Frank Lucas (drug lord)

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Frank Lucas
Lucas at the Big Apple Con, November 15, 2008.
Born September 9, 1930 (1930-09-09) (age 78)
La Grange, North Carolina
Charge(s) Drug dealing
Conviction(s) 1976; sentenced to 70 years[1] but released in 1981 upon serving 5 years.[2] Convicted again in 1984[2] released in 1991 after he served a term of seven years.[3]
Occupation Drug lord

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 who operated in Harlem during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was particularly known for cutting out middlemen in the drug trade and buying heroin directly from his source in the Golden Triangle. Lucas boasted that he smuggled heroin using the coffins of dead American servicemen,[6][7] but this claim is denied by his South Asian associate, Leslie "Ike" Atkinson.[8] His career was dramatized in the 2007 feature film American Gangster.

Contents

Early life

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 KKK, for apparently "reckless eyeballing" (looking at a Caucasian woman), in Greensboro, North Carolina.[6] He drifted through a life of petty crime until one particular occasion when he engaged in a fight with a former employer and, on advice of his mother, fled to New York.[6] In Harlem he indulged in petty crime and pool hustling before he was taken under the wing of gangster Bumpy Johnson.[6] His connection to Bumpy has come under some doubt, however. Lucas claimed to have been Johnson's driver for 15 years, although Johnson spent just 5 years out of prison before his death in 1968. And according to Johnson's widow, much of the narrative that Lucas claims actually belonged to another young hustler named Zach Walker, who lived with Bumpy and his family and later betrayed him.[9]

Criminal career

Lucas' January 1975 federal mug shot.

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 Stilwell, Oklahoma, 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. Lucas is quoted as saying, "Ike knew everyone over there, every black guy in the Army, from the cooks on up."[6]

When interviewed for a magazine article published in 2000, Lucas denied putting the drugs among the corpses of American soldiers. Instead he flew in a North Carolina carpenter to Bangkok and:

“ We did it, all right...ha, ha, ha... Who the hell is gonna look in a dead soldier's coffin? Ha ha ha. . . .We had him make up 28 copies of the government coffins . . . except we fixed them up with false bottoms, big enough to load up with six, maybe eight kilos . . . It had to be snug. You couldn't have shit sliding around. Ike was very smart, because he made sure we used heavy guys' coffins. He didn't put them in no skinny guy's . . ." ”
 
— Frank Lucas[6]

However, Atkinson, nicknamed "Sergeant Smack" by the DEA,[10] has said he shipped drugs in furniture, not caskets.[8] 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[11][citation needed] 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), (2,200 pounds), of dope on hand" with a potential profit of no less than $300,000 per kilo (per 2.2 lb).

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 several-thousand-acre ranch in North Carolina on which he ranged 300 head of Black Angus cows, including a breeding bull worth $125,000.[6]

Lucas rubbed shoulders with the elite in entertainment, politics, and crime, stating later that he had met Howard Hughes at one of Harlem's best clubs in his day.[6] Though he owned several mink and chinchilla coats and other accessories, Lucas much preferred to dress very casually and corporately so as to not attract attention to himself.[12] He fathered seven children, including a daughter, Francine Lucas-Sinclair, and a son, Frank Lucas, Jr.[13] When he was arrested in the mid-1970s, all of Lucas' assets were seized.[12]

“ The properties in Chicago, Detroit, Miami, North Carolina, Puerto Rico — they took everything. My lawyer told me they couldn't take the money in the offshore accounts, and I had all my money stored in the Cayman Islands. But that's BS; they can take it. Take my word for it. If you got something, hide it, 'cause they can go to any bank and take it. ”
 
— Frank Lucas [12]

Arrests and releases

In January 1975, 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)[14]. In his house authorities found $584,683.[14] 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, Lucas and his family were placed in the witness protection program.[10] In 1981, after 5 years in custody, 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.[3]

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 for which she paid $125,000 and another $40,000 cash for a matching hat.[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 reconciled in 2006, and have been married for over 40 years.[3]

Lucas has a total of seven children,[12] although only a 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 imprisoned parents.[10]

One of his sons, Frank Lucas Jr, is a hip hop artist who now with his father has launched the Frank Lucas brand.[15]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "U.S. Jury Convicts Heroin Informant" (HTML). The New York Times. August 25, 1984. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A04E7D71338F936A1575BC0A962948260. Retrieved on 2008-04-09. 
  2. ^ a b c "Drug Dealer Gets New Prison Term" (HTML). The New York Times. September 11, 1984. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C02E3D81038F932A2575AC0A962948260. Retrieved on 2008-04-09. 
  3. ^ a b c d e f Janelle Oswald (2007-12-09). "The Real American Gangster" (HTML). voice-online. http://www.voice-online.co.uk/content.php?show=12509. Retrieved on 2008-03-08. "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." 
  4. ^ "Frank Lucas Biography" (HTML). biography. 2007. http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=253710. Retrieved on 2008-02-24. 
  5. ^ "Frank Lucas, Between Issues" Metro Magazine, 8 November 2007.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "The Return of Superfly" New York Magazine, 14 August 2000.
  7. ^ http://www.chasingthefrog.com/reelfaces/americangangster.php
  8. ^ a b "Is 'American Gangster' really all that 'true'?" (HTML). CNN. January 22, 2008 -- Updated 1856 GMT. http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/22/film.american.gangster.ap/index.html?iref=mpstoryview. Retrieved on 2008-02-24. 
  9. ^ Mayme Hatcher Johnson. Harlem Godfather: The Rap on my Husband, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson (when ed.). Oshun Publishing Company, Inc.; First edition (February 29, 2008). p. 248. ISBN 0967602831. Pg 159, 221.
  10. ^ a b c Clarence Walker (11/5/2007). "American Gangster Myth: What's the Real Story Behind Hollywood's Portrayal of Harlem Drug Kingpin Frank Lucas?" (HTML). New Criminologist Journalist, Houston Texas. http://newcriminologist.com/article.asp?nid=2000. Retrieved on 2008-02-24. "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." 
  11. ^ http://nymag.com/guides/money/2007/39948/
  12. ^ a b c d Jayson Rodriguez (November 6 2007 6:58 PM EST). "Real 'American Gangster' Frank Lucas Talks About Hanging With Diddy's Dad, Possible Sequel" (HTML). MTV. http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1573648/20071106/story.jhtml. Retrieved on 2008-02-24. 
  13. ^ "BREAKFAST WITH THE REAL 'AMERICAN GANGSTER'," MSNBC
  14. ^ a b Ron Chepesiuk and Anthony Gonzalez (2007). "The Raid in Teaneck" (HTML). pub. http://www.crimemagazine.com/07/teaneck_raid,1014-7.htm. Retrieved on 2008-02-24. 
  15. ^ Kevin Clark (November 6th, 2007). "Frank Lucas, Jr.: Son Of An American Gangster" (HTML). hiphopdx.com. http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/lifestyle-features/id.917/title.frank-lucas-jr-son-of-an-american-gangster/p.2. Retrieved on 2008-02-24. 

External links

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