Despite Queenpins coming out in 2021, the film is seeing a wave of positive attention after arriving on Netflix. Viewers who are seeing the movie for the first time have found themselves intrigued by the true story, but what happened to Connie and JoJo?
If you haven’t seen it, Queenpins is inspired by a real-life coupon counterfeiting scam. Whilst the story in the movie did happen, some parts were changed or exaggerated to make the flick more entertaining.
First of all the names were changed, in the film we follow the story of Connie Kaminski (Kristen Bell) and JoJo Johnson (Kirby Howell-Baptiste), two friends from Arizona who start selling fake coupons causing corporations to lose millions whilst making themselves rich. In real life, the gang consisted of Robyn Ramirez (the ring leader), Marilyn Johnson, and Amiko Fountain.
Without overtly spoiling the end (just in case you wanted to watch it) their story ends in pretty much the same way as their real-life counterparts. Although only Ramirez served any jail time, and she served a bit more than Kristen Bell’s character in the movie, she was sentenced to two years. All three were ordered to pay back $1.3 million in restitution.
So where are the real Queenpins now?
More than ten years after their crimes you’d expect all three to be living pretty normal lives by now. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple, whilst Ramirez did her time in jail she’s not exactly out of the woods yet. Around about the time Queenpins initially came out in theaters it was reported that she was still paying off her share of the $1.3 million that the trio had been ordered to reimburse the companies.
What’s worse is that according to reports, Ramirez is struggling to keep up with her repayments, falling $4000 short which resulted in her probation being extended by 5 years. Currently, she’s paying $300 a month but even so, it would take her over 100 years to pay back everything.
Ramirez’s partners in crime were also still paying back monthly at the time of the movies’ release, and before you ask, no, none of the women will receive any kind of payment from the film’s success due to Arizona laws. In addition, the fact that enough details like names were changed means that the filmmakers wouldn’t be obligated to pay any kind of royalties to the people who inspired it.
So that’s a pretty depressing turn of events for the real Queenpins, I guess the lesson here is that crime doesn’t pay. Whilst not a great deal is known about the three women’s lives now it seems like their movie counterparts got a way happier ending than they did.
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