Kingpin of the drug trade Frank Lucas passed away. |
Frank Lucas, the former drug kingpin who led a revolution of narco trade passed away at a local New Jersey hospital. He died of unspecified health issues.
Lucas rose to power in the 1960s and 1970s dealing boy (heroin) in Harlem.
He once boasted that he would cut out the middleman and got his product directly from the Southeast Asian gangs and cartels. He would be smuggle the goods through the coffins of dead U.S. servicemen.
Frank Lucas was born in North Carolina before he made moves to New York.
He got in the trade early when the stuff wasn't illegal. He went by the name of "Blue Magic" and held ground with numerous celebrities, politicians and business executives.
Wheelchair bound, Frank Lucas wrote books and told tales of his life as a kingpin. |
He was soon caught by the feds when he was holding assets in places where the taxman couldn't find. He was busted in the mid-1970s. He held properties in Chicago, Detroit, Miami, New York City, Newark, Greensboro and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.
Lucas was convicted of federal and state drug violations and was sentenced to 70 years in federal time out. Lucas turned snitch on his formers and sold them out to get a light sentence. He would end up getting five years and a lifetime of parole. He would get busted again for trying to start the business up again. He ended up getting seven more in federal time out.
He was survived by his seven children. He was 88 years old at the time of his passing.
Denzel Washington played Frank Lucas in the 2000s movie American Gangster.