Frank Lucas (criminal)
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Frank Lucas was a heroin dealer in Harlem in the early 1970s. He claims to have grossed $1 million a day selling drugs on 116th Street.[1] Federal judge Sterling Johnson, who was special narcotics prosecutor in New York at the time of Lucas's crimes, called Lucas's operation "one of the most outrageous international dope-smuggling gangs ever . . . an innovator who got his own connection outside the U.S. and then sold the stuff himself in the street."[1]
He is particularly remembered for the "Cadaver Connection," in which the coffins of dead American servicemen being returned from Vietnam would also include a dozen or so kilos of 98% pure heroin.
In 1976, Lucas was convicted of both federal and (New Jersey) state drug violations, and sentenced to 70 years in prison. The next year he began giving evidence that led to the convictions of more than 100 other drug criminals, and in 1981 he was released from jail for his cooperation. Two years later he was arrested once again and charged with conspiring to distribute heroin. In 1984 he was found guilty of the new charge and sentenced to seven years in prison.[2][3]
A film called American Gangster, based on Lucas' exploits, is due for release in 2007.
[edit] References
- ^ a b "The Return of Superfly,"New York Magazine, August 14, 2000
- ^ U.S. Jury Convicts Heroin Informant, The New York Times, August 25, 1984
- ^ Drug Dealer Gets New Prison Term, The New York Times, September 11, 1984
