Frank Lucas Research Paper

Frank Lucas, a young boy from La Grange North Carolina grew up dirt poor living with his mother and father. Growing up less fortunate his plan was to get rich so that he can take care of his family. After witnessing the death of his cousin he was no longer the same. Frank started robbing and stealing to support his family. Later in life he became a drug kingpin by learning the ins and outs of the drug business from Bumpy Johnson. Once his business got started, he became known for going directly to the source to get his product. He was also known for controlling the streets of Harlem, having one of the biggest drug operations, and selling the purest dope people can get. Frank Lucas was born on September 9, 1930 in La Grange, North Carolina

When Bumpy passed there was no one left to control the streets of Harlem, so Frank took matters into his own hands. Frank knew in order to become the man in charge he would have to break the monopoly of the Italian Mafia; that's exactly what he did. He did this by creating a direct relationship with the dealer of the drugs, and eliminating the middleman. Frank knew he could take over and run the streets of New York, so Frank began traveling to different places networking to find a connect. Frank traveled to Bangkok, Thailand, and “eventually made his way to Jack’s American Star Bar, an R&R hangout for black soldiers ” (Biography.com). Frank met with U.S. Army sergeant Leslie Ike Atkinson, who happened to be married to one of his cousins from North Carolina. Atkinson and Frank became close and good business partners. They travelled for about two weeks through Thailand until Atkinson located his main connection and business partner Luetchi Rubiwat, who was in charge of the poppy fields. “Rubiwat also known by ‘007’ controlled several hundred acres of poppy fields in the Golden Triangle, a dense jungle area in the borders of Thailand, Burma, and Laos” (Biography.com). Rubiwat was the man Frank was looking to do business with. On his first trip he purchased 132 kilos of the best heroin for $4,200. Furthermore, he was clever enough to get the heroin he bought shipped on military

However, he wasn't the flamboyant type he liked to dress casually, so he wouldn't attract as much attention. In fact, after his wife bought him a $50,000 chinchilla and a $10,000 hat to match he caught the attention of Richard Roberts, the head prosecutor of the Special Narcotics Task Force in New Jersey. Richard started to investigate Frank. The investigation continued over a lengthy period of time until the SNTF, a DEA strike-force staged a surprise raid on Franks house in Teaneck, New Jersey on January 28, 1975. Although Frank was out of town at the time they recovered $584,000 in cash, keys to several Cayman Island safe-deposit boxes, property deeds, a ticket to the United Nations ball, and compliments of the ambassador of Honduras. However, Frank was very well known and had lots of connections so they couldn't pin anything concerning drugs against him. In a short period of time 10 people were arrested but they still couldn't tie Frank back to any drug operation until his nephew broke the code of secrecy and started giving up information about the location of where drugs were being sold. Richard gathered enough evidence to take Frank to trial, and at trial the jury turned in a guilty verdict and he was sentenced to 70 years in prison. Frank only served a couple months until he became an informant and started to