Real American Gangster talks reform

Frank Lucas spoke Saturday at the Nation of Islam's annual Saviours' Day convention in suburban Chicago and said the key to reforming his life was education. The session was called "Redefining the American Gangster." His career was dramatized in the 2007 feature film American Gangster. Lucas's character is portrayed by Denzel Washington.

Photo by Luigi Novi

Frank Lucas 2008

Numerous sessions deal with reform, which is a cornerstone in the Chicago-based movement. The Black Nationalism movement has a long history of working with prison inmates. Recently it's increasingly looking to non-Muslims like Lucas for help.

Frank Lucas is a former heroin dealer and organized crime boss who operated in Harlem during the late 1960s and early 70s. He was known for cutting out middlemen in the drug trade and buying heroin directly from his source in Thailand. Early on he came to the realization that to be successful he would have to break the monopoly the Italian mafia held in New York.Lucas said that he made 1 million dollars a day selling drugs on 116th Street. The huge profits allowed him to buy property all over the country, including Detroit, Los Angeles and Miami.

In January 1975, Lucas' home in New Jersey was raided by a task force consisting of agents from the DEA and New York Police Detectives attached to the Organized Crime Control Bureau. In his house authorities found $584,683. He was later convicted of both federal and New Jersey state drug violations.

Frank Lucas 1975  Mug Shot

The following year he was sentenced to 70 years in prison and once convicted, provided evidence that led to more than 100 drug-related convictions. For his safety in 1977, Lucas and his family were placed in the witness protection program. 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.

“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.”

When arrested in the mid-1970s, all of Lucas' assets were seized.

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