A Frank
Lucas Blog >>
November 26, 2007
Dominic
Amorosa, a prominent New York City lawyer who successfully
prosecuted Frank Lucas in 1976 on drug charges, has written a
letter to Universal Studios, the Hollywood company behind the
movie “American Gangster,” complaining that the movie is
“riddled with errors.” In his letter, Amorosa demands that
Universal “retract and correct immediately the false and
defamatory statement published as fact to the world at the end
of “American Gangster” that Frank Lucas and Richard
Roberts’ collaboration led to the convictions of three-fourths
of the New York City’s Drug Enforcement Agency.”
“Lucas and
Roberts were responsible for no such thing and in fact no such
thing ever occurred,” writes Amorosa, who noted that “this false
statement impugns and damages the reputations of hundreds of
honest, decent and courageous agents of the New York City Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA) who risked their lives daily on
the streets of New York in this period of time bringing to
justice people like Frank Lucas and Nicky Barnes.”
Amorosa
further points out that “it was DEA, together with the United
States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York,
which apprehended, prosecuted and tried Frank Lucas and his
suppliers, and not Richard Roberts and Essex County New Jersey
law enforcement, as is alleged in ‘American Gangster.’ The New
Jersey prosecution of Frank Lucas in which Roberts was involved
took place over one year after Lucas was prosecuted in the
Southern District of New York in September 1975 in which he was
sentenced to 40 years’ imprisonment.”
Sources tell us that if Universal does not make a retraction,
Amorosa will file a class action law suit on behalf of the DEA
agents working in New York City in the 1970s at the time Lucas
was active as a drug dealer. Stay tuned.
-- Ron Chepesiuk and Anthony Gonzalez --
November 12, 2007
If you’ve seen
“American Gangster,” the movie, you know a big part of the mythology
Superfly has created about himself is his relationship with Bumpy
Johnson. According to Lucas, he was Bumpy’s right hand man, and
Harlem’s Original Gangster taught him everything about life and
crime. Poor Superfly. He figured no one would be around to
contradict him. But surprise! Bumpy’s wife Mayme is still alive and
well at age 93 and mad as hell about how Lucas has used her
husband’s gangster reputation and legend to get rich and famous.
Mayme pulls no punches and calls our Superfly a liar and a man Bumpy
did not trust. Mercy! Mercy! To learn more about Mayme’s views and
to get a copy of her autobiography, written in collaboration with
noted writer, Karen Quinones-Miller, go to
www.harlemgodfather.com/
--Ron Chepesiuk and Anthony Gonzales--
November 5, 2007
Since Dateline NBC’s infomercial for
the movie “American Gangster“, which we blogged about last week,
Black Entertainment Television’s “American Gangster” series and the
History Channel’s new “Gangland” series have weighed in with
programs about Frank “Superfly” Lucas claims to fame. Ron appeared
as an interviewee on both programs and Anthony appeared on the
History Channel. Unfortunately, both programs promoted the Lucas
hoax --namely that he was the biggest, baddest drug dealer in the
Harlem of the 1970s, the era of big time Black gangster’s emergence,
and he sold smack to the Italian mafia, doing it from Asia via
coffins carrying dead GIs.
Both programs interviewed sources
who provided plenty of evidence to contradict Superfly’s story, but
both programs ignored them or used their comments selectively. In
today’s media world, money means more than journalistic integrity.
Both BET and the History Channel have an interest in promoting
Universal’s American Gangster movie. Universal gave BET the
lucrative opportunity to promote the “American Gangster” movie in an
one-hour long special program that aired after its Lucas segment.
General Electric owns both the History Channel and Universal. As was
the case with Dateline NBC, do the connection.
We heard a rumor that higher ups in
GE administrative chain put pressure on the History Channel to
include the “cadaver connection” story as told by Lucas. Let’s hope
it is only a rumor.
-- Ron Chepesiuk and Anthony Gonzalez --
October 29, 2007
The first “news” program about “the American Gangster” movie
aired Sunday night (October 28) on Dateline NBC. The segment
graphically illustrated the corrupt and sorry state of the American
media and how it no longer makes any effort to distinguish between
news and entertainment.
Here is the inside story.
Dateline producer Brad Davis called Ron Chepesiuk about a month ago
to arrange an interview. Davis wanted to discuss the “real” Superfly,
he said. Davis also asked for the names of other knowledgeable
sources he could interview. It looked like the makings of a good
program.
But Ron knew
something was up when the Davis called a couple of weeks ago to
inform him that the Lucas segment had been cut from one hour to half
hour. Davis, however, assured Ron that NBC would still present a
true portrait of Frank Lucas, warts and all. Then last Friday Ron
got another call from Davis-- Dateline had cut him and the three
other recommended interview sources from the program.
But rest assured,
Davis told Ron, Dateline would have another program on Lucas later.
“When?” Ron
asked.
Don’t know.”
Bradley said.
It sounded as if
the Iraq War would be over before the program aired.
Dateline’s Lucas program turned
out to be an infomercial for the “American Gangster“ movie. A
fawning Matt Lauer tossed softball questions to Denzel Washington
and Russell Crowe, who became overnight experts on Frank Lucas’ life
and criminal career. In the half hour program, we counted 20 to 25
errors, distortions and outright lies. For instance —the program
claimed that Lucas “made connections to the remote jungles of the
Golden Triangle” and that Lucas was Bumpy Johnson’s right hand man
(see
www.harlemgodfather.com.)
This Dateline program
perpetuated the Lucas hoax and his false claims to fame. Yet, it
does make sense. General Electric, after all, owns both NBC and
Universal, the Hollywood studio that made “American Gangster.” GE
was not going to let the truth and serious journalism get in the way
of making a buck—a projected $40 million the first weekend.
So if inquiring
minds want the true story of Frank Lucas, they will have to read our
book, “Superfly, The True, Untold Story of Frank Lucas, American
Gangster.” Meantime, if you want to learn when Dateline will air a
“real’ segment about the “real” Frank Lucas contact Brad Davis, NBC
News at 212-664-2447. We are sure Brad
would love to hear from you.
-- Ron Chepesiuk and
Anthony Gonzalez --
10/22/07
American Gangster will be a blockbuster
in more ways than one, if a hot trend continues. Three big-time
rappers—Common, T.I. and RZA—will have key roles in the flick.
According to U.S. Today, “nearly two dozen (Hip Hop) performers,
from Ja Rule to Neyo are dabbling in films, often with significant
roles.” Hip Hop has come a long way, baby, since Ice Cube appeared
in 1991’s “Boyz N the Hood.” What with the Hip Hop artists now
hangin’ in Tinsel Town, what impact do you think the trend will have
on the culture… street life? Good… bad?
-- Ron Chepesiuk and Anthony Gonzalez--
10/15/07
Is it a coincidence or what that Jay-Z decided to
cross promote his album with a movie about drug kingpin Frank Lucas,
while Damon Dash (Jay-Z's ex-partner) is a producer of "Mr.
Untouchable," the story of Nicky Barnes? In our book, "Superfly: the
True, Untold Story of Frank Lucas, American Gangster," the story
comes out that Frank Lucas put a hit out on Nicky Barnes. It
happened in 1975 while Lucas was locked up in New York City's
Metropolitan Correction Center. More than than three decades later,
the bad blood between Superfly and Mr. Untouchable endures. Lucas
called Nicky a "50-kilo, dope-sniffing junkie" in an interview for
our book, while Nicky Barnes dismisses Superfly as a country bumpkin
in his autobiography. In a few weeks, both former heroin
kingpins will come out with flicks that extoll their respective
gangster legacies. So get ready for the octogenarian wars!
-- Anthony Gonzalez and Ron Chepesiuk --
