Talk:Frank Lucas

"Is"? or "was" a crime boss?
Other articles discussing convicted/incarcerated gangsters use "was a crime boss." Why does this article assert that this 80 year old man "is" a crime boss? It's both inconsistent and, moreover, inaccurate, given he is no longer engaged in leading any crime organization.

Please fix this. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 23.17.255.206 (talk) 19:50, 15 August 2013 (UTC)

Do not use American Gangster (film) as a source
To all participating authors please do not rely on the movie for quotes/basic information/fact finding for this article, doing so is rather inappropriate for an encylopedia. It is ok to mention the movie or even give a very short description of it, but this needs to be clearly separated from the information and parts about Lucas himself. Also there should be no speculations and rather personal assessments, statement about his "power" (more than the mafia or similar) or his "influence" need to be sourced if they are more specific than the general "he was an influential crime figure". There's enough information for short article in the online newspaper articles listed as sources. If somebody wants to contribute videos details, he/she should use the book about him,the NYC archives, court or police reports but not the movie. Keep in mind the movie is fictionalized/dramatized story of his life and not a documentary, so you cannot rely on details/events of the movie for historical facts.--Kmhkmh 00:38, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

Howard Hughes
When Lucas was active in Harlem, Howard Hughes was holed up in a series of hotels around the world. He didn't appear in public at all during this period, much less in Harlem. This meeting should be cited. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nero42 (talk • contribs) 00:31, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

500,000,000
I took out the following:
 * By the time of his arrest; Lucas was worth in excess of $500,000,000. Even by today's standards; that amount of money in assets he was beyond rich and could be considered wealthy - something he aspired to be. To give a true picture of how much he was worth; in todays money, Frank Lucas would have been worth about £4.5 billion. That would make him joint 52nd richest man in America and 117th in the world.

$500,000,000??? The sources say he was worth 50,000,000 at his arrest. $500,000,000 seems way too high for me. Removed unless some can provide a source. -- Esemono (talk) 05:27, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

Richie Roberts defending Lucas
Ther reference to Richie Roberts later defending Lucas is tagged here as citation needed. One is provided in the Richie Roberts article that could be used here: William Kleinknecht, From Foes to Friends and Now on to Fame, The Star-Ledger, October 5, 2006. 211.30.85.57 (talk) 03:25, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Where is this article? It claims that he defended Lucas in 1984 for his second drug case? -- Esemono (talk) 08:03, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Two jail terms
Frank was sentenced to two seperate jail terms one in 1976 where after 5 years in jail was released (in 1981). He was caught again dealing drugs in 1984 and was convicted of another seven years, getting out in 1991. -- Esemono (talk) 12:37, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Article degrading/questionable data
It seems after having really improved a while ago later edits deteriorated the article again, in particular there are questionable numbers like his networth of $52 million. In particular the article does not make clear that these figures are solely based on claims of Lucas himself. Note that the quoted articles itsself just quotes the numbers from Lucas. There is no assessment by a 2nd person. Also a lot of things that Esemono needed to fix recently had been correct in earlier versions.--Kmhkmh (talk) 12:46, 2 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Yeah this article is a big problem. It gets a lot of vandalism and well meaning users instead of using "undo" to  revert the damage edit it piecemeal and lot of times information is lost in the process.  Also, many people come here after watching America gangster and add change something that they saw in the movie but which might not be true. -- Esemono (talk) 06:09, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

I note the article indicates that the heroin obtained from Thailand was 100% pure. Mr. Lucas himself, in an interview with Beyond Race Magazine claimed he obtained no better than 95% purity. Dave Terra/Ike Jackson, Beyond Race Magazine, interview of Frank Lucas, December 19, 2007. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTBIfkdb0l4&feature=related WisKarkinos (talk) 20:12, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Inspiration for Tom Clancy
wohooo It appears that Frank Lucas is used as inspiration for the character Henry Tucker in Tom Clancy's Without Remorse. They share many similalarites including being leading drug kingpins in New York, being Black with Mafia connections, and directly importing the drugs from SE asia in the coffins of dead U.S. Servicemen returing from Vietnam. Does this warrant mentioning in the article? 68.35.125.8 (talk) 07:31, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

Lucas crime family
Is there an article on the Lucas crime family? 70.55.203.112 (talk) 13:19, 22 September 2008 (UTC)

Clarification
Hi, I inquiring about a sentence that reads 'He had connections with the Sicilian and Mexican mobs, holding an enormous monopoly on the heroin market in Manhattan.'

I have two issues with this, 1. Does this sentence refer to Lucas having a monopoly on heroin in Manhattan, or the Sicilian and Mexican mobs. I'm assuming the former, but it is unclear.
 * afaik he had no monopoly he just became of the biggest and cheapest suppliers.--Kmhkmh (talk) 18:42, 6 April 2009 (UTC)

2. Secondly, I was unaware of his connections with the Sicilian Mafia, that is the crime family based in Sicily, as opposed to the American Mafia of Italian and/or Sicilian descent. While the American Italian mob did have close ties to the Sicilian mob, I don't believe Lucas had ever been to Sicily or met any operatives of that organization. I could be wrong, but further investigation couldn't hurt. --SunshineOdyssey (talk) 01:40, 5 April 2009 (UTC)
 * the connection to the Italian mafia are featured in the movie, but i don't know whether they are factual. However my understanding was in that in the beginning lucas bought his drugs from american distributors (i.e. mafia & co)--Kmhkmh (talk) 18:40, 6 April 2009 (UTC)

POV pushers are skewing article
In the section:
 * Early life

the wording:
 * Lucas claims that the incident that sparked his motivation into the life of crime was witnessing his 12-year-old

should be changed to:
 * Lucas has related that the incident that motivated him to reject the U.S. legal system was witnessing the murder of his 12-year-old cousin at the hands of the KKK, as he relates, for "reckless eyeballing" (looking at a Caucasian woman),
 * It shouldn't, really, because the second version is a longer, less clear version of the first. Why is "has related" superior to "claims" and why does it need to be repeated twice? Casey J. Morris (talk) 03:28, 26 August 2009 (UTC)
 * "has related" or "claims" are both ok, but imho both both versions do expose some problem. The first is short but it lacks any clear causality. Why does witnessing a crime motivate you to become criminal? Because you like it or dilikee it? Presumably he dislikes it, so why becoming a criminal as well? It seemms all rather unclear. Note then wikipedia is read by people from all over the world, many of them possibly not really familiar with the specifics of the Southern US and problemsof/reactions to racial conflicts. The 2nd version is a rather long and cumbersome formulation, which is not that great either, but it offers at least somehwat of causality (as in the legal system apparently did not protect the victim, he rejects it).--Kmhkmh (talk) 12:44, 26 August 2009 (UTC)

Obscure reference?
Does anyone know what "Instead he flew in a North Carolina carpenter to Bangkok and:" means? If so, perhaps they could clarify the text. Fredsie (talk) 07:04, 5 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Not sure from which source that was, but considering the context and the quote I assume it is a simple type "with a North Carolina carpenter" instead "in a North Carolina carpenter".--Kmhkmh (talk) 07:15, 5 May 2010 (UTC)

The language of the Klan reference is misleading. It should have said, that Lucas decided to equal, no exceed, the Klan's cruelty towards blacks. If the Klan killed 10, he would help terminate the lives of 1,000 with his drugs, if southern blacks lives a tough life, Lucas would make sure that the horrors of crack addiction exceeded that, if Klansman suggested stereotypes of criminal behavior, Lucas would enforce them. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.84.245.22 (talk) 03:30, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

Requested move

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the proposal was move per request.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 02:41, 24 June 2011 (UTC)

Frank Lucas (drug lord) → Frank Lucas – Primary topic. drug lord: 56,200, Oklahoma politician: 600, [http://stats.grok.se/en/latest/Frank%20E._Lucas Frank_E. 190], Frank L. 770. Marcus  Qwertyus   07:29, 17 June 2011 (UTC)

Support, per nom. Kauffner (talk) 08:32, 17 June 2011 (UTC) Support fine with me--Kmhkmh (talk) 06:40, 21 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Support per nom's reasoning and my own gbooks search that gave similar results. By the way, this should have been formatted as a multi-move because Frank Lucas will need to be moved to Frank Lucas (disambiguation) if this RM is successful. Jenks24 (talk) 14:13, 17 June 2011 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Semi-protected edit request on 17 February 2014
Fix broken link in reference 13 The Raid in Teaneck by Ron Chepesiuk and Anthony Gonzalez CrimeMagazine.com

174.31.161.252 (talk) 19:52, 17 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Yes check.svg Done Thank you for your contribution to the English Wikipedia. — &#123;&#123;U&#124;Technical 13&#125;&#125; (t • e • c) 20:17, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 24 April 2017
"When interviewed for a magazine article published in 2000, Lucas denied putting the drugs among the corpses of American soldiers. Instead he flew with a North Carolina carpenter to Bangkok and:"

This is incorrect. Lucas admitted to doing this. It was Ike that denied it. CRAuser (talk) 16:51, 24 April 2017 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. —  IVORK  Discuss 01:19, 25 April 2017 (UTC)

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Semi-protected edit request on 10 December 2019
Change "In 1984, he was caught and convicted of trying to exchange one ounce of heroin and $13,000 for one kilogram of cocaine.[2] He was defended by his former prosecutor Richie Roberts and received a sentence of seven years." to "In 1984, he was caught and convicted of trying to exchange one ounce of heroin and $13,000 for one kilogram of cocaine.[2] He was defended by Federal Defender Tom Concannon and received a sentence of seven years."

I was an intern at the Eastern District Federal Defender in 1984 and I second-chaired Frank Lucas's trial. His lawyer was Tom Concannon. Richie Roberts may have represented Lucas on other matters, but not at this trial.

Thanks,

Jill Harris 72.43.136.100 (talk) 21:56, 10 December 2019 (UTC)


 * I've removed Richie Roberts as it was unsourced, but please provide a source for Tom Concannon if you want that added. Regards, Vaselineeeeeeee★★★ 22:22, 10 December 2019 (UTC)