Unit 5: American Gangster

In the film, American Gangster, Frank Lucas starts off as just the driver for the gangster, "Bumpy" Johnson. After "Bumpy" dies, Frank takes over the business, and perfects it. Although, Frank is a gangster, he starts off as a relatively normal guy. He wants to make money to support his family, and also to, you know, make money. He sets up a whole operation to sell heroin, by bringing it into the states from Vietnam. From Rafter's perspective, American Gangster would absolutely be a discussion on a rational choice criminal. Unfortunately, the narrative gets away from Lucas as he starts to make decisions that would ultimately cost him his money and his freedom for 15 years, but also much of his family's freedom. When getting his cousins and brothers to join his business, he murders a rival dealer in cold blood, in the middle of the street. This is absolutely a power move to show his family, just how in control he was. One of his biggest mistakes was wearing the mink coat his wife got him. In the beginning of the film, Lucas tells his family member to not wear clothes that make him stand out. One who wears clothes like that are more likely to get caught and arrested. This is ironic because when Lucas finally wears something showy, Ritchie Roberts sees him, takes a photo, and a seemingly aimless investigation finally has someone on its radar.
One of the more powerful scenes is when Lucas' mother confronts Lucas about not killing cops. It's not who he his, she says to him. He's not a cop killer. This simmers him down and he doesn't lose his cool, therefore, he doesn't lose his mother, nor his wife.
This movie shows a man who was given the opportunity to make money, and a lot of it, though not illegally. He took advantage of that to the best of his ability. Additionally, this movie shows many greedy members of the Drug Enforcement Agency of New York, who were eventually taken down by Lucas and Roberts. Thus, this film depicts good cops, bad cops, gangsters who are in it for the money and lose themselves to greed, and petty junkies who are just looking for the next hit.