Frank Lucas American Gangster

Frank Lucas was an American drug trafficker who operated in Harlem, New York during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was known for cutting out middlemen in the drug trade and buying heroin directly from his source in the Golden Triangle, which enabled him to undercut the prices of his competitors and dominate the market. Lucas claimed that he smuggled drugs in the coffins of American soldiers killed in Vietnam and that he bribed officials in the New York City Police Department and the FBI to protect his operations. He was arrested in 1975 and convicted on federal drug charges, but cooperated with authorities and testified against other drug traffickers in exchange for a reduced sentence. He was released from prison in 1991, and his life story was depicted in the 2007 film "American Gangster" starring Denzel Washington as Lucas.