Question about Frank Matthews

[Dwalin2014]

There are some questions, would be interesting to hear your opinions: I have recently watched a documentary about the gangster Frank Matthews, the one who disappeared in 1973 and was allegedly the most successful African-American mobster at those times, bigger than Nicky Barnes, Frank Lucas etc. I have read about him before already, some people say he was the only Black gangster who was a serious competition for the Cosa Nostra in the drug market. The documentary is rather detailed, but I was asking myself, how much truthful the information actually is. I mean, there are many interviews with former members of Matthews's organization and they could surely over-blow his importance and "diminish" the Italian mafia to make their friend look "cool" and "tough", but how much exactly, was there some actual basis for their words? I mean, they say for example that the Italian mob is overrated, in some deals they couldn't even gather the necessary sums of money etc, even though they were dominant in some areas, like the waterfront etc. About Matthews, they claim he was quite a significant power in the underworld, he competed with the mafia when Carlo Gambino and Tommy Lucchese were active, many mafiosi didn't like him for both being black and being a competition, yet he bought a mansion in some upper-class neighborhood where Lucchese, Castellano and some other mobsters lived, to annoy them, and when they sent some soldiers to tell him to move away, Matthews allegedly said "if you touch one of my men, I will get into a car with a machine gun and take a ride all through Manhattan and gun down every wop I see". If he really said that and wasn't killed, that's quite impressive: Mimi Scialo, for example, was killed immediately after he tried to publicly humiliate and bully Gambino when meeting him in a restaurant. But then, if Matthews could allow himself to act tough with the most powerful Cosa Nostra bosses during the Mafia's "golden age", why didn't he do anything, when a Muslim African-American gang from Philadelphia, calling themselves "The Black Mafia", killed off 3 of his lieutenants? That makes no sense. On one hand, him being able to directly refuse submission to the mafia at the height of its power, on the other hand, being kicked out of Philadelphia by some mid-level gang without even trying to settle the score by killing some of them as payment for the killing his "underbosses". Or maybe the Italians didn't kill him NOT because they considered him to be too serious and powerful, but because he wasn't considered a threat big enough and his "glory" was all made up by those friends of his? What do you think?

The main question is: if he could avoid trouble with Gambino and Lucchese without ever recongizing them as superior to him in the underworld hierarchy, why did he do nothing after "losing face" with this "Black Mafia" gang that was definitely less powerful than the Cosa Nostra at the time?

[phatmatress777]

Just like with frank Lucas I think his dealings with the Mafia is inflated... How would a small organAzation like Mathews tell a leader of an army with 300 made men and thousands of associates say that and not be harmed?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DonnieB]

The story I read about the house was that he bought a house in todt hill staten island, which was home to many wiseguys (besides castellano) and a beef was brought to Gambino...matthews sold the home.

[JeremyTheJew]

Well the thing w matthews is how he got away. That shows that he quite possibly was on the lvl of lcn. How many lcn have ran away and made it? Not counting sicily

Sent from my LGMS330 using Tapatalk

[Wiseguy]

Well the thing w matthews is how he got away. That shows that he quite possibly was on the lvl of lcn. How many lcn have ran away and made it? Not counting sicily

Sent from my LGMS330 using Tapatalk

I don't think him possibly avoiding capture, if that's what happened, is in any way a direct reflection of his drug operation rivaling or not rivaling the Mafia's.

[JeremyTheJew]

Okay... So what do we know about his operation?
Its been believed thst like in American gangster movie, how it showed lucas going to Vietnam, well itd been claimed they got that part from matthews.

If that is in fact true i would think that rivals American lcn... As well as him avoiding capture i would say that it shows that his influence and power is bigger then expected.

Is there any american lcn that have avoided capture for so long? He has been on run longer theb whitey!


Sent from my LGMS330 using Tapatalk

[DonnieB]

We honestly have no idea how long he has been on the run, he could have died a couple of years into his departure...or maybe someone made him disappear and put the story out that he lamp chopped it with a couple of millon...it will remain one of life's mysteries

[JeremyTheJew]

Yes that is true... I believe that was a rumor that he was made to disappear.

But also, i believe what made Matthews so succesfull was he linked up with the puerto ricans in east harlem as well. And from what iv read he controlled both harlems...

Id like to know more abkut him. There was someone on RD that knew a lot about that whole group of dope dealers from harlem but since RD os no longer around idk how to ask

Sent from my LGMS330 using Tapatalk

[Five Felonies]

hasn't it been pretty well established by this point that up until the late 80's the italians were the dominant heroin importers/wholesalers? i doubt very much of the heroin, at least in the northeast, was even coming from southeast asia until the early 90's when some of the chinese groups started to fill the void left by lcn. their stuff was primarily grown in turkey and to a lesser extent lebanon before it was processed in marseille and later sicily before it was shipped over here.

i also don't think disappearing, especially during that time period, is a huge indication of power, more so just the will to do it. there really haven't been all that many examples of american mobsters going on the run for extended periods of time for whatever reasons.

[dixiemafia]

I think Matthews was killed, no way do I think he got away clean before everyone was busted and is living it up somewhere. That's the sign generally that you are dead when you disappear with no trace.

As for him being on the run longer than Whitey there is a difference, Whitey was #2 on the FBI's Most Wanted list where EVERYONE is looking for you. Who is looking for Frank Matthews?

[DPG]

Okay... So what do we know about his operation?
Its been believed thst like in American gangster movie, how it showed lucas going to Vietnam, well itd been claimed they got that part from matthews.

If that is in fact true i would think that rivals American lcn... As well as him avoiding capture i would say that it shows that his influence and power is bigger then expected.

Is there any american lcn that have avoided capture for so long? He has been on run longer theb whitey!


Sent from my LGMS330 using Tapatalk

A Lucas relative I wanna say named Atkinson is where the Veitnam story line comes from. Matthews was supposedly connected in South America but also once told a FBI or DEA agent he was tired of dealing with "his Mafia suppliers". This probably just means he used multiple sources like most dealers, but also implies he was comfortable talking about his mob dealings but not his foreign suppliers. People need to understand the American Mafia and the international drug business are two completely different things.

[JeremyTheJew]

What exactly would the international drug trade consist of back then?

And would u say that now a days rizzutos former organization was considered a international drug org?

Sent from my LGMS330 using Tapatalk

[DPG]

I've actually claimed the whole Mafia up there is really just a drug operation consisting of a lot of Italians and others. I don't understand the first question