Frank Lucas grew up in Greensboro North Carolina where he lived with his parents, Mahalee and Fred Lucas. Most of his Childhood took place at the height of the great depression when most people were suffering in poverty, especially the African Americans. This made life hard for his family and because he lived in the deep south where racism was at its worst, it is easy to see why he turned toward the life of crime. According to Frank himself, the main reason he began to follow a life of crime is because he witnessed the KKK murder his 12-year-old cousin for staring at a woman the wrong way. This incident sparked many other petty crimes that Lucas would commit over the next several years until finally, he feared he would spend the rest of his
