American Rats Ep 1 Nicky Barnes & Frank Lucas

Frank Lucas (September 9, 1930 – May 30, 2019) was an American drug dealer who operated in Harlem during the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1976, Lucas was convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to 70 years in prison. Once convicted, Lucas became an informant and provided evidence that led to more than 100 further drug-related convictions. For his safety in 1977, Lucas and his family were placed in the witness protection program. In 1981, after five years in custody, his 40-year Federal term and 30-year state term were reduced to time served plus lifetime parole for snitching. In 1984, he was caught and convicted of trying to exchange one ounce of heroin and $13,000 for one kilogram of cocaine. He died in 2019.

Leroy ”Nicky” Barnes (October 15, 1933 – June 18, 2012) was an American drug dealer active in New York City during the 1970s. His arrest was in 1977. He was prosecuted for his drug-related crimes and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on January 19, 1978. Barnes became a federal informant and forwarded a list of 109 names, five of them Council members', along with his wife's name, implicating them all in illegal activities related to the heroin trade. Barnes helped to indict 44 other traffickers, 16 of whom were ultimately convicted. In his testimony, he snitched on himself in eight murders. After Barnes cooperated with the government by working as an informant, Rudolph Giuliani sought a reversal of Barnes' life sentence. Eventually, Barnes was resentenced to 35 years. By working in jail, he earned two months off his sentence and was released in August 1998 and became part of the United States Federal Witness Protection Program. Barnes died from cancer on June 18, 2012; however, because he was under witness protection, his death was not contemporaneously reported under his birth name, and news of his death only became known in June 2019.