The Godfather Of Harlem: Frank Lucas And American Gangster
YouTubeHarlem kingpin Frank Lucas.
The second Ridley Scott film in our list, American Gangster traces the rise and fall of the notorious 1970s Harlem drug kingpin, Frank Lucas. Despite a deeply engrossing performance by Denzel Washington, the film that claims to be “based on a true story” takes some creative liberties that are in some ways reflective of the grandiose nature of the protagonist.
In the film, Lucas is more than just a domestic drug dealer, he’s also an international smuggler who uses the coffins of dead Vietnam soldiers to ship in drugs undetected.
But according to Today, that is complete fabrication at screenwriter Steve Zaillian’s behest. The supposed “cadaver connection” never actually happened, although officials did consider it as a possibility at the time.
“Everybody always thought the caskets (carried heroin) — even I thought it,” said federal judge and ex-narcotics investigator Sterling Johnsons Jr., who was instrumental in arresting Lucas. “The picture is 1 percent reality and 99 percent Hollywood,” he added. “Frank was illiterate, Frank was vicious, violent. Frank was everything Denzel Washington was not.”
Scott Free ProductionsThough the film was criticized by some for its historical inaccuracies, Denzel Washington’s portrayal of Frank Lucas was universally praised.
Johnson claims Lucas was utterly incapable of garnering a relationship with suppliers in Southeast Asia, but he does admit that one of Lucas’ suppliers, Leslie “Ike” Atkinson, was capable. These drugs weren’t shipped in caskets, however, but in furniture.
“It is a total lie that’s fueled by Frank Lucas for personal gain,” Atkinson said. “I never had anything to do with transporting heroin in coffins or cadavers.” Atkinson was released from prison in the mid-2000s after serving a 30-year sentence.
Journalist Ron Chepesiuk, who co-authored Superfly: The True, Untold Story of Frank Lucas, American Gangster, argued that it was the media that allowed these mythologized aspects of Lucas’ life to be presented as fact.
Chepesiuk even called the cadaver connection “the biggest hoax in the history of the international drug trade.”
The film also depicted a slew of corrupt police officers, an idea which was so egregious to law enforcement that several former Drug Enforcement Agents filed a class-action lawsuit against NBC Universal for producing it.
Lastly, the character of Richie Roberts, played by Russell Crowe, was something of a composite of numerous detectives and prosecutors who helped to catch Lucas. This is, however, a common strategy to streamline people and events into two-hour narratives.
