American Gangster is a
2007 crime film directed by
Ridley Scott and starring
Denzel Washington and
Russell Crowe. Washington portrays
Frank Lucas, a real-life drug-lord from
Harlem who smuggled
heroin into the United States on American service planes returning from the
Vietnam War. Crowe portrays
Richie Roberts, a detective attempting to bring down Lucas' drug empire.
Filming was done on location in New York City.
American Gangster was released in the United States and Canada on November 2, 2007.
Plot
Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson, a disciplined and intelligent black
gangster, runs much of
Harlem and imparts his wisdom onto his former driver turned right-hand man,
Frank Lucas (
Denzel Washington). Johnson dies of a
heart attack in 1968, at an electronics store. Frank dislikes the new, flashy gangsters and decides to take control. To gain money and power, he travels to
Bangkok,
Thailand, and with the help of his "cousin" who is an Army Staff
NCO, strikes a deal with a
Chinese nationalist general in the
Golden Triangle of Southeast Asia, who supplies him with pure
heroin. Starting with a first shipment of 100 kilograms, Frank has the drugs transported back to America via military service planes. His final shipment comprises two
tonnes hidden in the coffins of seven dead U.S. soldiers from the
Vietnam War.
