Frank Lucas's Kevo

Frank Lucas was a heroin dealer in Harlem in the early 1970s. Born in Washington NC, 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 known 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 97% pure heroin.¹

According to the article "The Return of Superfly", Frank Lucas assaulted his attorney Gino Gallina, a mouthpiece for the Italian mob. However, the article was written based on information given by Frank Lucas. Lucas made threats about killing Gallina, and is often given credit for his murder.² However, according to FBI reports, Gallina was most likely killed by the special kill squad of the Gambino crime family (the .22 Caliber hitters), to prevent his testimony against them when he switched sides.³

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 prosecution of numerous government law enforcement agents and eventually 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.⁴[5]⁶

Actor Denzel Washington portrays Frank Lucas in the film American Gangster directed by Ridley Scott, due for release on November 2, 2007.

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