Drama Series About Julio Estrada & Cuban Baseball Player-Smuggling Case In The Works

EXCLUSIVE: A drama series about one of the figures involved in a high-stakes operation to smuggle Cuban baseball players into the U.S. is in the works.

Julio Estrada is the figure in question. The baseball trainer was convicted of smuggling Cuban players into the U.S. to sign with Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. He would then take a cut of their lucrative contracts. Ballplayers mentioned in the case included then Texas Rangers outfielder Leonys Martin and Jose Abreu at the Chicago White Sox.

Estrada’s exclusive life rights have been taken by Naomi Harvey’s indie label Golden Possum. The as-yet-untitled series is in development, she told Deadline. It will dramatize Estrada’s rise and fall: from respected family man and youth trainer in Miami, to standing accused of being part of a scheme that reshaped how Cuban athletes enter the U.S. market.

Convicted on federal conspiracy and smuggling charges, Estrada was sentenced to five years in prison in 2017, alongside sports agent Bartolo Hernandez who was handed a four-year sentence. Now a free man, he has long maintained that he was made a scapegoat in the case.

“The U.S. government’s biggest lie was that our case was going to serve as a deterrent for future Cuban players, [but] more than 200 players have signed since,” Estrada said. “Nothing has changed. I never thought I’d be called a ‘trafficker’. For the first time, I want people to hear my side of the story.”

The life-rights deal gives Golden Possum exclusive access to Estrada and his archives and case materials. “Julio’s account takes us inside the secret world behind baseball’s bright lights — where cartels, hustlers, and billion-dollar franchises collided,” Harvey said. “It’s not just a sports story; it’s about loyalty, corruption, and the real price of the American Dream.”