Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe's hit new movie American Gangster is at the center of a new legal row after upsetting a retired Drug Enforcement agent in New York.

The narcotics detectives are far from happy with the way they are depicted in the gritty new movie, which follows the fortunes of 1970s heroin kingpin Frank Lucas and the cops trying to bring him to justice.

And one of the police officers, who worked the Lucas case, is now threatening to sue movie studio bosses at Universal for what he claims are "false and defamatory statements."

Gregory Korniloff's attorney Dominic Amorosa has sent a cease and desist letter to the studio heads demanding a retraction of statements made in the film, according to TMZ.com. The letter alleges that several key facts in the movie are misleading.

Korniloff was the case agent for the DEA and "personally participated in the search of Lucas' house... and the arrest of Lucas."

(This news article provided by World Entertainment News Network)