Original Gangster

Politics & Social Sciences

Lucas, Frank

Social Sciences

St. Martin's: Griffin

Criminals are not born in a vacuum, and Frank Lucas is no exception. At the age of six he watched his cousin die in a lynching and in that moment of Southern brutality, Frank Lucas, notorious gangster, billion-dollar-heroin importer and true-life inspiration for the film American Gangster was born. Original Gangster is the story of the most notorious black gangster to ever rule the streets of New York. He went from running numbers in the 50s, to importing millions of dollars of heroin in the 70s, before losing it all at the hands of a snitch. This is the ultimate tale of ambition, hubris and downfall. The original O.G., Lucas has gone down in history for his infamous business measure of cutting out middlemen in the drug trade, buying heroin directly from its source in Southeast Asia, and then smuggling it back in the coffins of dead US servicemen. Seven years of Lucas' life were dramatised for the Hollywood blockbuster American Gangster, but this is the first time that the mythical figure tells the story himself. The book delves even further into his extraordinary story, showing just what a folk hero Lucas is to contemporary urban audiences. It's a brutally honest account of a gangster and his times.

Original Gangster: My Life as NYC's Biggest, Baddest Drugs Baron. Frank Lucas, Aliya S. King

Biographies & Memoirs

Regional U.S.

Ebury

A suspenseful memoir from the real life American gangster, Frank Lucas In his own words, Frank Lucas recounts his life as the former heroin dealer and organized crime boss who ran Harlem during the late 1960s and early 1970s. From being taken under the wing of old time gangster Bumpy Johnson, through one of the most successful drug smuggling operations, to being sentenced to seventy years in prison, Original Gangster is a chilling look at the rise and fall of a modern legacy. Frank Lucas realized that in order to gain the kind of success he craved he would have to break the monopoly that the Italian mafia held in New York. So Frank cut out middlemen and began smuggling heroin into the United States directly from his source in the Golden Triangle by using coffins. Making a million dollars per day selling “Blue Magic”—what was known as the purest heroin on the street—Frank Lucas became one of the most powerful crime lords of his time, while rubbing shoulders with the elite in entertainment, politics, and crime. After his arrest, Federal Judge Sterling Johnson, the special narcotics prosecutor in New York at the time of Lucas’ crimes, called Lucas and his operation “one of the most outrageous international dope-smuggling gangs ever, an innovator who got his own connections outside the U.S. and then sold the narcotics himself in the street.” T his powerful memoir reveals what really happened to the man whose career was dramatized in the 2007 feature film American Gangster, exposing a startling look at the world of organized crime.

Original Gangster: The Real Life Story of One of America's Most Notorious Drug Lords

King, Aliya S.

Community & Culture

St.Martin's Press

A suspenseful memoir from the real life American gangster, Frank Lucas In his own words, Frank Lucas recounts his life as the former heroin dealer and organized crime boss who ran Harlem during the late 1960s and early 1970s. From being taken under the wing of old time gangster Bumpy Johnson, through one of the most successful drug smuggling operations, to being sentenced to seventy years in prison, Original Gangster is a chilling look at the rise and fall of a modern legacy. 
Frank Lucas realized that in order to gain the kind of success he craved he would have to break the monopoly that the Italian mafia held in New York. So Frank cut out middlemen and began smuggling heroin into the United States directly from his source in the Golden Triangle by using coffins. Making a million dollars per day selling "Blue Magic"―what was known as the purest heroin on the street―Frank Lucas became one of the most powerful crime lords of his time, while rubbing shoulders with the elite in entertainment, politics, and crime. After his arrest, Federal Judge Sterling Johnson, the special narcotics prosecutor in New York at the time of Lucas' crimes, called Lucas and his operation "one of the most outrageous international dope-smuggling gangs ever, an innovator who got his own connections outside the U.S. and then sold the narcotics himself in the street." T his powerful memoir reveals what really happened to the man whose career was dramatized in the 2007 feature film American Gangster, exposing a startling look at the world of organized crime.

Are you curious about how your life might look in twenty years? Interweaving two decennia back and forth, building on his own cosmopolitan experiences, Frank Lucas identifies trends which will directly impact him in the last quarter of his life. International relations, demographic changes, migration, technology developments and climatic disruptions will change our lifestyles and impact all of us in different ways. Throughout this accessible narrative, the author explores the interrelationships of these themes and the impact these will have on his way of life in the next twenty years. Despite recent global crises and no doubt future events, which we do not know about yet, his view on the next two decades is positive and uplifting, building on his experience that people are resilient and will continue to improve the lives of ever more people on our earth. In his third book he outlines his view on his own and no doubt your lifestyle in the next two decades.

I GOT FUTURE: How My World Will Look

Self-Help

Partridge Publishing Singapore

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Books by Lucas, Frank