The Real "American Gangster"

 The Real American Gangster

Frank Lucas

Biography

Frank Lucas (born September 9, 1930[4] in La Grange, North Carolina and raised in Greensboro, North Carolina[5]) is a former heroin dealer, and organized crime boss in Harlem from 1969-1975. He was particularly known for cutting out middlemen in the drug trade and buying heroin directly from his source in the Golden Triangle. Frank Lucas is popularly known for smuggling heroin using the coffins of dead American servicemen,[6] a claim his Southeast Asian associate Leslie "Ike" Atkinson denies.

Criminal Career

After Johnson's death, Lucas traveled around and came to the realization that to be successful he would have to break the monopoly that the Italian mafia held in New York. Traveling to Southeast Asia, he eventually made his way to Jack's American Star Bar, an R&R hangout for black soldiers.^[6] It was here that he met former U.S. Army sergeant Leslie "Ike" Atkinson, a country boy from Goldsboro, North Carolina, who happened to be married to one of Lucas' cousins, which made him as good as family. Lucas is quoted as saying, "Ike knew everyone over there, every black guy in the Army from the cooks on up".^[6]

Lucas denies putting the drugs among the corpses of American soldiers. Instead he flew in a North Carolina carpenter to Bangkok and:

However Atkinson, nicknamed "Sergeant Smack" by the DEA,^[9] has said he shipped drugs in furniture, not caskets.^[7] Whatever method he used, Lucas smuggled the drugs into the country with this direct link from Asia. Lucas said that he made US$1 million per day selling drugs on 116th Street.^[6] Federal judge Sterling Johnson, who was special narcotics prosecutor in New York at the time of Lucas' crimes, called Lucas' operation "one of the most outrageous international dope-smuggling gangs ever, an innovator who got his own connections outside the U.S. and then sold the narcotics himself in the street." He had connections with the Sicilian and Mexican mobs, holding an enormous monopoly on the heroin market in Manhattan. In an interview, Lucas said, "I wanted to be rich. I wanted to be Donald Trump rich, and so help me God, I made it."^[6]

Lucas only trusted relatives and close friends from North Carolina to handle his various heroin operations.^[6] Lucas thought they were less likely to steal from him and be tempted by various vices in the big city. His heroin "Blue Magic" was 100% pure when shipped from Thailand and sold at 100% purity on the street.^[4] Lucas has been quoted as saying that his worth was "something like $52 million", most of it in Cayman Islands banks. Added to this is "maybe 1,000 keys (kilograms - 2.2046 pounds) of dope on hand" with a potential profit of no less than $300,000 per kilo.

This huge profit margin allowed him to buy property all over the country, including office buildings in Detroit and apartments in Los Angeles and Miami. He also bought a ranch of several thousand acres in North Carolina on which he ranged 300 Black Angus cows including a breeding bull worth $125,000.^[6]

Lucas rubbed shoulders with the elite in entertainment, politics, and crime, meeting Howard Hughes at one of Harlem's best clubs in his day.^[6] Though he owned several mink and chinchilla coats and other accessories, Frank Lucas much preferred to dress very casually and corporately as to not attract attention to himself.^[10] He fathered seven children, including a daughter, Francine Lucas-Sinclair, and a son, Frank Lucas, Jr.^[11] When he was arrested in the mid 1970s all of Lucas' assets were seized.^[10]

Arrested and Release

In January 1975, Frank Lucas' house in Teaneck, New Jersey was raided by a task force consisting of 10 agents from Group 22 of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and 10 New York Police Department detectives attached to the Organized Crime Control Bureau (OCCB)^[12]. In his house authorities found $584,683.^[12] He was later convicted of both federal and New Jersey state drug violations. The following year he was sentenced to 70 years in prison.^[1] Once convicted, Lucas provided evidence that led to more than 100 further drug-related convictions. For his safety in 1977, Frank Lucas and his family were placed in the witness protection program.^[9] In 1981, after 5 years in prison, his 40-year Federal term and 30-year state term were reduced to time served plus lifetime parole.^[1] In 1984 he was caught and convicted of trying to exchange one ounce of heroin and $13,000 for one kilogram of cocaine.^[2] He was defended by his former prosecutor Richie Roberts and received a sentence of seven years. He was released from prison in 1991

After Prison

Around 2005 Frank was involved in a car accident that broke his leg in two places. "I'll be up out of this doggone wheelchair, I guess, in about a month. I'll be glad to get rid of it because I'm tired of this wheelchair."

Family

Lucas married Julie, a homecoming queen from Puerto Rico (not Miss Puerto Rico as portrayed in the movie American Gangster). The two often bought expensive gifts for each other including a coat she'd paid $125,000 for and a matching hat for $40,000.^[3] Julie was also jailed for her role in her husband's criminal enterprise, spending five years behind bars.^[3] After she came out of prison they lived separately for some years and Julie moved back to Puerto Rico. However they got back together in 2006, and have been married for over 40 years.^[3]

Lucas has a total of seven children^[10] although only daughter Francine with Julie.^[3] Francine entered the witness protection program with Lucas in 1977 and has since started up a webpage Yellowbrickroads with resources for the children of incarcerated parents.^[9]

One of his sons (Frank Lucas Jr) is a hip hop artist who now with his father has launched the Frank Lucas brand.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lucas_(drug_lord)
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The Cop who Caught Mr. Frank Lucas

Richie Roberts

Biography

Richard M. "Richie" Roberts (born June 23, 1941) is a former New Jersey police detective and defense attorney. He is most widely recognized for the arrest, prosecution and later defense of Harlem drug lord Frank Lucas.

Career

Roberts is a Bronx native but was raised in Newark, New Jersey. He attended Weequahic High School in Newark, New Jersey, Upsala College in East Orange, New Jersey and later graduated from Seton Hall Law School. Roberts also served in the United States Marine Corps. Roberts eventually became an Essex County Assistant Prosecutor, heading the Bureau of Narcotics after passing the New Jersey Bar Examination. He is portrayed by Russell Crowe in the film American Gangster (2007) as the detective who brings down Harlem drug lord Frank Lucas. After working as a prosecutor, Roberts became a criminal defense attorney, and still works as one today. Ironically, the first person he defended was Lucas, for the same crime for which he prosecuted him.