Gangland

Harlem in the

An urban war zone with

Heroin pushers and junkies on

Nearly every corner, a world

Where street gangs control the

Distribution of drugs and kill

In the name of commerce.

Ruling these streets were two

Gangsters who rose from poverty

And made a fortune by feeding

Harlem's drug habit.

One found his way to the big

City from a dirt farm

In north carolina.

The other, a native

New yorker emerged

From the ghetto.

Like their

Counterparts in the italian

Mafia, both men tried to keep

Their distance from the many

Violent crimes committed in

Their names.

they sawed off his head and

Hands and threw the torso in

The passaic river.

they shot him at such close

Range that his shirt caught on

Fire.

For years, the

Authorities were powerless to

Stop them.

we would try to bring

Charges, and mysteriously, the

Witnesses would disappear or get

Murdered themselves.

Their undoing would

Come from within, but not

Until they had blazed a trail of

Destruction straight through the

Heart of harlem.

For a generation of kids growing

Up amidst violence and heroin

Addiction, harlem gangsters

Frank lucas and nicky barnes

Were their superstars.

I didn't see anyone that made

The american dream happen for

Them and their family through

School, you know, just doing

It the right way.

I didn't see it.

You know, when a reporter asks a

Nine-year-old kid, you know,

"who's your hero, and is

Reggie jackson your hero?"

He said, "no, nicky barnes is my

Hero."

The kids may have

Glamorized the gangsters, but

There was nothing glamorous

About the way these two men

Enforced their rule on the

Streets of harlem and kept their

Dope pushers in line.

they would take people to the

Base of the george washington

Bridge, and they would tell them

They're gonna hang them over.

Very often, these people would

Defecate in their pants.

They would bring them back up,

And they would make them eat

Their own defecation, teach

Them a lesson not to short them

On the packages.

Such methods of

Persuasion came naturally to

Frank lucas, a native of rural

North carolina who learned early

On that terror was a surefire

Way to exert control.

The brutality

Affected lucas profoundly.

As a teenager in

The late 1940s, frank left home

And headed up north to new york

City.

By his own account, lucas met

The infamous gangster ellsworth

"bumpy" johnson in a pool hall.

Bumpy was the italian mob's man

In harlem, selling drugs and

Running a numbers racket.

bumpy johnson operated in

Harlem, and he actually worked

With la cosa nostra as sort of

Their ambassador to harlem.

La cosa nostra, they

Were all white, and it wasn't

A very good idea to be on the

Streets of harlem.

To lucas, bumpy

Became a mentor.

Bumpy gave frank

Access to his rackets, grooming

Him as his successor.

Frank not only learned how bumpy

Did business in harlem but how

The italians ran the mob all

Over town.

The big moment came for frank in

July of 1968 when bumpy died of

A heart attack.

what he told me was, when

Bumpy was dying, he was given

The choice of taking over the

Numbers or the heroin.

And he said he thought about

It and thought that heroin was

The up-and-coming thing, and he

Decided to go with the heroin.

By the late 1960s,

Heroin addiction was

Skyrocketing in new york, and

Harlem was suffering the brunt

Of it.

For the underworld, that meant a

Bull market for the heroin biz,

And frank was in.

Lucas formed a gang named the

Country boys.

Like other black street gangs,

They worked with the italian mob

To get their heroin from

Overseas.

Lucas told some of his family to

Come up to harlem from north

Carolina and join in the action.

Lucas and the

Country boys were an

Uncompromising group of

Criminals who tolerated zero

Disloyalty to their cause,

Making money by selling heroin.

somebody stole the money,

Somebody stole the drugs,

Somebody is considered weak,

They're executed.

You know, somebody will knock on

The door, set them up and just

Kill them.

As a drug kingpin,

Lucas had a fierce survival

Instinct and was known for his

Quick temper.

frank would do things on the

Spur of the moment, and he was

The one with the temper.

You did him wrong, he'd squash

You like a cockroach.

According to strike

Force detective richie roberts,

The country boys carried out

Shocking acts of retribution on

Behalf of their boss, frank

Lucas.

on one occasion, someone was

Murdered in the basement of one

Of the projects.

They sawed off his head and

Hands and threw the torso in the

Passaic river.

One of frank's

Associates was this man,

Leslie "ike" atkinson.

In the late 1960s, ike was in

The u.S. Army stationed in

Thailand as part of the american

War effort in vietnam.

Atkinson earned the nickname

"sergeant smack" when he began

Smuggling heroin from the vast

Poppy fields of thailand back to

Frank and the country boys.

The method was innovative, to

Say the least.

Using connections on army bases

In vietnam, atkinson arranged to

Have the heroin placed secretly

In the coffins of dead american

Gis.

a lot of the bodies came back

To north carolina.

Camp lejeune and the marine

Corps base was there, fort bragg

For the airborne.

And some of the information I

Got that there were people

There, soldiers, who knew which