Biography Of Frank Lucas 'Real American Gangster'

Frank Lucas The Real American Gangster

“Frank Lucas was born on September, 1930 in La Grange (Lenoir County), North Carolina, but raised in Greensboro, North Carolina (A&E). Frank Lucas was a country boy who grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina. Lucas grew up in rural North Carolina during the depths of the Great Depression. Many Americans in the rural South were poor at this time, but most African-Americans suffered the deepest poverty. Lucas spent much of his early youth looking after his younger siblings and getting into trouble. As the oldest boy in the family, Lucas had to find ways for the family to survive. With the Depression raging on, it was difficult to obtain and hold a job, so he resorted
In the ensuing fight, Lucas hit the father on the head with a pipe, knocking him out cold. He then stole $400 from the company till and set the establishment on fire. Fearing he would be arrested and jailed for much of his life, his mother pleaded with him to flee to New York. Frank Lucas arrived in Harlem in the summer of 1946. People told him to be smart and get a decent job as an elevator operator or door man at a hotel. But Lucas saw how real money was made on the streets, through illegal gambling and drugs.” (Frank Lucas me.) With each ensuing crime, he became more bold and ruthless. He first robbed a local bar at gunpoint. Then he stole a tray of diamonds from a jewelry store, breaking a guard 's jaw with a slug from his brass knuckles. Feeling confident, he brazenly broke into a high-stakes crap game at local club and robbed all the players. Then, in the summer of 1966, on a crowded sidewalk, Lucas shot a local thug who reneged on a dope deal. His efforts caught the eye of Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson, a long-time Harlem gangster who controlled gambling and extortion operations. Johnson was born in Charleston, South Carolina and moved to Harlem with his parents as a youth.
Frank Lucas was a heroin dealer and organized crime boss. Frank Lucas wanted to be rich—what he called "Donald Trump rich." He not only believed he could make it big in the drug world, he understood how to do it. He started with the planning. He called it "backtracking." He would hole himself up in a hotel room, away from any distractions, for a month or two at a time. He would look back on all his past experiences and what he 'd learned. Then he 'd look forward to the future including every possible detail and the detail of the details, making sure he mentally walked through every step of the operation. Frank Lucas realized that to take over Johnson 's operation he needed to break the monopoly of the Italian Mafia. His idea was to bypass the Mafia 's heroin trade in Harlem, and go directly to the source of the drug. By 1968, the Vietnam War had been raging for several years. It was common knowledge that U.S service personnel had been exposed to many different illegal drugs, including heroin. When they came back to the States with their addictions, they sought out new sources. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, dope was rampant in most large American cities, with "brand names" like "Mean Machine," "Can 't Get Enough of that Funky Stuff," and "Harlem Hijack." Lucas knew he could meet this demand and make a hefty profit if he could get the drugs directly from the