The Hollywood version of Miami’s infamous “Sun Gym Gang” is called “Pain & Gain,” which opens in theaters today, starring Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
It’s a dark comedy. But there’s absolutely nothing funny about the real story of torture and murder detailed tomorrow night on “48 Hours” in an episode called “Muscle and Mayhem” (10 p.m./Ch. 2).
“It’s the story of a really crazy group of muscleheads who believed they could kidnap wealthy people and . . . then kill them and live large and not get caught,” says “48 Hours” executive producer Susan Zirinsky.
“No one ever said they were intellectuals.”
The real gang of Adrian Doorbal, Daniel Lugo and Jorge Delgado were gym rats and thugs who hung out and worked out at Miami’s Sun Gym.
Deep in a steroids-fueled delusion, they devised a scheme to kidnap wealthy Miami businessman Mark Schiller (renamed Victor Kershaw in the movie and played by “Monk” star Tony Shalhoub).
It took six tries to grab Schiller, and when they finally succeeded, they tortured him with a Taser and a cigarette lighter for a month in a remote warehouse until he signed over his entire life (house, possessions, insurance policies).
Later, they targeted self-made Hungarian millionaire Frank Griga and his girlfriend, Krisztina Furton — killing them and chopping up their bodies.
“I think their steroid use gave way to a grasp of reality that wasn’t quite of this earth,” says Zirinsky.
The movie stars Wahlberg as Lugo and Anthony Mackie as Doorbal. Johnson plays fictional crew member Paul Doyle.
“Pain & Gain’s” comic elements have outraged the murder victims’ families — and the Florida cops who worked the case.
Among those interviewed on “48 Hours” is former Judge Alex Ferrer, now TV’s “Judge Alex” with his own afternoon court show.
Ferrer presided at the gang’s 1998 trial and sentenced Lugo and Doorbal to death. Both men are still on death row and were not interviewed by CBS.
“Hollywood very often takes real stories and is not obliged to follow the rules,” says Zirinsky, adding that “48 Hours” had no contact with corporate sibling Paramount, which produced “Pain & Gain.”
“But here’s the problem,” she says. “When people are still living and it’s a painful story . . . it’s different when Hollywood profits off making a dark comedy from that.”