Frank Lucas claims the events that caused him to turn to his life of crime was watching his cousin be brutally murdered by the Klu Klux Klan. However, it wasn't really until a heated fight with his boss sparked a criminal way of thinking in him did he start his empire. To become one of Harlem’s most notorious dealers, Lucas had to pull some very dangerous and risky schemes to fight his way to the top. These eventually landing the man in jail for what should have seventy years.
Frank Lucas was born on September 9, 1930 in North Carolina to a family of farmers (HIT LIST) When Lucas was only five, he witnessed his thirteen-year-old cousin being killed by the KKK, supposedly for looking at a white woman in a “flirtatious manner” (Bio.com). Lucas was …show more content…
When Lucas first arrived, he was taken under the wing of Harlem’s kingpin, Bumpy, and was suddenly immersed in a world of crime. Lucas claimed to have worked for Bumpy for the next fifteen years before his death. Lucas took the opportunity as a chance to become the kingpin now. While working with Bumpy, he saw that if you were to cut out the middleman (which was the Italian Mafia) he could get better quality heroin for a fraction of the price. Now, he needed a way to have the heroin shipped, so Lucas worked with a man named Leslie “Ike” Atkinson who worked in the military to ship the heroin from Vietnam in dead soldiers’ coffins because “Well, who the h--- is gonna look in a dead man’s coffin?” (Lucas). Lucas’ heroin was some of the most potent on the market, about ninety-percent purity, and resulted in dozens of overdoses. Later on trial, Lucas said he felt remorse after having had part in so many deaths. He claimed to have had brought in a million dollars a day, but this is believed to have been false. Lucas had done it, he’d made it to the top, but one snitch destroyed the empire he’d
Frank Lucas was born on September 9, 1930 in North Carolina to a family of farmers (HIT LIST) When Lucas was only five, he witnessed his thirteen-year-old cousin being killed by the KKK, supposedly for looking at a white woman in a “flirtatious manner” (Bio.com). Lucas was …show more content…
When Lucas first arrived, he was taken under the wing of Harlem’s kingpin, Bumpy, and was suddenly immersed in a world of crime. Lucas claimed to have worked for Bumpy for the next fifteen years before his death. Lucas took the opportunity as a chance to become the kingpin now. While working with Bumpy, he saw that if you were to cut out the middleman (which was the Italian Mafia) he could get better quality heroin for a fraction of the price. Now, he needed a way to have the heroin shipped, so Lucas worked with a man named Leslie “Ike” Atkinson who worked in the military to ship the heroin from Vietnam in dead soldiers’ coffins because “Well, who the h--- is gonna look in a dead man’s coffin?” (Lucas). Lucas’ heroin was some of the most potent on the market, about ninety-percent purity, and resulted in dozens of overdoses. Later on trial, Lucas said he felt remorse after having had part in so many deaths. He claimed to have had brought in a million dollars a day, but this is believed to have been false. Lucas had done it, he’d made it to the top, but one snitch destroyed the empire he’d