What happens to Frank Lucas?

Denzel Washington plays a famous drug lord in Ridley Scott’s American gangster.

The biographical crime film is loosely based on the criminal activities of Frank Lucas, who smuggled heroin into the US on American planes returning from the Vietnam War.

Other cast members include Russell Crowe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Josh Brolin, Ruby Dee, Idris Elba, Cuba Gooding Jr., Ted Levine and Lymari Nadal.

The film was released in 2007 and was nominated for two Oscars, for Best Art Direction and Best Supporting Actress for Ruby Dee.

What happens at the end of American gangster?

After Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) and his detectives raid Frank’s (Denzel Washington) heroin factory, which results in the death of Frank’s cousin Stevie Lucas (Tip Harris), Frank is arrested along with his brothers during the raid.

During Frank’s trial, Roberts offers him the chance to reduce his sentence by exposing corrupt police officers. Frank accepts, resulting in three-quarters of the New York DEA, along with other NYPD officers, being arrested and convicted. Unable to live with his involvement, Detective Trupo (Josh Brolin) shoots himself with a pistol.

With Roberts as his attorney, Frank is sentenced to 70 years in prison for conspiracy to distribute narcotics. After cooperating with police, he served 15 years of his sentence and was released in 1991.

Is American gangster historically accurate?

In short, no. American gangster has been widely criticized by those involved in the true story of Frank’s conviction for allegedly distorting and exaggerating events.

Richie Roberts, who is played by Russell Crowe in the film, criticized the portrayal of Frank Lucas as a family man as “ridiculous” and “sickening.” Lucas advised American gangster during filming and later admitted that only a small portion of the film was true.

Roberts also said his involvement in the Lucas conviction, which is depicted in the film, is misleading. “It took more than just me to bring down Frank Lucas,” he told the New York Post.

Federal Judge Sterling Johnson Jr., who served as a narcotics prosecutor in Lucas’s arrest and trial, was particularly damning of the film, describing it as “one percent reality and 99 percent Hollywood.”

“Frank was illiterate, Frank was mean, violent,” he said Today“Frank was everything Denzel Washington was not.”