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Richie Roberts and the Real American Gangster
By Barbara Straczynski
05/19/09
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I really didn't devote a lot of space in my Thursday blog to "Meet the Real American Gangster," with Richie Roberts. It being a busy day and all. To refresh your memory, Richie was portrayed by Russell Crowe in the film "American Gangster," with Denzel Washington playing Frank Lucas. The session was such that I felt it worthy of a more extensive blog entry on Richie's telling what really happened as opposed to the Hollywood story we all saw in the film.
For those of us born during the 1960s or after, or those maybe born in the 1950s who were children in the 60s, drug crimes and race riots were something we heard about, saw on the TV news, or read about in the newspaper, but not lived through. And I'm not saying that's everyone born in the 1950s. I know there are people who lived through it. But, I'm writing from the perspective of white woman from Central Jersey, not Newark.
Richie Roberts and the Special Narcotics Strike Force he was eventually appointed to lead, made a huge impact in cleaning up the streets of Newark at that time, making it much safer for us today. When we hear about crime today, we may think we are living in the bleakest of times. But things were much worse. But then again, I am always the optimist. I'm sure there is someone out there who disagrees. So please comment!!!
Hon. Anthony Mautone, who was a prosecutor in Essex County in those days, spoke briefly at the session's start and set the stage for what was to come. He said that in the 1960s, Essex County had only 31 prosecutors whereas today there are over 100. The population at the time was 400,000, nearly twice the 273,546 people reported in the 2000 census. There were residuals from the Newark riots and local law enforcement wasn't viewed by federal law enforcement as their peers. This changed in the 1970s when the first joint investigation happened and an organized crime task force received federal funding. A special squad made up of special investigators, special prosecutors and others was designated to go after organized crime and the "American Gangster." Richie was appointed to lead the Special Narcotics Task Force. Only after combining forces were they able to combat narcotics and organized crime.
Richie then started his talk telling the audience how at the time, "drug use was so rampant that no one seemed to want to do anything. You would see people staggering in the streets and needles in the streets."
They knew that there was a new product on the streets called blue magic and it was coming through Frank Lucas' family. The "quality of the heroin was so high," said Richie, "that people were dying." It was 10 percent pure which will kill someone used to 3 percent. "People were dying in the streets," he said. They knew it was coming from Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand--but how?? It was cornering the market and taking over the streets. Frank utilized all his family members, the "Country Boys," so called because Frank and his relatives were from North Carolina. They would move in next to an existing dealer and take over the business because they had a better product. Richie had a squad of 40 hand-picked DEA, State Police and Newark detectives.
Corruption. Corruption. Corruption. Some police were corrupted by the drug money and were investigated said Richie. Their New York counterparts wouldn't cooperate and someone was on the take but they didn't know who.
Lucas was burying the heroin on a farm in North Carolina. They would dig it up and then distribute to various places as shown in the movie, to be cut by girls wearing next to nothing--to prevent product theft.
Richie's task force made a bust where they got 10 guys--but no Frank--it was considered a failure. They started interrogating those arrested and Frank's nephew spilled the beans. He named players. He told where meets were held. He told what public telephonese were being used. (Pre-cell phone days.)
Frank was caught throwing a half-a-million dollars out a window. When questioned, Frank said, "no, it was two million dollars." They were told it was in a wooded area, but only recovered a half-a-million. They got a tip at a party about the half million out the window--it wasn't much but with that information, Richie presented a superseding indictment of 43 people consisting of Frank's entire family. Shortly after, the feds came to Richie and told him there was a contract out on him and they wanted to protect him.
At Frank's trial, there was woman who testified about her daughter's death from blue magic. There was not a dry eye in the courtroom. Frank asked to talk to Richie privately and said, "I never thought of it that way." Hundreds of people had been killed by blue magic at that point said Richie. The jury returned a guilty verdict and Frank flipped immediately. "He gave up everybody, every penny he ever received" including the guy who ran the pipeline from the Golden Triangle in Southeast Asia. Frank's testimony resulted in 150 multi-defendant cases.
When Frank contacted Richie 10 years later about Hollywood wanting to do a movie about the story, Richie thought, "They're setting me up for that contract." But, not so.
At first, no one was interested in the film because it was about a black drug dealer. They asked Richie to be in the movie and told him we're gonna make you a hero--and that's how it started. Finally they decided to "come together in the end for a common good," he said.
But then they pulled the plug until a year later when Ridley Scott read the script, showed it to Russell Crowe, they liked it and wanted to make a movie. In the film, they blurred the detective/prosecutor time periods. I have to say, I was a little confused myself when I watched the film and saw Russell Crowe/Richie Roberts switch from detective to prosecutor to detective in flash. Josh Brolin played the dirty cop in the film and Richie was surprised to get a call from Josh for help with the part. Richie told Josh, "I'm madly in love with your wife (Diane Lane)." Josh replied, "I've seen your photograph and I'm not worried."
Richie was not happy with the negative portrayal of his family life in the film, and also thought that Frank Lucas was portrayed too favorably. "They decided to make my character a terrific cop, a terrific prosecutor but a terrible family man. Frank was portrayed as the opposite--a good businessman and family man," said Richie. The fancy suits and benefits of capitalism were all made up. Richie said that Frank cared only about money and never wore a suit. About his parents after their arrest, Frank said let them fend for themselves. Frank's wife was made up for the film--he put up girls in apartments all over and "had more women than anyone could need," said Richie. They were told, "you're Frank's girl now," and they would be put up for 6 months to a year, often the same girls who were cutting the heroin. The loyal wife in the film was all Hollywood.
Despite the gangstering, in Harlem, there were many people who idolized Frank because he gave food to people and helped people. They had extra security at the trial for Frank because there were also people who wanted to kill him. Richie told the audience, "Frank Lucas killed more black people then the KKK with the sale of blue magic."
Like I said in the first short version blog on this program, Richie made about 25 suggestions in a production meeting for the movie that were ignored. "They didn't listen to a single thing I suggested," he said. Ethics really isn't important when you're making a film and the bottom line is how much money can we make with this film.
In addition to this Meet the Real American Gangster, the Criminal Law Section held another great program on Prosecuting and Defending the Police Officer. I popped in a little late to mention anything useful here other than humorous commentary about conserva
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