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Movie hard man Ben Affleck is to be more or less knighted by Boston Police for single-handedly reducing crime rates during filming for his bank heist flick The Town.
The local authorities are set to honour Affleck for employing Boston’s top criminals as consultants on the movie. Cops were shocked at the side effects, as the city’s crime rate plummmeted for three months.
One Boston Top Cop said: “We’d love the opportunity to present Ben with a token of our appreciation and treat him to an official dinner ceremony with the force.”
“He became a one-man crime-stopper when he reached out to speak to some of our better known ‘faces’. Serious robberies and even homicides were down after they agreed to help him.”
Ben, 38, picked up an oscar for Good Will Hunting, which he co-wrote with his best friend Matt Damon and now he is back in the director’s seat.
The Boiler Room star revealed how he recruited Boston’s gangsters on the web, saying: “I Googled various robberies in a number of Boston neighbourhoods, got a bunch of names, then figured out on the internet where they were living or which prison they were in.”
“Then, I swear to God, I just cold-called, like a salesman, in the hope one or more might spare me some time. Almost all of them agreed.”
An insider on set said: “There were some scary-looking dudes walking around most days but it turned out they were as fascinated by us as we were by them. They were as good as gold.”
“It never really dawned on us that, with some of the biggest Boston villains helping us, it was bound to be peaceful on the streets. We had police advisers too and they were very impressed with the way Ben handled both sides.”