As the final moments of the HBO Docuseries McMillions came to a close, the show pulled its own winning Monopoly piece out of the freezer by revealing the surprising identity of the informant who brought the entire scam crashing down.
Over six episodes the true crime series explored the insane true story of how a crooked marketing employee engineered a massive criminal conspiracy that defrauded McDonald’s out of $24 million and duped others into an intricate web of mafia ties and federal charges. The whole thing happened right under the fast food giant’s nose, and most of the culprits believe it would’ve carried on without a hitch if someone hadn’t placed an anonymous call to the FBI months before it became entangled in the War on Terror.
After throwing audiences a curve ball in the penultimate episode by accusing mobster Jerry Colombo‘s brother Frank of being the informant, the final episode dropped a bombshell by revealing the Colombos’ mother placed the call to the FBI. Following Jerry’s death in a suspicious car accident, his mother “Ma Colombo” wanted to maintain custody of her grandson Francesco, so she ratted out her daughter-in-law Robin, who was already in prison for theft and forgery, in the hopes of keeping her out of the picture. What Ma Colombo didn’t know was how far-reaching the Monopoly scheme went, and her anonymous tip ended up sparking a massive FBI investigation.
Discovering this never-before-seen detail was a huge boon for filmmakers James Lee Hernandez and Brian Lazarte who were actually following the case before The Daily Beast article became a viral hit and sent them in a panic that the docuseries would be derailed. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case, and in the course of filming, they literally had the informant’s identity dropped right in their laps. From a very enlightening interview at Vulture:
The finale delivers big! Frank and Heather tell us who the informant is, and it’s stunning. When in the process did you find out this information?
James Lee Hernandez: It was at the end. When we originally talked to them, they threw it out there. That’s in the show. We were at their house late at night, and Frank just throws out, “You know what you guys don’t have? You don’t know who the informant is.” So we’re like, “Do you know?” And he’s like, “Well, I gotta look into it. Talk to some people.”
Brian Lazarte: It came out of nowhere. We got invited to come back, and they just dropped it in the middle of the interview. Then moments later, Vinny, their son, shows up in a McDonald’s outfit. [Laughs.] There were many jaw-dropping moments, but this was definitely the biggest one. Like, holy shit, they just put that out there.
The reveal was even more explosive because, by that point in the episode, Ma Colombo and Robin were portrayed as very close despite the nasty custody battle over Francesco and the fact that Ma blamed Robin for Jerry’s death. However, Robin had always speculated that it was Ma who called the Feds, and Hernandez and Lazarte confirmed it to her off-camera. Turns out, Robin and Ma’s relationship isn’t all sunshine and kisses, according to Lazarte.
Their relationship is so interesting because today they’re actually quite close. They talk almost every day. We have also heard that it’s a little manic. One month they’re like BFFs and then they’re not talking to each other.
We’re guessing it’s going to be more of the latter now that their dirty laundry is available for streaming on HBO.
(Via Vulture)
