Frank Lucas (born September 9, 1930[4] in La Grange, North Carolina and raised in Greensboro, North Carolina[5]) is a former heroin dealer and organized crime boss in Harlem during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was particularly known for eliminating middlemen in the drug trade and for purchasing heroin directly from its source in the Golden Triangle. Frank Lucas is popularly known for smuggling heroin using the coffins of dead American servicemen, a claim his South Asian associate, Leslie "Ike" Atkinson denies. [7] He is the subject of the 2007 film American Gangster.Contents[hide]* 1 Early life* 2 Criminal career* 3 Arrests and releases* 4 After prison* 5 Family* 6 See also* 7 References* 8 Connections ExternalsEarly lifeLucas claims that the incident that sparked his motivation for a life of crime was the murder of his 12-year-old cousin at the hands of the KKK, for apparently "reckless eye gazing" (looking at a Caucasian female), in Greensboro , North Carolina. [6]. He went through a life of petty crime until, on one particular occasion, he fell out with a former employer and, on his mother's advice, fled to New York.[6] In Harlem he turned to petty crime and pool dealing before being taken under the wing of gangster Bumpy Johnson. However, his connection to Bumpy has been questioned. Lucas claimed to have been Johnson's chauffeur for 15 years, although Johnson spent only 5 years out of prison before his death in 1968. And according to Johnson's widow, much of the narrative Lucas claims actually belonged to a another young hustler named Zach Walker, who lived with Bumpy and his family and later betrayed him.[8]Criminal careerAfter Johnson's death, Lucas traveled and realized that to succeed he would have to break the monopoly that the mob Italian held in New York. Traveling to Stilwell, Oklahoma, he eventually went to Jack's American Star Bar, a research and development hangout for black soldiers.[6] It was here that he met former U.S. Army Sergeant Leslie "Ike" Atkinson, a farm boy from Goldsboro, North Carolina, who was married to one of Lucas' cousins, making him a member of the family. Lucas is quoted as saying, "Ike knew everyone down there, every black guy in the Army, from the cooks on up".,"[6]