Golden Possum seeking partners for true crime baseball drama

Golden Possum Productions has secured the exclusive life rights to Julio Estrada, the Cuban baseball trainer at the centre of one of Major League Baseball’s most explosive scandals.

Naomi Harvey

An-as-yet untitled scripted drama series is in the works based on Estrada’s story, detailing his rise and fall, from respected family man and youth trainer in Miami to accused kingpin in a scheme that reshaped how Cuban athletes entered the US market.

The deal gives Golden Possum exclusive access to Estrada, his archives, and case materials, along with court transcripts and first-hand accounts from those involved.

The multi-million-dollar corruption and human trafficking case has been described as one of the most talked about criminal cases in American sporting history.

Estrada and his partner Bart Hernandez stood accused of creating a smuggling pipeline that funnelled Cuban Baseball players into the US to sign with Major League Baseball (MLB), including the then Texas Rangers outfielder Leonys Martin and Chicago White Sox Jose Abreu.

Estrada was convicted in 2017 on federal conspiracy and smuggling charges after prosecutors revealed a vast network moving players out of the country and into multi-million-dollar contracts.

The case, exposed links between cartels, fraudulent paperwork and baseball insiders, was described by the Department of Justice as a “human trafficking pipeline disguised as player recruitment.” Estrada completed his sentence earlier this year.

Golden Possum, founded by executive producer Naomi Harvey, said it expects to package the project with a showrunner and studio partner in the coming months and described it as a “prestige drama in the tonal vein of Succession meets Better Call Saul.”