Thread by @_ValTown_

Got out on a $325,000 bail, grabbed $15,000,000 from his safety deposit, picked up his mistress, left his family behind and disappeared. Frank Matthews was never found.

Thread Below @_ValTown_

Frank Matthews was born in Durham, North Carolina on February 13, 1944.

Durham in the mid 1900’s was a predominately African American area. Residents of the town owned their own churches, schools, insurance companies, banks, stores, and Barbershops.

Frank attended Hillside High School with his friends from the neighborhood, and later on down the road helps one of them pay for Law School with his drug money.

When Frank was 17 he found a hustle stealing chickens and selling them as his own, and in the spring of 1961 he was arrested after Police found him on Canal Street.

He was polite with the police officers and didn’t give them any trouble; the officers mentioned that in his court case and he was released back to the streets. A year after the arrest Frank left for Philadelphia where he got involved in the numbers game.

Frank then relocated to Bed-Stuy and becomes a barber. The Barbershop at the time was the perfect place to run numbers. Frank met a big time numbers guy who put him in a meeting with some Italians so he could get into the drug trade.

Through the Puerto Rican numbers connect, Frank met a Cuban Dealer named Ronaldo Gonazales. Ronaldo got indicted in NYC and fled to Venezuela. Before he left he gave Frank his very first kilo. When Ronaldo got to Venezuela, he hooked Frank up with The French Connection.

Frank began making trips to Venezuela for other dealers, until one day he decided to stop and get the Cocaine for himself. As he became more powerful The French Connection continued to work with him.

Frank was by himself, with a direct connection to The French Connection. He was the only non mafia and African American to have that resource; and the Italians hated him for it. Allegedly Frank was pulling in 10 Million a year early on, which is equal to 80 Million now.

Everyone who was a somebody in the drug game from the East Coast to the South, had some type of affiliation to Frank. Frank controlled most if not all of the East Coast heading towards the South. Over twenty states he was supplying to.

Frank was in his early twenties when he was operating and FBI began noticing a pattern with the drug dealers before and after Frank. The major ones were all from North Carolina. Frank Lucas, Leslie “Ike” Atkinson, AKA Sergeant Smack, and now Frank.

Frank Lucas to the left, Ike… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Frank got married to Barbara Hinton, and lived in Flatbush on Clarkson Avenue with their three kids . He told people he was in the real estate business, also he lived in an apartment before they got a house; which many of his associates thought was crazy.

Frank and Barbara.

Frank kept a very low profile as he was on the rise, not taking many pictures of him or his family, but he was also very social; inviting tutors to come to the home; assisting his boys with their homework.

Frank was still affiliated with Philadelphia and set out to start another franchise out there.

He worked with Major Coxson, Cadillac Tommy Ferington who came up with Frank in North Carolina, John “Pop” Darby who became a trusted lieutenant, and Tyrone “Mr. Millionaire” Palmer.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

The Philly Black Mafia didn’t like Frank, because they usually extorted the dealers who wanted to set up shop in certain areas. So the Black Mafia took their anger out on his workers. Some of the Philly Black Mafia members below.

One night when Tyrone “Mr. Millionaire” and a few of Frank’s other associates went out to The Club Harlem, Black Mafia members pulled out their guns and k*lled Tyrone along with a girl and three of his bodyguards. No witnesses came forward, and Frank left Philly alone after that.

The Philly Black Mafia finished off the rest of Frank’s Philly based crew and Major Coxson was k*lled also.

The police started to notice Frank’s business after raiding his lieutenant Mickey Beckerwith’s apartment, back in Brooklyn where they used to bag up the Heroin. The apartment was nicknamed The Ponderosa.

Frank would have the workers in there stripped before bagging up the Heroin, bagging anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 bags a night. The bag cutters would work 24 to 36 hour shifts.

Frank’s strong dealers were down in Baltimore too. The biggest dealer in Baltimore at the time “Big Head Brother Carter” controlled 80% of the Heroin being pushed in Baltimore; and Frank was his supplier. Big Head Brother to the far right.

Brother Carter was supplying another popular Baltimore dealer John “Liddy” Jones. Liddy wasn’t happy with Brother Carter’s prices, so he wanted to find a new connect. A girlfriend he had knew about Mickey up in Brooklyn. That’s how he got affiliated with Frank. Liddy below.

Throughout that time Frank would make frequent trips back to Durham where he was embraced by his community and they loved when he came in town. Frank was their pride and joy, they knew what was going on but he took care of them.

Frank decided to move his family from their apartment in Flatbush and relocate to an affluent Italian neighborhood in Staten Island called Todt Hill. Frank had his home built from the ground up.

Frank was selling Heroin but also wasn’t afraid to move Cocaine so his profits doubled.

His neighbors, one next door and another across the street was Tommy “Three Fingers” Lucchese Boss of the Lucchese Crime Family and Big Paul Castellano the underboss of the Gambino Crime family who was later k*lled by John Gotti. Lucchese on the left, Big Paul on the right.

Frank would have dealers from different states come to his house to party, and they partied hard. The bosses didn’t like that Frank was so rich by himself, didn’t need them for anything, and did whatever he wanted.

Frank to the far right, Barbara in the middle.

They began to threaten Frank, he responded by saying that if they touch one of his men he would go on mulberry street and take out every Italian he saw. The Italians wanted Frank dead, he didn’t care.

Las Vegas was a frequent spot for New York dealers, and everyone knew Frank. Frank and his team would bring the money to Vegas so they could Launder it; pay for the rooms, then afterwards fill suitcases up with money to bring back to the Hotel.

Frank to the far right.

Carlo Gambino, Head Of the Mafia Commission told Big Paul to inform the FBI of the license plate numbers on the cars of the dealers who showed up to Frank’s house. Gambino pictured below.

Through that information DEA tracked Frank and his associates over in Vegas during the first week of January of 1973. The morning after he arrived, he was indicted by local DEA agents. His bail was 5 Million Dollars, the highest bail ever at the time.

Frank and his associates were placed in Clark County Jail. When the DEA interviewed him, he told them he wasn’t going to talk to white prosecutors. So they called Marshall Butler, the U.S. Marshall for Brooklyn. Frank told Butler that he was tired of “paying the Italians”

Frank told him about the Italians so they could focus on them instead. The CIA stepped in and told the DEA to leave The French Connection out of Frank’s case.

Frank told his fellow dealers Courtney Brown and Liddy who were in County Jail with him that once he posts bail he was leaving for good. Frank gets extradited back to New York City.

Frank’s bail was $325,000; which his friends and family back in Durham raised for him so he wouldn’t have to spend his own money. When Frank went to court he asked the judge if he was looking at a life sentence, something the DEA didn’t want him to know, and the judge said yes.

When Frank was released, he packed his things, and the last time anyone saw him in Brooklyn he was speeding through a red light. An NYPD officer spotted his car and chased him, only to end up losing his way and Frank got free.

Before he left the City he stopped by to pick up his mistress who was 23 at the time, and she came along with him. Frank went at a bank to go into his safety deposit box to grab 15 Million before never being seen again. A DEA agent was at the bank the same time Frank was there.

Frank vanished, and no one ever saw him again. All the prosecutors got old and passed away; and there hasn’t been any trace of him since.

Lock in.

https://twitter.com/_valtown_/status/945782810886967296