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The Secret Empire of Harlem: How Black Gangsters Rewrote America's Criminal History
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Jun 20, 2025
Journey into the untold story of Harlem's most powerful crime lords, from Stephanie St. Clair's defiant empire to Frank Lucas's "Blue Magic" revolution. Discover how Black gangsters challenged the Italian Mafia's monopoly and reshaped America's underworld forever. 📌 Featured Stories: - Stephanie St. Clair's rise from immigrant to queen of the numbers racket - Bumpy Johnson's chess game with Dutch Schultz - Frank Lucas's Vietnam heroin pipeline - Nicky Barnes: The rise and fall of "Mr. Untouchable" 🔍 This independently produced documentary reveals the complex truth behind America's most notorious Black crime bosses. From strategic brilliance to tragic downfalls, witness how these figures transformed from outlaws into cultural icons. The Secret Empire of Harlem: How Black Gangsters Rewrote America's Criminal History | True Crime Documentary #TrueCrime #HarlemHistory #OrganizedCrime #BlackHistory #Documentary #CriminalEmpire #AmericanHistory #TrueCrimeDocumentary DISCLAIMER: This documentary is for educational purposes only. We do not glorify or promote criminal activities. --~-~~-~~~-~~-~--~-~~-~~~-~~-~--~-~~-~~~-~~-~- Like and subscribe will be greatly appreciated! 🙏 -~-~~-~~~-~~-~--~-~~-~~~-~~-~--~-~~-~~~-~~-~- Grow Your YouTube Channel Faster with vidIQ!
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0:00
they say that after midnight on the
0:02
boulevards of Harlem the concrete
0:05
breathes street lamps sputter like tired
0:08
stars and a faint saxophone drifts from
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a basement that was never listed on any
0:14
tourist map somewhere in that halflight
0:18
dice rattle on a trash can lid a man in
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a flatbrim hat lowers his voice and a
0:25
woman with eyes of steel counts coins
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faster than any adding machine the
0:31
official ledgers of New York City are
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silent about what happens next yet the
0:36
pavement remembers every footstep stick
0:40
around long enough and you'll hear the
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ghosts argue about who really ran this
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town names whispered like forbidden
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spells st claire Bumpy Dutch Lucas
0:53
Barnes these are not stories taught in
0:56
civics's class they're rumors scribbled
0:58
in the margins of America's past rumors
1:01
so potent they kept entire precincts
1:04
awake at night tonight we dig beneath
1:07
the headlines beneath the sanitized
1:10
textbooks beneath the century old
1:12
prejudice that tried to will these
1:15
legends out of existence
1:18
we are here to chase the scent of money
1:20
and power through back alleys and
1:22
boardrooms through brothel and billiard
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clubs into prisons and pen houses
1:29
because somewhere inside those tangled
1:31
threads lies a revelation black
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gangsters didn't just break the rules of
1:37
America's underworld they reddrafted
1:40
them forcing even the Italian syndicates
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to read from a new script the tale we
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tell is part tragedy part triumph and
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wholly
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unapologetic so pour a stiff drink dim
1:54
the lights and promise yourself one
1:56
thing no matter what you thought you
1:58
knew about organized crime be ready to
2:02
unlearn it welcome to Black Gangster
2:05
History the secrets that rewrote the
2:07
mafia code independently produced
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entirely unsponsored fueled only by
2:13
curiosity and a stubborn commitment to
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truth you made this possible let's begin
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picture Harlem in
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1921 brownstones freshly painted yet
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decaying from within rent parties
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throbbing with piano gissandi cotton
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club dancers twirling feathers under a
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fog of cigarette smoke jim Crow might
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end at 110th Street on paper but in
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practice racism wraps the neighborhood
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like barbed wire jobs are scarce banks
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refuse loans insurance agents laugh
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black families out the door into that
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void grow alternative economies some
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harmless some deadly most of them
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invisible to city hall the biggest
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earner among them is policy a street
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lottery whose rules are simple pick
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three numbers hand a dime to the runner
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cross your fingers if your combo matches
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the number posted next day in the papers
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you could bring home a week's salary to
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outsiders it looks like petty gambling
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to Harlemmites it is a communal treasury
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a bootstrap fund for rent medical bills
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even church repairs by
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1922 coins dropped into policy pots
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approach a million dollars a month real
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money in any era naturally real
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predators circle stephanie Sinclair sees
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them coming long before they appear born
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in Guadaloop smuggled through Marseilles
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fluent in French English Creole and the
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language of survival St clare lands in
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New York with nothing but the fire in
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her gut within 5 years she owns eight
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apartment buildings three shoe shine
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stands and the most sophisticated policy
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operation uptown she hires black war
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veterans as enforcers pays school
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teachers to check the books and stores
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profit in tin boxes under grocery
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shelves so the cops can't confiscate a
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thing when the 32nd precinct captain
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comes sniffing for a payoff she
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publishes an open letter in the
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Amsterdam news i do not bribe to exist i
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exist therefore you will have to bribe
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history to erase me no one had ever
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talked to the NYPD like that and lived
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stephanie not only lives she thrives
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soon clearing nearly 200 grand a year
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equivalent to over 3 million today but
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numbers alone can't defend
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territory enter Ellsworth Bumpy Johnson
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a chess playing hustler from Charleston
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who reads Dosstofski between dice games
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he earns the nickname from a bump on the
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back of his head courtesy of a childhood
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medical mishap and wears it like a crown
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of thorns bumpy respects St clare's
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brains she respects his muscle and
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together they become Harlem's royal
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court her strategy his enforcement
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bumpy's first task is to neutralize the
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so-called Purple Detective Agency a gang
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of crooked cops moonlighting as
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extortionists he does so not with
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gunfire though that remains an option
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but by leaking their payroll to a
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senator hungry for reform headlines
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one week later the Purple Boys are
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reassigned to Staten Island traffic duty
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harlem applauds down in Midtown Dutch
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Schultz growls over his stake a former
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beer baron reduced to bootlegging jin
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and hijacking trucks dutch hears tales
6:00
of easy policy money and decides Harlem
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is ripe for plunder he bribes judges
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bullies union bosses and finally sends
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30 armed goons north of 125th Street to
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negotiate the goons leave carrying
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broken noses and an unmistakable message
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turn around dutch insulted escalates he
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tortures storefronts kidnaps runners and
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even tries to bomb St clare's townhouse
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using dynamite stolen from a
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construction site she survives by
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napping in her bathtub a habit she
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learned during childhood hurricanes a
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fact that will later feel like divine
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intervention time for chess Bumpy
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decides he meets Dutch's consilier in a
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Little Italy pool hall wearing his
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Sunday suit and an expression carved
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from granite in measured tones he
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explains that Harlem's internal law is
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older than Schultz's birth certificate
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that bullets will be answered with
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burying grounds and most chilling of all
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that Bumpy has memorized the daily roots
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of Schulz's wife and children the
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consiliary relays the message dutch
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laughs it off right up to the evening
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his personal safe explodes in his face
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courtesy of a nitroglycerin vial slipped
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between stacks of cash dutch survives
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but three fingers are lost to history
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the pyrochnics draw public outrage
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forcing Mayor Fierella Laguadia to act
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st clare seizes the moment she smuggles
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a letter into city hall so eloquent so
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damning that Laguadia cannot ignore it
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without ruining his reformist brand
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within 48 hours the NYPD swarms
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Schultz's gin warehouses under the guise
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of a tax raid 12 arrests eight seized
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trucks and one humiliated Dutch later
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Harlem sovereignty is unofficially
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recognized bumpy and St declare toast
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with prohibition grade champagne but
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they both know victory is temporary laws
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change greed is eternal fast forward to
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1965 jazz has mutated into funk the
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civil rights movement is both triumphant
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and bleeding and across the Pacific a
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jungle war is churning out body bags by
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the hour frank Lucas an ex-drive driver
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for Bumpy attends his mentor's funeral
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at Union Baptist Church standing amid
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floral wreaths Lucas decides two things
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the throne of Harlem is vacant and
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America's next addiction isn't numbers
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or booze it's heroine lucas travels to
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Bangkok posing as an army sergeant there
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he befriends a local smuggler nicknamed
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Cadillac Cow and strikes a devil's
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bargain 98% pure heroin at wholesale
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prices hidden in false bottoms of
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furniture shipped to New York the
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operation works but shipping is slow so
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Lucas improves on it with an idea as
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cold as a morg slab fill military
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caskets with kilos seal them beneath
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false soldier remains and piggyback on
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US Air Force transport planes he calls
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the product Blue Magic brands it in blue
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waxed paper and undercuts every Italian
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wholesaler in the five burrows over the
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next four years Lucas pulls in a million
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a day he buys a mink coat for his wife
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so indulgent its sleeves drag on the
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sidewalk the coat will later betray him
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but that's another scene while Lucas
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corner supply Leroy Nikki Barnes
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corner's image raised in an abusive
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household tempered by juvenile detention
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Barnes graduates to street legend by the
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time he turns 28 he renames himself Mr
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untouchable after a judge dismisses his
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narcotics case on a procedural slip
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Barnes wears tailored Gucci imports
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champagne by the crateful and hires two
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dozen lawyers on permanent retainer
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unlike Lucas Barnes believes visibility
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equals invincibility he forms the
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council a cooperative of seven Harlem
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dealers who meet monthly to set prices
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allocate corners and mediate turf
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disputes essentially a corporate
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boardroom in bell bottoms their
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handshake oath never testify never talk
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never betray for a while it works the
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council's profits finance community
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cookouts college scholarships and
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midnight basketball blurring lines
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between villain and patronage yet hubris
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is a thirsty beast on June 5th
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1977 Barnes poses for the cover of Time
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magazine arms folded grin unchecked
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under the headline Mr
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untouchable across town a newly minted
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DEA task force studies the cover like a
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battleground map among them is Detective
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Richie Roberts a white New Jersey cop
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whose moral compass spins unlike any
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partners he turned in a million dollars
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of unmarked drug cash because he says it
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wasn't mine lucas mistakes Roberts's
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honesty for naivity barnes misreads it
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as bluff both men will pay richard
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Nixon's war on drugs declares narcotics
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public enemy number one yet Harlem
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residents know the real enemy wears two
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faces addiction and neglect methadone
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clinics pop up on corners once reserved
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for shoe shines school attendance
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plummets funerals become neighborhood
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reunions lucas's blue magic though purer
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than anything on the street is cut by
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mid-level dealers with baby laxative to
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maximize weight overdoses spike mothers
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weep the same community that once saw
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Lucas as a Robin Hood now views him as
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plague carrier richie Roberts conducts
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surveillance from a battered Chevy
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eating stale donuts while recording
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license plates outside Lucas's uptown
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mansion one night Roberts watches Lucas
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hand a fur draped envelope to a crooked
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NYPD detective the detective enters a
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nightclub bathroom emerges lighter and
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drives away humming Soninatra roberts
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has what he needs proof that Lucas
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bribes law enforcement the arrest
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warrant follows culminating in a
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Thanksgiving morning raid swat crashes
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through Lucas's glass doors sending
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shards across Persian rugs lucas is
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handcuffed midway through carving a
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turkey large enough to feed a battalion
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his gold watch reads 8:46 a.m by 10:00
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he's in a holding cell staring at walls
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the same color as Bangkok Sand meanwhile
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Nikki Barnes grows paranoid council
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meetings devolve into shouting matches
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over missed payments and side deals when
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Barnes learns that one member slept with
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his mistress the self-styled CEO orders
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a hit violating his own code the council
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fractures like rotted timber within
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months federal prosecutors indict Barnes
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on the strength of wire taps ledgers and
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the testimonies of disgruntled left
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tenants facing life without parole
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Barnes calculates the odds and arrives
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at a chilling conclusion the only
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currency left is betrayal he volunteers
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to become a cooperating witness provides
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diagrams of council stash houses
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identifies corrupt cops and even fingers
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his ex-wife's new boyfriend in one
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marathon session he names 109
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accompllices harlem reels the streets
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rename him Mr untouchable no more now he
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is simply Mr unthinkable lucas 2 flips
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but with conditions he agrees to expose
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crooked lawmen on the understanding that
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his family enters witness protection
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roberts true to his word
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delivers 33 NYPD officers are indicted
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two commits suicide before trial lucas
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receives a sentence reduction and spends
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his downtime teaching GED classes behind
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bars he will walk free in 1991
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older softer eerily
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philosophical all that money man it was
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just rented congress rattled by the
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optics of blackrun heroin syndicates
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passes the RICO statute allowing
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prosecutors to treat loosely affiliated
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dealers as one criminal
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enterprise suddenly possessing your
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brother-in-law's phone number is enough
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to sink you under a conspiracy charge
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whole blocks vanish into penitentiies
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mothers raise children on welfare checks
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and absentee fathers become a
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statistical cliche yet something
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unexpected germinates in that vacuum hip
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hop djs splice drum breaks from James
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Brown mc's lace rhymes with cautionary
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tales and young listeners memorize
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verses about Bumpy Frank and Nikki the
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way earlier generations recited baseball
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stats the gangster becomes anti-hero the
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hustler becomes folk philosopher fashion
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follows mink coats reappear on runways
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oversized sunglasses emulate barns while
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filmmakers greenlight movies like
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American gangster packaging real pain
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into box office gold political scholars
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coin the term gray market iconography
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the idea that communities will
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mythologize outlaws when mainstream
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history refuses to grant them legitimate
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heroes so what did we witness tonight a
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ledger of crimes certainly a chronicle
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of cruelty without question but also a
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syllabus of resistance proof that even
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within oppression agency blooms
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sometimes in twisted forms stephanie
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Sinclair defied police extortion bumpy
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Johnson negotiated peace by threatening
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war smarter than anyone before him frank
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Lucas hacked the global supply chain
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decades before Amazon nikki Barnes
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understood brand marketing better than
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Madison Avenue their methods were
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illegal sometimes monstrous but their
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audacity forced America to confront its
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own double standards who gets to profit
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who gets punished and who writes the
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final draft of history if truth is born
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in darkness the decision to switch on a
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light belongs to us leave it dark and
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myths multiply
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illuminate it and we might finally
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separate legend from lesson if you found
17:40
value in this unfiltered dive into black
17:42
gangster history hit subscribe and let
17:45
us know your take in the comments below
17:48
next time we cross the border to meet
17:51
the Latina cartel queens who bent entire
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empires to their will until then keep
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your mind sharp and your conscience
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sharper