Are you watching Godfather of Harlem, and wanting to know more about Bumpy Johnson‘s storied right-hand man, Frank Lucas? Here’s some background on Lucas’ life.
Recommended VideosBefore getting into Lucas, though, some context on Johnson is in order. In the 1940s and `50s, in particular, Johnson was an infamous New York mobster involved in everything from gambling to drug dealing. Johnson was in and out of jail all throughout his life, and his operations rivaled the powerful Italian mob in that era. At one point, Johnson was sentenced to Alcatraz, where the worst of the worst did their time. Despite all that, Johnson was something of a folk hero in Harlem, known to take care of his community, according to TIME.
As for Lucas, he was born in North Carolina, and he got involved in crime as a young man. In 1946, Lucas moved to Johnson’s turf in Harlem, and his outlaw ways continued. It wasn’t until twenty years later, though, that Lucas and Johnson’s paths intersected.
Johnson mentored Lucas
In 1966, a Harlem criminal made a fatal mistake — he crossed Frank Lucas in a drug deal, and Lucas shot him on the spot. Bumpy Johnson liked Lucas’ moxie, and brought him into the fold. Between 1966 and 1968, the year Johnson died, Lucas learned everything Johnson had to teach him, and once Johnson was gone, Lucas was there to take command.
For another twenty years or so, Lucas made his money dealing heroin to a degree only rivaled by the Italian mob, and with a reach extending all the way to South Asia. It’s important to note that while Lucas characterized himself as Johnson’s close associate, apparently Johnson’s widow, Mayme Hatcher Johnson, later claimed that was not the case. She said her husband never really trusted him. Lucas was repeatedly sentenced and released from jail over his lifetime, and he died in 2019 from natural causes at the age of 88.
Is Lucas in ‘Godfather of Harlem’?
Godfather of Harlem season 3 enters the 1960s, the period in time when Lucas was in Johnson’s life. So far, Lucas has not appeared in the show, but likely will when and if season 4 of the series is confirmed. Denzel Washington, however, did play a fictionalized version of Lucas in the 2007 feature film, American Gangster. Washington worked with Lucas while preparing for the role.
In 2007, Washington told Rotten Tomatoes, “[Lucas] said to me over and over, he said, ‘Denzel, it’s a dirty business and if you choose to be in it you’ve got to be dirty.’ There are no nice heroin dealers, they don’t make it, and they end up on the sidewalk,” Washington added.
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