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BLACK CAESAR: THE RISE AND DISAPPEARANCE OF
FRANK MATTHEWS

In a book and a documentary Ron Chepesiuk and Anthony Gonzalez
explore the criminal career of Frank Matthews, the first strictly
independent African American gangster and arguably the most
significant drug trafficker in U.S. history.  His criminal stature earned
him the moniker, “Black Caesar” and his criminal legacy dwarfs that of
better known black drug traffickers from the 60’s including Superfly
Frank Lucas, and Mr. Untouchable Leroy Nicky Barnes.

By his mid 20s, Matthews controlled a narcotics empire that
operated several heroin production factories, employed more than 100
people, and extended nationally into 21 states.  According to a Federal
intelligence report, “Matthews controlled the packing, cutting and sale of
heroin in every major East Coast city.”   Notably, he was the first to
defy the white mob’s control of the cocaine market by circumventing the
stranglehold the Mafia held via the French connection.  He made contact
with legendary Harlem numbers operator Spanish Raymond Marquez
who put him in touch with Rolando Gonzalez, a big-time Cuban cocaine
dealer.  This unique Latin connection enabled him to consolidate power. 
In 1971, at the height of his supremacy, Matthews assembled the biggest
black/Latino drug dealers nationally to a summit in Atlanta. The objective: to break the Italian American mafia control on the importation of heroin into the U.S. so that black/ Latino drug dealers could launch their own trafficking network. 

But before the plan could be implemented, Matthews was arrested on drug conspiracy charges.  That should have been the end of the Frank Matthews story, but the judge freed Black Caesar on a $325,000 bond.  Authorities have been looking for him ever since.