'American Gangster' Frank Lucas faces jail for allegedly bilking feds of 17G

New York Daily News - Frank Lucas, who once ran a billion-dollar business smuggling heroin before going straight, could go to jail for bilking the U.S. government out of $17,300...

TheGrio Staff

Dec 13, 2011

From the New York Daily News:

The ending of “American Gangster,” the movie about a Harlem heroin kingpin starring Denzel Washington, might need a rewrite.

Frank Lucas, who once ran a billion-dollar business smuggling heroin before going straight, could go to jail for bilking the U.S. government out of $17,300.

Now 81 and ailing, Lucas was charged with theft by deception after he allegedly told the U.S. Treasury he lost a Social Security check with funds earmarked for his 15-year-old son and asked for a duplicate, prosecutors said.

Then he cashed both checks in Newark, they said.

Lucas has denied doing anything wrong and is reportedly been trying to work out a deal to keep out of the can, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported.

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