Frank Lucas

Remember that epic Ridley Scott film where Denzel Washington played a smooth Harlem drug lord? Of course you do, “American Gangster” is a classic. That film was loosely based on Frank Lucas, and he was the king of the drug trade in New York at one point, by changing the way drugs were distributed in Harlem. Instead of the traditional model, he cut out the middle man and got his Heroin straight from Asia and then put it on the streets.

He’s been in and out of jail since the 70’s, but as of 1991, he’s a free man.