Frank the Poison King

Carmela 2021-10-18 09:29:09

Rank Lucas may be the largest drug dealer in New York in the early 1970s. He has a long-term suite in the Regency Hotel. There are more than 100 custom suits in the closet, including the famous $50,000 black and white chinchilla fur coat. He also has several cars, Rolls-Royce, Mercedes-Benz, General Cruiser... but his favorite is the Chevrolet known as the "Beauty Woman". He and his car were hidden in the corner of 116th Street in Haarlem, watching the people on the street: a group of sad and happy black exiles who were struggling on the line of hunger while experiencing drugs all day. Indulge in carnival. Frank Lucas gave them all this. "Who would have thought I would hide in a car worth more than 300 dollars?" His drug network has a net profit of 1 million dollars a day: "The 16 streets in Haarlem are mine. I bought them. Run them and own them. But when I want to be with my people, I can only put on the "beautiful woman", lower the brim, put on the beard, put on the sunglasses, and put on the wig. I want to be with them. Now, I don’t want to scare them.”
This kingly drug lord is the archetype of the movie "American Gangster", and his acting is also true. According to a report of Frank Lucas by "New York" magazine in 2000 Adaptation, the screenwriter adapted "Schindler's List", directed by Ridley Scott, starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. Such a lineup does have an "Oscar face", but unfortunately the film has its own appearance, the story is poorly made, the rhythm is very rushed, and too many symbols: Vietnam War, Nixon, racial discrimination, and the evil capitalism. The result was filming. After all, the movie is not about writing essays, and the protagonist is completely submerged in this panoramic view of the moral division of the country. Denzel Washington’s drug dealer is more elegant than violent, more sophisticated than vulgar, he is a politician when he reprimands his brother, and he is a shrewd entrepreneur who preaches business. His gangster qualities are supported by only one scene: the developed Frank Lucas walked up to the protection fee punk, put a gun against his forehead, the punk glared and asked provocatively: "Do you want to Kill me? In front of everyone?" The voice fell to the ground, the gunshot fell to the ground, everyone saw it in full view, and did not dare to say anything. Frank Lucas said as if he had issued an edict: "No one can stop me from doing anything. This is America!"

This detail is true. Thirty-five years later, Frank Lucas, who was a tainted witness, revisited the old place and told reporters from New York magazine: "That guy was dark and strong, 6 feet tall, 270 pounds, with neat legs and hands. There are two or three lives on it. He cursed, cursed me, cursed my mother, I thought, a person who is dying, let him speak. When he attacked me like a black-backed gorilla, I shot I fired four shots, bang bang bang. I feel very happy because I killed a bad guy not only in Haarlem but also the worst in the world." Then Frank Lucas laughed. He had to pull the huge, angular face with his shoulders. Although the furrows were vertical and horizontal, the coldness of the year was faintly visible, the brown skin of his cheeks was wrinkled, his gray lips stretched out, and his long red tongue came out. First, the broken thunder, and then the hoarse bird, it was a string of creepy laughter. Only Satan can make such a sound. It penetrates the lungs and reaches the heart.

Frank Lucas was originally a country boy born in North Carolina. At the age of 6, he watched the KKK kill his cousin with his own eyes. At the age of 12, he had an affair with the daughter of the pipe shop owner and was caught by a big black fat man. Frank stunned the black fat man with a pipe and lit the fire and ran away. He fled to the Haarlem district of New York. For the first time in his life, he saw so many black people. He stood at the corner of 114th Street and shouted: "Hello, Haarlem, hello, America!" With a sense of enthusiasm for everyone, he met Ellsworth Johnson, the gang boss "Black Godfather" in Haarlem in the 1960s, and became his driver and protégé, and was given the nickname "Cocaine" ( SUPERFLY). In Frank's mouth, Johnson is "a gentleman of gentlemen, a king of kings, and a killer of killers. He himself is the bible." Following him, Frank learned to be cold, calm, loyal to his goals and good at calculating. It is said that the "Black Godfather" died in his arms. After two weeks, he shut himself in the room, thinking about his past and present, and went to Southeast Asia alone after he came out of the mountain again. A distant relative was serving as a soldier in Vietnam. Under his introduction, Frank saw a Golden Triangle "Chinese gentleman who speaks English and drives a Rolls-Royce" and bought 132 kg of heroin from him at a cost of 4,200 US dollars per unit, the same product. The market price of the phase in the United States is $50,000 per unit. Afterwards, many people marveled that Frank bravely entered the Golden Triangle alone. He was quite arrogant and said: "Although I have never been to Asia, but when I thought, it was just another street, a piece of cake. I haven't been to school for a day, but I have Street doctorate.” As shown in the movie, he hid heroin in the coffins of soldiers killed in the Vietnam War. "Who would look at the coffin of a fucking dead man? Hahaha!" Talking about this wonderful idea more than 30 years later, he is still as complacent as before.

In New York in the early 1970s, there were many “brands” of drugs, Boody, Cooley High, Capone, Ding Dong, Fuck Me, Fuck You, Nice, Nice to Be Nice..., none of them could compare to Frank Lucas. The "blue illusion". It uses raw materials with a purity of 98%-100%. It is hand-made by 12 or 3 naked women in the Dream Factory. It contains 60% mannitol and 40% quinine. The price is half the price of other products. The biggest feature of Frank Lucas’s drug network is that it omits middlemen and directly targets addicts, a bit like the pioneers of e-commerce in the 1970s. As a young man from the countryside, he recruited all the poor relatives in the same village. It was not for others to maintain their relatives. He knew the young people in the countryside as he knew himself: "They are not flashy, they are not used to good cars, beautiful girls and big rings. Theirs Wives and children are waiting to be fed. Give them any money and they will do anything. They know how to be loyal." He is loyal to his wife, respects his old mother, and claims that he is still alive after being shot 100 times because of everyone. They were all impressed by his charming personality.

In its heyday, only one person in Haarlem dared to challenge Frank Lucas-Leroy Barnes, nicknamed "Nicky". He is an authentic urban youth, who is at odds with Frank everywhere. He is flashy and romantic, and the drug network is linked to the Italian Mafia. In the 1970s, Niqi appeared on the cover of "New York Times Magazine" under the name "Mr. Untouchable". He was wearing a hand-made custom suit, a red, white and blue tie, and GUCCI glasses in his prime of life. An unparalleled "entertainment drug lord" image. "Mr. Untouchable" was portrayed as a brave escape from the law, the savior of the poor in Haarlem, and a woman in his jurisdiction praised: "Everyone eats, everyone rides on horses, and everyone wears floral clothes." The report angered the then President Carter. In 1978, Nicky, who had always been "untouchable", was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment. At this time, Frank Lucas, a young countryman, was sentenced to 70 years as early as 1975. But unanimously, the two wisely chose to be the government's tainted witnesses. Nitch went into seclusion in accordance with the witness protection policy. Frank's sentence was shortened to 30 years and then to 7 years.

After the movie "American Gangster" was released, the reporters of the "New York" magazine who wrote Frank's legend match up, and Frank and Nicky make a phone call. They are rivals who have not spoken in 30 years. The two former poisonous kings of the rich side are now 77 years old and have broken his leg and are paralyzed in a wheelchair; the other is 74 years old, wearing a T-shirt studded with fake racing logos, only Dare to be interviewed and not to be photographed. They are still working against each other like the "rural youth" and "urban youth", and they are also making jokes about getting rid of their previous suspicions when they are old.

Reporter: Which of you has purer goods?

Frank: You are really asking, my product is as high as 98%-100% purity.

Nicky: I admit that Frank's packaging is good. But when my finished product comes out, the quality is similar to his, and my delivery speed is much faster than his!



Reporter: Your names have appeared in many hip-hop songs?

Frank: That can also be called music? Look at the dressing of these young idiots. They are shit in big baggy pants.

Nicky: I don't like hip-hop music as much as I like anything else. When they first came out, they all said, "These bastards can't make a penny", but now, hip-hop is the best entertainment industry. I am a fan of JAY-Z and 50 points.



Reporter: What did you do drug trafficking?

Frank: Do you think I want to do this? I have to make money, and I want to go to Wall Street. But on Wall Street, I couldn't even find a fucking messenger to open the door.

Nicky: Who hasn't been stupidly young?

View more about American Gangster reviews

Extended Reading
  • Keith 2022-04-24 07:01:02

    Drama and crime films, personal ability, judgment, management ability, implementation ability, washing

  • Nat 2022-04-23 07:01:11

    Black gangs based on street gangsters are clearly different from Italian mafia families with well-organized and well-defined rules. The main business of the gang is drug trafficking, and the technical content is not high, because the police were corrupt at that time, and there was no need to cover up. Life in the slums of New York in the 1960s and 1970s

American Gangster quotes

  • Frank Lucas: Let me ask you something. You think by putting me in jail, you're going to stop even one junkie from dying? Because you won't. If it isn't me, it'll be someone else. With me or without me, nothing's going to change.

    Detective Richie Roberts: Then that's the way it is.

  • Detective Richie Roberts: This is the newly formed Essex County narcotics squad, our mandate is to make major arrests, no street guys, we're looking for the suppliers and distributors, Heroin, Cocaine, Amphetamines, no grass under a thousand pounds, no powder under forty kilograms, any less than that we're going to waste our time, we're going to handling the big shipments, the big money, the big temptation