Frank Lucas (drug lord)

Infobox Criminal
subject_name = Frank Lucas


image_size = 176px
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date_of_birth = birth date and age|1930|9|9
place_of_birth = La Grange, North Carolina
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alias =
charge = Drug Dealing
conviction = 1976; sentenced to 70 yearscite web |date=August 25, 1984|url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A04E7D71338F936A1575BC0A962948260|title = U.S. Jury Convicts Heroin Informant|format = HTML |publisher = The New York Times| accessdate = 2008-04-09 | last= |quote=] but released in 1981 upon serving 5 years.cite web |date=September 11, 1984|url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C02E3D81038F932A2575AC0A962948260|title = Drug Dealer Gets New Prison Term|format = HTML |publisher = The New York Times| accessdate = 2008-04-09 | last= |quote=] Convicted again in 1984 getting out in 1991 after he served a term of seven years.cite web |date=2007-12-09|url = http://www.voice-online.co.uk/content.php?show=12509|title = THE REAL AMERICAN GANGSTER|format = HTML |publisher = voice-online| accessdate = 2008-03-08 | last= Janelle Oswald|quote=She spent five years in prison for aiding her husband's narcotic smuggling trade. Having to get used to the public life again after living like a 'ghost' since her release, the making of her partner's life on the big screen has brought back many memories, some good and some bad.]
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Frank Lucas (born September 9, 1930cite web |year=2007 |url = http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=253710|title = Frank Lucas Biography|format = HTML |publisher = biography| accessdate = 2008-02-24 | last= |quote=] ) 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, [http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/people/features/3649/ "The Return of Superfly"] "New York Magazine", August 14, 2000.] a claim his Southeast Asian associate Leslie "Ike" Atkinson denies. cite web |date=2008-01-22 -- Updated 1856 GMT|url = http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/22/film.american.gangster.ap/index.html?iref=mpstoryview|title = Is 'American Gangster' really all that 'true'?|format = HTML |publisher = CNN| accessdate = 2008-02-24 | last= |quote=]

Early life

Lucas was born in La Grange, North Carolina and raised in Greensboro. [http://www.metronc.com/between_issues/ "Frank Lucas, Between Issues"] "Metro Magazine", November 8, 2007]

Lucas claims that the incident that sparked his motivation into the life of crime was witnessing his 12-year-old cousin's murder at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan for apparently looking at a white woman in Greensboro. He drifted through a life of petty crime until one particular occasion when he engaged in a fight with a former employer and, on the advice of his mother, fled to New York. In Harlem he indulged in petty crime and pool hustling before he was taken under the wing of gangster Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson. The details of his connection to Johnson have been called into question: Lucas claimed to have been Johnson's driver for 15 years, but Johnson spent only five years out of prison before his death in 1968; and according to Johnson's widow much of the narrative Lucas cites actually belongs to another young hustler named Drew "Roscoe Jones" Norris. [cite book | last = Mayme Hatcher Johnson| authorlink = Mayme Hatcher Johnson| title = Harlem Godfather: The Rap on my Husband, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson|edition= when |pages= 248 | publisher = Oshun Publishing Company, Inc.; First edition (February 29, 2008)| isbn= 0967602831

Pg 159, 221.]

Criminal career

After Johnson's death,Frank 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. It was here that he met former U.S. Army sergeant Leslie "Ike" Atkinson, 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".

Lucas denies putting the drugs among the corpses of American soldiers. He claims instead to have flown in a North Carolina carpenter to Bangkok and:

Atkinson, nicknamed "Sergeant Smack" by the DEA,cite web |date=11/5/2007|url = http://newcriminologist.com/article.asp?nid=2000|title = American Gangster Myth: What's the Real Story Behind Hollywood's Portrayal of Harlem Drug Kingpin Frank Lucas? |format = HTML |publisher = New Criminologist Journalist, Houston Texas| accessdate = 2008-02-24 | last=Clarence Walker |quote=Lucas' role as an informant was valuable enough to earn him a nice haven in the Federal Witness Protection Program. His Puerto Rican wife Julie, daughter Francine and a son were also placed in the witness protection program in 1977 after Lucas helped the law to convict other drug dealers.] has said he shipped drugs in furniture, not caskets. 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. Federal judge Sterling Johnson, who was special narcotics prosecutor in New York at the time, 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 Irish 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."

Lucas only trusted relatives and close friends from North Carolina to handle his various heroin operations. His heroin, sold under the street name "Blue Magic", was 100 percent pure when shipped from Thailand. 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.

Lucas rubbed shoulders with the elite in entertainment, politics, and crime, meeting Howard Hughes at one of Harlem's best clubs in his day. Though he owned several mink and chinchilla coats and other accessories, Lucas preferred to dress conservatively as to not attract attention to himself.cite web |date=2007-11-06PM EST|url=http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1573648/20071106/story.jhtml|title = Real 'American Gangster' Frank Lucas Talks About Hanging With Diddy's Dad, Possible Sequel|format = HTML |publisher = MTV| accessdate=2008-02-24| last=Jayson Rodriguez |quote=] He fathered seven children, including a daughter, Francine Lucas-Sinclair, and a son, Frank Lucas, Jr." [http://insidedateline.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/10/26/432807.aspx BREAKFAST WITH THE REAL 'AMERICAN GANGSTER'] ," "MSNBC"] When he was arrested in the mid-1970s, all of Lucas' assets were seized.

Arrests and releases

In January 1975, Frank Lucas' house in Teaneck, New Jersey was raided by a joint DEA/New York Police Department task force.cite web |year=2007 |url = http://www.crimemagazine.com/07/teaneck_raid,1014-7.htm|title = The Raid in Teaneck|format = HTML |publisher = pub| accessdate = 2008-02-24 | last=Ron Chepesiuk and Anthony Gonzalez |quote=] In his house authorities found $584,683. He was later convicted of both federal and New Jersey state drug violations. The following year he was sentenced to 70 years in prison. Once convicted, Lucas provided evidence that led to more than 100 further drug-related convictions. For his safety in 1977, Lucas and his family were placed in the witness protection program. In 1981, after five years in prison, his 40-year federal term and 30-year state term were reduced to time served plus lifetime parole. In 1984 he was caught and convicted of trying to exchange one ounce of heroin and $13,000 for one kilogram of cocaine. He was defended by his former prosecutor, Richie Roberts, and received a sentence of seven years. He was released from prison in 1991.

Family

Lucas married Julie, a homecoming queen from Puerto Rico. The two often bought expensive gifts for each other including a $125,000 coat and a matching hat for $40,000. Julie was also jailed for her role in her husband's criminal enterprise, spending five years behind bars. After she was released from prison they lived separately for some years, and she eventually moved back to Puerto Rico. They reconciled in 2006, and have been married for over 40 years.

Lucas has a total of seven children, although only one daughter, Francine, with Julie. She entered the witness protection program with Lucas in 1977 and has since begun a website, [http://www.yellowbrickroads.org Yellowbrickroads] , with resources for the children of incarcerated parents.

Lucas' son Frank Lucas Jr is a hip hop artist who, with his father, has launched the Frank Lucas brand.cite web |date=2007-11-06|url = http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/lifestyle-features/id.917/title.frank-lucas-jr-son-of-an-american-gangster/p.2|title = Frank Lucas, Jr.: Son Of An American Gangster|format = HTML |publisher = hiphopdx.com| accessdate = 2008-02-24 | llast= Kevin Clark|quote=]

Fictional portrayals

Lucas' criminal career was the real basis of Ridley Scott's 2007 film "American Gangster", which starred Denzel Washington as Lucas.

He was the basis for the main antagonist in Tom Clancy's Without Remorse

ee also

*Nicky Barnes
*Richie Roberts
*American Gangster -

References

External links

* [http://www.franklucas.us/bio.html Frank Lucas Foundation]
*cite book | last = Mayme Hatcher Johnson| authorlink = Mayme Hatcher Johnson| title = Harlem Godfather: The Rap on my Husband, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson|edition= when |pages= 248 | publisher = Oshun Publishing Company, Inc.; First edition (February 29, 2008)| isbn= 0967602831
* [http://insidedateline.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/10/26/432807.aspx Dateline NBC] Producer describes sitting down for breakfast with Frank Lucas
* [http://www.philly.com/dailynews/features/20071105_The_real_rap_on_Bumpy.html "The real rap on Bumpy"] , "Philadelphia Daily News", November 5, 2007
*Susannah Cahalan, [http://www.nypost.com/seven/11042007/news/nationalnews/ganging_up_on_movies_lies_8968.htm "Ganging up on movie's lies"] , "New York Post, November 4, 2007
* [http://crimemagazine.com/07/teaneck_raid,1014-7.htm The Raid in Teaneck] - prologue to "Superfly: The True Untold Story of Frank Lucas, American Gangster" by Ron Chepesiuk and Anthony Gonzalez
* [http://www.americangangster.net/ "American Gangster" movie site]
* [http://www.myspace.com/franklucasmusic Frank Lucas Jr. on Myspace]
* [http://boards.blackvoices.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=ti-entertainmnt&tid=214621 Frank Lucas' Daughter Speaks]
* [http://nymag.com/nymag/features/3649/ "New York Magazine" article]