The Real Frank Lucas!
American Gangster: Frank LucasWednesday night at 10, BET
With Denzel Washington due in theaters Friday as the famed Harlem drug kingpin Frank Lucas in "American Gangster," BET has arranged for us to meet the real Frank Lucas Wednesday night.
It's a fascinating encounter in which Lucas reflects on his drug-dealing career the way the retired chairman of Nabisco might reflect on double-stuffed Oreos.
This makes the show mildly disturbing, since some folks are undoubtedly going to come away with the impression that illegal drug dealing backed with lethal brutality can in some cases be a well-chosen career option.
Unlike most shows on drug dealers, this one ends with the main man neither dying young nor sounding penitant.
Lucas served almost 10 years in prison, which he views as payment in full for anything he did.
Okay, he says, some people died from using his heroin. But it was "their own damn fault."
His sales force, he explains, told the customers up-front his stuff was stronger than most street dope. If they chose to shoot it up like usual anyway, that wasn't Lucas' problem.
Like previous "American Gangster" episodes, this one finds a dozen or more characters who were also part of the story. more here
With Denzel Washington due in theaters Friday as the famed Harlem drug kingpin Frank Lucas in "American Gangster," BET has arranged for us to meet the real Frank Lucas Wednesday night.
It's a fascinating encounter in which Lucas reflects on his drug-dealing career the way the retired chairman of Nabisco might reflect on double-stuffed Oreos.
This makes the show mildly disturbing, since some folks are undoubtedly going to come away with the impression that illegal drug dealing backed with lethal brutality can in some cases be a well-chosen career option.
Unlike most shows on drug dealers, this one ends with the main man neither dying young nor sounding penitant.
Lucas served almost 10 years in prison, which he views as payment in full for anything he did.
Okay, he says, some people died from using his heroin. But it was "their own damn fault."
His sales force, he explains, told the customers up-front his stuff was stronger than most street dope. If they chose to shoot it up like usual anyway, that wasn't Lucas' problem.
Like previous "American Gangster" episodes, this one finds a dozen or more characters who were also part of the story. more here
Bumpy Johnson
