American Gangster: According to The Hollywood Reporter, Dania Ramirez, who starred in Spike Lee's She Hate Me and has a role in Ed Zwick's live-action Fat Albert for 20th Century Fox, is in negotiations for a coveted role in the Brian Grazer-produced American Gangster opposite Denzel Washington and Benicio Del Toro.

Antoine Fuqua is directing the Universal Pictures/Imagine Entertainment project, set to start shooting in the fall for release Nov. 4, 2005.

"Gangster," previously known as "Tru Blu," is based on a New York Magazine article by Mark Jacobson. Steve Zaillian adapted the work, which centers on real-life Harlem drug lord Frank Lucas (Washington), who rose to power in the early 1970s by smuggling heroin into the United States in the caskets of soldiers killed in Vietnam. After detective Richie Roberts (Del Toro) catches up with him, Lucas cooperates with drug enforcement officials and aids Roberts in a dragnet operation.

Ramirez would play a former Miss Puerto Rico who is the wife of Washington's character.

American Gangster was released November 2nd, 2007 and stars Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Josh Brolin, Lymari Nadal, Ted Levine, Roger Guenveur Smith, John Hawkes. The film is directed by Ridley Scott.