With production set to begin this month on the Ridley Scott-directed “American Gangster” starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, about drug-lord Frank Lucas who made his name in the 70s selling heroin on the streets of Harlem, I thought I’d put up a profile of Lucas written for New York Magazine in 2000 - “The Return of Superfly” - by the always readable Mark Jacobson.
Lucas, who was said to be worth millions in his heyday, before being bust and sent to prison, now cries poor. Unrepentant about his drug-dealing past which included, notoriously, smuggling heroin from Southeast Asia’s Golden Triangle in the coffins of dead American soldiers killed in the Vietnam War, he takes Jacobson through his old New York haunts and reminisces about the criminals and celebrities he hung out with as well as the enemies who dared to cross him.
Appropriately, a consistent theme of the article is how likeable and charming Lucas can be, although Jacobson is careful to keep enough distance. “American Gangster” will focus on the relationship between Lucas (Denzel Washington) and the drug cop who hunts him down, Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe), who went on to become friends.
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