal that large sums of currency were nearby. Officers’ instincts proved right: behind a false wall in the attic, they found the infamous buckets. Alongside them were labeled marijuana strains, anabolic steroids, and a loaded TEC-9 pistol.

Miami-Dade Police protocol required officers to count every dollar, by hand, twice—right there in the house. That meant Casiano and his team were effectively trapped inside for more than a day, exposed and vulnerable in a residential neighborhood, with millions in cash just feet away. Surveillance cameras recorded their every move. “That amount of money just does dark things to the soul,” Casiano later reflected, as reported by TIME.

The aftermath saw Hernandez-Gonzalez indicted on federal charges for financial crimes after investigators uncovered a pattern of structured bank deposits meant to evade detection. In 2018, he was sentenced to 65 months in prison. Yet, for Casiano, the experience left a mark that went far beyond the courtroom.

It was that psychological undercurrent—the pressure, the temptation, the test of character—that drew Joe Carnahan to the story. He first heard about it while working with Casiano on the set of Bad Boys for Life. The tale lingered, and eventually, Carnahan began to shape it into a screenplay. The project took on an even deeper resonance in 2021, after Casiano’s young son Jake died of cancer. Carnahan reworked the script to reflect this grief, giving Damon’s character, Lt. Dane Dumars, a similar personal loss. The film is dedicated to Jake, his name appearing first in the closing credits. Casiano, initially hesitant, was ultimately “blown away” by the script’s sensitivity.

Once the script was finished, things moved quickly. Carnahan pitched it to Dani Bernfeld, president of Artists Equity—the production company founded by Damon and Affleck. Within 48 hours, both stars were on board. As Carnahan put it, “It almost never happens like this where the stars align and the clouds part, and you have this kind of perfect opportunity.”

In adapting the true story, Carnahan made a few changes. The film’s cash haul was adjusted to $20 million, and the real-life trafficker, Hernandez-Gonzalez, became a young woman named Desi, portrayed by Sasha Calle. Yet, key details—like the false wall, the buckets, and the cash-sniffing canine—remained. Even the dog handler’s line, “There has to be a lot more money inside,” was lifted nearly word for word from the real event.

To prepare for their roles, Damon and Affleck immersed themselves in Miami-Dade police culture, shadowing officers and absorbing the nuances of high-stakes law enforcement. Damon rode along with the officer who inspired his character, learning about the pressures and routines of the job. Affleck’s research underscored the tight-knit, insular nature of police units. This authenticity informed their onscreen chemistry—a dynamic honed over decades as friends and collaborators. Damon plays Dumars, the newly promoted unit leader, while Affleck’s Det. Sgt. J.D. Byrne must navigate a shift in hierarchy and loyalty.

On set, Carnahan encouraged improvisation and authenticity. Sometimes, he would let the cameras roll between takes, allowing real Miami-Dade officers (cast as background players) to interact naturally with the main cast. One memorable moment saw a lengthy scene between Damon and Steven Yeun whittled down to just two words after a deep pre-shoot discussion—a testament to the cast’s commitment to realism.

But The Rip isn’t just a procedural. It’s a pressure cooker, using long stretches of waiting and counting to build tension. The film explores what happens when ordinary people are confronted with extraordinary temptation. As Carnahan observes, “You can see her seeing her children, and you see all these wonderful things that money can do.” The story’s core, however, is about what remains after the counting stops: the friendships, the codes of honor, and the choices that define who we are under pressure.

Despite its pedigree—Damon and Affleck’s star power, Carnahan’s direction, and a cast including Sasha Calle and Scott Adkins—The Rip arrived on Netflix with little fanfare. As one reviewer lamented, “The Rip is the best kind of spontaneous decision movie... but I hate it’s getting dumped on Netflix. In January. The nerve!” The film’s gritty, old-school tone and exploration of moral ambiguity have led some to call it a throwback to the mid-range thrillers that once filled theaters, now relegated to the streaming algorithm’s whims.

Still, for all its darkness and grit, The Rip offers more than just a heist. It’s a meditation on loss, loyalty, and the fragile boundaries between right and wrong. As Carnahan hopes, viewers might leave the film not just entertained, but thinking about the people they love, the choices they make, and the consequences that ripple outward from a single night’s decision. Sometimes, the biggest stories are the ones that ask what we’d do when nobody’s watching—and whether we could live with the answer.