What happened to Frank Lucas Brothers? Who Are They?
by Rubaditsha
Updated May 11, 2023
Who is Frank Lucas?
Frank Lucas was a notorious American drug trafficker who was active in Harlem, New York City, during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was famous for his direct purchase of heroin from the Golden Triangle in Southeast Asia and for eliminating middlemen in the drug trade. Lucas claimed that he smuggled heroin in the coffins of dead American servicemen, a claim that was fictionalized in the movie "American Gangster" (2007).
However, his Southeast Asian associate, Leslie "Ike" Atkinson, denied this claim. In 1976, Lucas was found guilty of drug trafficking and sentenced to 70 years in prison. But after he agreed to cooperate with the authorities, he and his family were placed in the Witness Protection Program. His sentence was later reduced to time served plus lifetime parole in 1981. However, he was convicted again on drug charges in 1984 and was released from prison in 1991.
In 2012, Lucas was charged with attempting to cash a $17,000 federal disability benefit check twice. He pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to five years' probation due to his advanced age and poor health. Despite his criminal activities, Lucas remains a notable figure in American crime history.
What Happened to Frank Lucas Brothers?
Frank Lucas, one of America's most notorious drug kingpins, died in Cedar Grove, New Jersey, at 88 on May 30, 2019. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, as the Vietnam War raged, a potent heroin called "Blue Magic" flowed into Harlem and Newark from a mysterious Southeast Asian connection.
Lucas rose from poverty to riches in an enterprise that succeeded beyond his wildest dreams, which was portrayed in Ridley Scott's film "American Gangster." Lucas's life of crime was a larger-than-life tale of ambition, organization, and ruthless brutality. He ordered and committed murders, bribed personnel in Vietnam to set up a heroin connection and paid corrupt police officers $200,000 a week.
At the peak of his empire, he claimed he was taking in $1 million a day, had $52 million stashed in Cayman Islands banks, and $300 million in stockpiled heroin, and owned office buildings in Detroit, a cattle ranch in North Carolina, and apartments in New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and Puerto Rico. His death was confirmed by his nephew Aldwan Lassiter in a telephone interview.
Frank Lucas Family
Frank Lucas' wife, Julie Farrait, was also involved in his criminal activities and was convicted, spending five years in prison. After her release, they lived apart for some time, with Farrait moving back to Puerto Rico. However, they eventually reconciled and had been married for 40 years as of December 2007. Lucas had seven children, including a daughter named Francine Lucas-Sinclair and a son named Frank Lucas Jr. Francine entered the witness protection program with her father in 1977 and has since created a website called Yellow Brick Road to provide resources for children of incarcerated parents.
Lucas had a diverse set of religious beliefs, having converted to Catholicism while in prison in Elmira. He stated that he did so because the prison chaplain helped inmates being released on parole. He also had affiliations with the Baptist church.
Frank Lucas Brothers Names
At the time of death Mr. Lucas’s survivors included four daughters, Francine Lucas-Sinclair and Ruby, Betty and Candace Lucas; two sons, Frank Jr. and Tony Walters; many grandchildren and great-grandchildren; two sisters, Mattie Lassiter and Emma Moye; and three brothers, Ezell, Lawrence and LeVon Lucas. His wife, Julie, and another son, Ray, died before him.Frank Lucas was born and raised in La Grange, North Carolina, where he grew up in a suburb of Goldsboro. His parents were Fred and Mahalee Lucas. According to Lucas, the event that sparked his criminal career was the murder of his 12-year-old cousin by the Ku Klux Klan. His cousin was killed because he looked at a white woman in a flirtatious manner.
After drifting through a life of small-time crime, Lucas got into a fight with a former employer with whom he was having an affair with his daughter. In the altercation, Lucas hit the father with a pipe, knocking him unconscious. He then stole $400 from the company safe and set the establishment on fire. Lucas' mother advised him to flee to New York City to avoid either life imprisonment or lynching.
Upon arriving in Harlem, Lucas started engaging in petty crime and pool hustling before being taken under the wing of the gangster Bumpy Johnson. However, Lucas' connection to Johnson has been called into question. Lucas claimed to have been Johnson's driver for 15 years, but Johnson only spent five years out of prison before his death in 1968. According to Johnson's widow, much of the story that Lucas claimed as his own actually belonged to another young hustler named Zach Walker, who lived with Johnson and his family and later betrayed him.
What Happened To Frank Lucas Brothers:FAQs
Frank Lucas was an American drug trafficker who operated in Harlem, New York City, during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Frank Lucas was known for cutting out middlemen in the drug trade and buying heroin directly from his source in the Golden Triangle in Southeast Asia.
Frank Lucas boasted that he smuggled heroin using the coffins of dead American servicemen, as depicted in the feature film American Gangster (2007), which fictionalized aspects of his life. However, this claim is denied by his Southeast Asian associate Leslie "Ike" Atkinson.
According to his own account, Frank Lucas was motivated to embark on a life of crime after witnessing his 12-year-old cousin's murder at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan for looking flirtatiously at a white woman.