The son of Frank Lucas, the heroin kingpin portrayed in the hit film American Gangster, is suing the New York Police Department for $25 million dollars.
The New York Daily News reports that Frank Lucas Jr., an aspiring rapper, claims that police used excessive force and harassed him, after an arrest on Staten Island, New York last month.
The rapper claims that he was a victim of racial profiling in March, when police stopped an automobile driven by his manager, who is white and found a baggie with marijuana residue on it.
When police learned of Lucas’ identity, they allegedly shouted insults and slurs at the rapper, who’s father made millions of dollars importing the deadly drug into Harlem, which ravaging the community.
“I have no desire to be ‘American Gangster Jr.,'” Frank Lucas Jr. told The New York Daily News. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m definitely not proud of a lot of things [my father] did to rise out of his circumstances.”
Lucas, 38, and his manager were eventually arrested charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana in the fifth degree.
Both men spent two nights in jail, before pleading guilty to the charges.
His lawyer in the case, Salvatore Stazzullo, said that his client was severely tainted by his father’s gangster image, which police noted after they stopped him and quizzed him.
“One officer said, ‘You’re Frank Lucas’s son and a rapper? You got two strikes against you,’ ” Lucas said.
