Frank Lucas (gangster)

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Frank Lucas (police photo, 1975)

Frank Lucas (born September 9, 1930 in La Grange , Lenoir County , North Carolina ; † May 30, 2019 in Cedar Grove , New Jersey ) was a gang boss and drug dealer who was one of the most influential in the late 1960s and early 1970s Belonged to drug dealers in New York City . He was best known for the "Cadaver Connection", in which heroin was allegedly smuggled in soldiers' coffins from Vietnam to the USA over several years .

Life

Lucas was born on September 9, 1930 to Mahalee (née Jones) and Fred Lucas in La Grange (North Carolina) and grew up in poor conditions in Greensboro .

Lucas himself stated that his motivation for a criminal life was the murder of his twelve-year-old cousin Obadiah when he was abducted from Lucas' house by the Ku Klux Klan , handcuffed to a tree and shot in the head with a shotgun. From now on his life led him into petty crime. At the age of 18, he escaped to New York City to avoid jail after knocking his employer unconscious and stealing $ 400 after an argument.

In Harlem , Lucas initially worked as a jewel and car thief and traded in small amounts of heroin , which he added to milk sugar to increase his profit. Lucas later bought large amounts of heroin from the Italian Mafia in New York City and was now generating tens of thousands of dollars a day. At the time, Lucas shot and killed a rival and highly feared drug dealer named Tango on a crowded Harlem sidewalk. Tango owed Lucas money and failed to honor his debt, and instead insulted him. In the mid-1960s, Lucas came under the wing of gang boss Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson , who rose to become the "Godfather of Harlem" until he died in 1968.

After Johnson's death, Lucas began making plans to break the Italian Mafia's monopoly in New York in order to be more successful. He immediately revolutionized drug trafficking in New York City by purchasing heroin not from the usual mafia middlemen, but directly from producers in Southeast Asia from the Golden Triangle and smuggling it from Vietnam into the United States through army contacts . One of his most important contacts in Asia was Leslie "Ike" Atkinson , a former US soldier who ran a bar in Bangkok , was in touch with local drug producers in the Golden Triangle and organized drug smuggling out of Vietnam. Atkinson was also married to a cousin of Lucas. While Lucas previously had to pay the Italian mafia several 10,000 US dollars per kilo, he now received this at a price of 4,500 US dollars with a purity of 98 percent, which he then blends with 60 percent mannitol and 40 percent quinine in five different drug stores let. This resulted in a product that, unlike the competition's typically 1 to 5 percent, was 10 percent pure when it was sold on the street under the name Blue Magic . By the late 1960s, Lucas was one of the largest drug traffickers in Harlem, employing hundreds of people and making up to $ 1,000,000 a week. That huge profit margin allowed him to buy real estate across the country, including office buildings in Detroit , apartments in Chicago , Los Angeles , Miami , Puerto Rico, and a ranch in North Carolina. He bribed a large number of corrupt officials in order to be able to go about his business without great pressure to search. Lucas only trusted relatives and close friends from North Carolina, as he held the thesis that people from the country are less greedy than people from the big city, which is why he has various relatives, including his five younger brothers Ezell, Vernon Lee, John Paul, Larry and Leevan Lucas, involved in his heroin operations. These organized family members later became known as "Country Boys" .

In January 1975, Lucas and his wife, Julianna "Julie" Farrait-Rodriguez (née Farrait) were identified as an informant during a raid on his home in Teaneck , New Jersey, over the investigation of Police Officer Richie Roberts and the support of a cousin of Lucas' , arrested. Authorities found $ 584,683 in cash at his home. A short time later, the "Country Boys" were arrested in an apartment when they found freshly delivered heroin. A year later, in 1976, Lucas was sentenced to a 30-year state prison term for violating the New Jersey State Narcotics Act, after having received a 40-year prison sentence, and the government confiscated all of his assets. After he was sentenced, he cooperated with the authorities. Based on his information, numerous other drug traffickers, middlemen and minor criminals in the drug milieu, as well as corrupt officials, could be charged. His sentence was then reduced to 15 years and eventually suspended for life. For his safety, Lucas and his family were accepted into the witness protection program. Lucas himself denied until his death that he had betrayed anyone but corrupt police officers and that his sentence had only been reduced by an additional 20 years by an appeal court ruling. Lucas' wife spent six months in jail for throwing suitcases containing tens of thousands of dollars out of the bathroom window during the raid. She then returned to her native Puerto Rico, where she raised their daughter Francine Lucas-Sinclair with her parents.

Lucas was released in 1981 and moved his family back to New Jersey to live with Lucas' parents a few months later. Together with his wife, he was sentenced to imprisonment in 1984 for another drug offense and for violating probation conditions. His wife received a 4-year sentence, Lucas received a 7-year sentence, and he was released from the Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York City prison in 1991 . In this case, he was represented by Richie Roberts, who is now active as a criminal defense attorney, with whom he also developed a friendly relationship.

Frank Lucas at Big Apple Comic Con (2008)

Lucas was given a 5-year suspended sentence in 2012, aged 81, after pleading guilty to defrauding the US Treasury Department of $ 17,345 in connection with federal aid in 2009 .

Trivia

Lucas was best known for the so-called " Cadaver Connection ", in which, according to the media, heroin was smuggled in soldiers' coffins from Vietnam into the USA for several years. Lucas himself denied the allegation of hiding drugs under the bodies of American soldiers, stating that they were all copies of soldiers' coffins with false floors. His Southeast Asian contact, Lesley "Ike" Atkinson, claimed that he used teak furniture and military luggage to carry the heroin. Lucas' nephew Leon "Pop" Lassiter, however, claimed that Atkinson even had kilos of heroin placed in the corpses of soldiers and that they were later opened in morgues and funeral homes.

Lucas stated that he employed 10 to 12 naked women to cut the drugs so that no one could secretly steal anything.

At the height of his criminal career, Lucas is believed to have had total assets of approximately $ 52 million, with most of the money being held in banks in the Cayman Islands .

Contrary to belief that Lucas' wife was a former Miss Puerto Rico winner, sources confirmed that his wife's maiden name, Julie Farrait, was not on Miss Puerto Rico's winners list.

Lucas knew various celebrities and was friends with the heavyweight champion Joe Louis , who was also present at the trials against Lucas.

As an adult, Lucas' daughter Francine founded a web-based organization called yellow brick roads , which is dedicated to supporting and advising children with imprisoned parents.

In 2005, Lucas was involved in a car accident and broke his leg. As a result, he had to rely on a wheelchair for a long period of time, in which he was often seen at public appearances.

In 2007, Lucas met his former gangster competitor Leroy Barnes , who had also become a star witness, for an interview with New York Magazine .

Films and documentaries

  • His life is the subject of the 2007 film American Gangster , in which he is played by Denzel Washington . Frank Lucas himself stood by the film team in an advisory capacity.
  • In the first episode of the first season of American documentary series Gangland - Original November 1, 2007 - will be (next to the Council of Leroy Barnes treated) Frank Lucas.
  • The third episode of the Netflix crime documentary series Drug Lords features Frank Lucas and his organization known as The Country Boys .

literature

  • Frank Lucas: Original Gangster: My Life as NYC's Biggest Baddest Drugs Baron . Random House, 2012, ISBN 978-1-4481-1629-4
  • Ron Chepesiuk: American Gangster Revisited: The True Story of Frank Lucas . Strategic Media Books, 2014, ISBN 978-1-939521-13-2

Web links

Commons : Frank Lucas  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. a b What Happened to Frank Lucas? Where is Frank Lucas Now? Is He Still Alive? . In: earnthenecklace.com . July 30, 2017. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
  2. a b c d 20 Facts About Frank Lucas That Will Blow Your Socks Off . In: therichest.com . December 4, 2015. Accessed October 21, 2018.
  3. a b c My Dad, the Drug Lord . In: glamour.com . September 30, 2007. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
  4. a b c d The Return of Superfly . In: nymag.com . August 14, 2000. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
  5. ^ A b Newark’s 'American Gangster' Frank Lucas gets probation for stealing over $ 17K from federal government . In: nj.com . July 27, 2012. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
  6. Frank Lucas: Lessons learned from the real 'American Gangster' . In: rollingout.com . July 26, 2016. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
  7. Lords of Dopetown . In: nymag.com . October 26, 2007. Retrieved October 21, 2018.