Daddy, are we gonna stay together, all of us, from now on?”
“Yes, ma’am, we are,” I told my daughter Francine.
I was in Las Vegas with Francine and my wife, Julie. We’d all reconnected and were living together as a family again. And I had come out to Vegas to take care of some business. I was dabbling in the game, just enough to keep my head above water. But I wasn’t fully in the mix like I wanted to be. I had to take things slow to make sure everything would go on without complications. But of course, Julie was unhappy when I told her my plan.
“After all we’ve been through,” she said, shaking her head. “You want to go back into it.”
“What do you think I’m going to do for a living?”
Julie put Francine to bed and then came back out into the living-room area of our suite.
“I don’t know, Frank. But we all lost seven years together. I can’t believe you would risk not seeing us again. I just can’t believe it.”
“Can you believe that I need to provide for my family? Can you understand that?”
“So what are you going to do?”
“Whatever I have to do.”
As soon as I said that, someone kicked in the door to our hotel room.
“On the floor!” a federal agent screamed.
“Oh my God, Frank,” said Julie, “what’s happening!”
Julie and I hit the floor as the agents started tearing up the hotel room.
“What the hell is this about?” I said.
“Trying to get back in the game, Frank?”
I had no idea what they were talking about. I was nowhere near where I used to be. At that moment, I had absolutely nothing on me and no one would have been able to tie my name to nothing major. I had no shipments coming in (at least not yet), and nothing really on the horizon that would have warranted all that action.
“I’m not back in anything,” I said. “And my daughter is here, right in the next room.”
They put another agent in Francine’s room while they continued searching our suite. They found nothing but arrested me anyway. Julie was inconsolable. I tried to calm her down but it was no use.
I don’t even remember what they tried to charge me with. I just know that the case ended up getting thrown out. I wasn’t completely innocent, but I damn sure wasn’t as deep in the game as they were trying to make me out to be. But it did let me know that the feds were watching me even closer than I had suspected.
Julie and I got back on our feet. She was taking care of Francine, while I was dabbling in the game, being as careful as I possibly could. But at this point, I really didn’t see any options. Even though I knew I was being watched, I still had to do what I had to do. Just like in so many movies and books, I needed one more score. One more opportunity to make a decent payday and then retire. Before, I didn’t retire because I wanted a fucking plane. This time, my needs were much simpler. I just needed enough to take care of my family. One or two decent shipments from Southeast Asia and into Harlem would be all I needed. Then I’d use my profits to invest in a few straight businesses. Maybe another nightclub or a restaurant or real estate. Something. Anything.
After a year or so, the heat was off me. My name hadn’t been in the papers much and I could tell that I wasn’t being watched as closely. And so I made my way back to Southeast Asia and set up another shipment. I kept my operations bare-bones. I had always had a very close-knit operation. But this time, it was even smaller than usual. I had the least amount of people possible in on the deal and everything went smoothly. Julie didn’t even know I was back in the game on that level. And she didn’t need to know. I wanted to play everything close to the vest and keep it simple.
I stayed low-profile for two years. I kept my nose clean and made just enough money to survive without bringing too much attention on myself.
At this point, I was over fifty years old. And I was a different person in a lot of ways. I was more mellow, had less of a temper, and I was a lot more laid back and easygoing than I had been as a younger man. I learned the hard way that being more laid back was not going to work.
I met a woman I’ll call Mariella at a bar in Harlem. Me and Julie had been going through some changes and we were off and on. She’d get upset about something and go to Puerto Rico for a stretch. We’d break up and get back together all the time. During one of our breaks, I started messing with this chick Mariella. Nothing serious. I was still married and planning to stay that way.
The girl was cool even though she came on a bit strong. She picked me up, not the other way around. She was a pretty girl so I didn’t mind. She was in the game, selling drugs on a minor level and trying to get on in a major way. She thought I could help. I told her the truth: my days of rolling like that were over. I was doing my thing when I needed to. But not in the way she wanted.
“I don’t need you to be in on my deal,” she said one night over dinner. “I just need you to put in a good word for me.”
“To who?” I asked.
“This guy from Cuba. I’m trying to get a decent amount of product from him but he doesn’t know me.”
“So?”
“He’s heard of you. If you just come with me to meet him and tell him you’ll vouch for me, I know he’d put me on.”
“I don’t work in groups, I told you that. I work alone.”
“I know that,” she said. “So do I. I told you I’m not asking you to join forces. Just put in a word for me.”
I told her no. But she kept needling me about it over a few weeks and I finally gave in. We went out to a hotel at LaGuardia and met some guy in the hotel bar.
“You’re a legend in this game, Mr. Lucas,” he said.
I wasn’t feeling him. He was smiling too bright, showing all his teeth. And he seemed to be going out of his way to throw money around. Big tips at the bar, took us to an expensive restaurant. The whole bit. It was just a little over the top. Over dinner, the conversation finally moved from small talk to the real deal.
“Mariella, how much do you want?” the guy asked.
“A half a key,” she said.
“And you’re sure you can handle it?”
“Absolutely.”
The guy looked over at me.
“I stand behind her,” I said.
But as soon as I said it, I wanted to take it back. I’d only known the chick for a few weeks. And the whole plan was going down too quick. The day I finally decided to go along with it, she’d set up a meeting for the same exact day. Too fast. But it was done. But in that moment, I decided I wasn’t dealing with her anymore. She was using me for my name. Iwas using her for sex. We were even. And as far as I was concerned, it was over.
I was arrested the very next day for conspiracy to purchase and distribute cocaine.
Mariella was an informant, working for the feds. I’d been set up. The newspaper reports said that I conspired with an undercover agent to set up a drug sale. Which was not true. I hadn’t been looking to make a sale with Mariella. She’d approached me. And asked me for help. I pleaded not guilty.
But really, it was all my fault. And it was completely unnecessary. I wasn’t even getting any money out of the deal. Just helping out a friend. Or so I thought. I knew from the beginning that there was something off about Mariella and I had not followed my instincts. And that was not like me. While I was on trial and then waiting to be sentenced after being found guilty, I had time to think. And I realized, finally, that this wasn’t the right field for me. I wasn’t on top of my business like I’d been in the past. I just didn’t have the same passion for it all like I used to. I didn’t have the same team behind me. I was used to people like Doc Holliday having my back. Now I was doing favors for hot women like Mariella? In the past, I would have never let her into my circle. I was all wrong and on the wrong side of the game. I wasn’t a hustler anymore. I was just hustling.
I was sentenced to seven years in federal prison.
This was probably my lowest point. My wife was doing her best without me, raising Francine on her own. I couldn’t be there for my family the way I should have been. My son Yogi was in college in Texas, preparing to graduate and join the real world. And his father was getting locked up—again.
I can’t say I was starting to regret everything I’d done. To this day, I feel like I did the best with the lot in life I was given. But that jail sentence for trying to help out with Mariella just seemed like a sorry way to end my time in the game. Was that it? Was that going to be my lasting legacy? From a multimillion-dollar industry to going to jail for a half key of coke that wasn’t even for me? Straight bullshit.
I’d have a few years to think about it all. And I wasn’t looking forward to it.