Frank lucas biography american gangster

By the s, he had constructed an international drug empire that spanned from New York to South East Asia.

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Killings, extortion, and bribery were his modus operandi. Lucas had millions in cash and property in several cities when he was busted in As with many larger-than-life personalities, the biography of Frank Lucas is shrouded in fact, mystery and myth, much of which has been perpetuated by Lucas himself. Lucas grew up in rural North Carolina during the depths of the Great Depression.

Many Americans in the rural South were poor at this time, but most African Americans suffered the deepest poverty. Lucas spent much of his early youth looking after his younger siblings and getting into trouble. He has claimed that the one incident that sparked his life of crime was witnessing the murder of his cousin. He was only six years old when five members of the Ku Klux Klan, shrouded in sheets and hoods, showed up one night at the shack where he was living.

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The men killed Lucas' year-old cousin on the spot, claiming he had looked at a white woman in a flirtatious way. But, like much of the folklore surrounding Frank Lucas, investigators have never uncovered evidence to support his claim. As the oldest boy in the family, Lucas had to find ways for the family to survive. With the Depression raging on, it was difficult to obtain and hold a job, so he resorted to stealing food.

Later, as he got older and stronger, he found some success mugging intoxicated customers outside the local tavern. In his later teen years, he got a job working as a truck driver for a pipe company until he was caught in the act of sleeping with the boss' daughter. In the ensuing fight, Lucas hit the father on the head with a pipe, knocking him out cold.