Exclusive: Halo and Classified filmmaker Roel Reiné is set to direct American Smuggler, the upcoming action-drama starring 24, Major League and Far From Heaven actor Dennis Haysbert.

The film will chart the relentless hunt for Craig Petties, an American drug trafficker best known for the criminal empire he led in Memphis while operating in collaboration with Mexico’s infamous drug cartels. Haysbert will play a prominent CIA agent in the film. Filming is due to get underway this summer in New Mexico.

The project will hone in on the efforts of Seal Team Six, Delta Force and the Mexican Marines, who painstakingly dismantled an international drug network that plagued communities across North America for decades. The story also brings to light the lesser-known tragedy of children forced to labor in El Chapo’s infamous tunnels, often losing their lives in collapses. Petties was sentenced to life in prison in 2013 at age...