The Real American Gangster Frank Lucas Releases New Book "Original Gangster"

June 2, 2010 - PRLog -- Frank Lucas, infamous drug impresario and one of the most notorious pop culture icons of our time, releases his first book, Original Gangster (St. Martin's Press) on June 8, 2010.  Mr. Lucas will be hosting a book signing on Wednesday June 9 at 6pm at Borders Books Penn Plaza, located at 2 Penn Plaza (next to Madison Square Garden) to sign books and meet with fans.  A host of juicy tales flood the book as Mr. Lucas recounts his rise to fame, including his close friendship with Melvin Combs, Sean "P Diddy" Combs father, his countless liaisons with famous starlets, his hot nightclub The Turntable where he hosted the who's who in the industry, including Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, Pam Grier and Wilt Chamberlin and the real story behind what got him out of the life for good.   Mr. Lucas' signature style and no nonsense business sense was the subject matter of the blockbuster film American Gangster, starring Denzel Wasington and Russell Crowe which grossed over 300,000,000 worldwide.  Mr. Lucas is currently working on various projects, including a music tour with his son, hip hop artist Frank Lucas Jr., film and television deals, and the development of a children's facility in New Jersey.  Along with the Frank Lucas Foundation, Mr. Lucas will launch a series of talks to promote positive community action and youth empowerment.  The VIP celebrity book release party will take place June 9 at New York hot spot Slate, located at 54 West 21st St at 9pm.  A special guest appearance will include hip hop artist Frank Lucas Jr. and AGC with a sneak peak at the hot new single Look Like Money. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzRdYla6gpk



The Powerful, True Story of the Real life American Gangster, Frank Lucas

In his new book, Original Gangster: The Real Life Story of One of America’s Most Notorious Drug Lords, Frank Lucas, the focus of the hit 2007 movie, American Gangster, recounts his life of crime as one of the most powerful and notorious drug lords in New York City history.

From humble beginnings in rural North Carolina, Frank Lucas was just a typical country kid.   However, when he witnessed the brutal murder of his 12-year old cousin at the hands of members of the Ku Klux Klan, something snapped.  Quickly turning to a life of petty crime, he made his way to New York City.  Once in Harlem, Lucas came under the influence of the powerful crime lord, Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson who showed the young Lucas the city crime ropes.  When Johnson passed away in 1968, Lucas left town for a while to make connections elsewhere before a powerful and triumphant return.

Lucas desperately wanted to break the stranglehold that the five Mafia families had on heroin trafficking in Harlem.  While he was away from the city he made connections in Oklahoma with individuals connected to African-American soldiers in Vietnam.   They devised a brilliant plan to use connections in Southeast Asia to ship heroin back in fake coffins designed to look like the ones the government was using to bring dead soldiers home from the Vietnam War.  As Lucas said, “Who was going to look in the coffin of a dead soldier?”

This smuggling operation helped Lucas haul in so much pure heroin that at one point in his criminal heyday he was bringing in close to $1 million a day and was worth well over $50 million dollars which he used to buy property around the country.  The rest he stashed in Cayman Island bank accounts.  His crew back on the streets of New York was not local city guys, but family and friends from North Carolina that Lucas, who didn’t trust the locals, had brought up to NYC since he trusted them and not the locals.  Also part of his empire was his soul mate for life, Julie, a former Puerto Rican homecoming queen, who enjoyed the lavish lifestyle Lucas’ drug money could afford them.

As Lucas’ empire grew, his outlandishness followed suit.  Sporting an extravagantly expensive chinchilla jacket with matching hat he cut quite the figure on the streets of Harlem.  As law enforcement officials kept tabs on Lucas’ drug activities his outgoing lifestyle made it easy.  He rubbed shoulders with celebrities in entertainment, sports and business.  He was the King of New York.

When the feds had a strong enough case against Lucas to finally take him down in 1975, his sentence both federally, and in the jurisdiction of the state of New Jersey where he was living, added up to 70 years.  Julie also was caught up in the snare of the federal and local law enforcement officials in this case and she too was sentenced.   At the time of his incarceration, Federal Judge Sterling Johnson, the special narcotics prosecutor in New York said of Lucas’ operation: “One of the most outrageous international drug-smuggling gangs ever, an innovator who got his own connections outside the U.S. and then sold the narcotics himself in the street.”

A few years after his sentencing, Lucas – shockingly to law enforcement officials – had his time in jail commuted down to time served, so by the early 1980s Lucas was back on the streets.  He resumed his criminal ways, but he had lost a step during his time away.

After a couple more scrapes with the law, the full extent of the power of Lucas’ empire was reduced to the memory of a bygone era of wild extravagance and lawlessness in New York.  But the influence he had over Harlem in particular, and New York City in general, shaped the way drug lords everywhere went about setting up their fiefdoms.  Flamboyant criminals, hard-living detectives, crooked cops, snitches, addicts, smugglers all leads up to a suspenseful and powerful read as well as a fascinating insider look at the world of organized crime.

Lucas’ notorious life was the focus of the 2007 hit movie, American Gangster starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe.

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