Drugs Win Again – Congratulations to Legendary Crime Boss Frank Matthews (Who Disappeared With $20M The Night Before His Trial in 1973), As Federal Authorities Have Officially Called Off Their Manhunt

He did it. He fucking did it. It's been years 52 since notorious drug kingpin Frank Matthews vanished into thin air the night before trial, and the authorities have finally called off their search. At the ripe young age of 81 years old, ol' Frank can finally breathe himself a sigh of relief. He played the game, and unlike 99% percent of people who've played the game before & since, Frank Matthews won. Maybe. That is, if he wasn't immediately killed the moment he landed in whatever foreign country he fled to.  

If you're unfamiliar with the story of Frank Matthews, he was a Brooklyn-based drug dealer, who in his heyday was said to have more money than the mob. His drug network stretched across 21 states. Drug networks cities like Miami, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and so many more, all ran through Frank. He supposedly controlled the entire Eastern seaboard. At one time, he was the only black man in the world dealing directly with the French Connection. Authorities who worked his case say he was a significantly more prolific drug dealer than the far more famous Frank Lucas (who was portrayed by Denzel Washington in American Gangster). 

Reports say Frank Matthews allegedly made over $60M in his career as a drug kingpin. Other reports say he made as much as $100M. The story is that he fled with $20M out of his personal safe. Although some reports say it was closer to $15M. Yet others say he left with $90M. That's the thing about wildly successful drug dealers. Nobody has any fucking clue how much  money they actually made. A man who ran in circles with Frank Matthews tells a story of Frank asking him to hold onto some money for him. He handed over a bag containing a million dollars cash. The next time he saw Frank, he asked him when he planned to come get his money. Frank had no idea what he was talking about. 

However much money Frank Matthews earned from selling drugs, it was more than he could keep track of. He was accumulating wealth at a faster rate than one man could ever spend. And however much money he made, with inflation, it would be worth a good 7-8 times that today.

Frank Matthews had a hell of the run in the 60's, and into the early 70's. It was a hell of a time to be a drug dealer. The economy was flourishing. There was money on the streets. The drug scene was relatively new. People weren't educated on the dangers of them the way we are today. Selling drugs was akin to printing money, and the risk of being caught was relatively low. 

But in 1971, things came to a head, and President Richard Nixon declared a national war on drugs. 

Advertisement

People started to give a shit that half of New York City was slumped over a park bench in a heroin induced coma. It all came crashing down for Frank Matthews in 1972. He was facing multiple indictments. On top of that, he had "business partners" being killed by rival gangs left and right. Supposedly, the way Frank saw it, it was either go to prison for life, or be shot dead in the street. 

So one night before he was set to appear in a Brooklyn court, he took approximately $20M in cash from a personal safe and fled the country. Frank Matthews was never seen again. And as of today, Frank Matthews has officially gotten away with it. Kind of. At least the cops are done looking for him. 

Now, is it possible that the authorities have spent the last 50 years looking for a dead man? Yes. Probably so. It would almost be shocking to hear otherwise. Many people believe him and his girlfriend fled to Venezuela where he was killed by some associates who thought it was only a matter of time before Frank was caught, and the police turned him into an informant. There's another rumor that a severe cocaine addiction led to him having a heart transplant in Houston, which would imply he wasn't long for this world either way. 

Whether Frank Matthews is dead, or somehow still alive and on the run at 81 years old, I can't help but appreciate a story of a drug dealer in the wind. Not just any drug dealer. But for a drug dealer as influential as Frank Matthews to disappear mid-trial, even if he was immediately murdered in whatever mysterious location he fled to, for the police to never get a satisfying answer on what happened to a player that big is almost unheard of. 

To this day, there are still a lot of people out there, including many of the agents who worked his cases, who strongly believe he's still alive. They say he's intelligent enough to make it anywhere, under any circumstances. And for nobody to brag about killing him. For nobody to ever drop his name to get themselves out of a jam. For his body to never turn up. For the body of the girlfriend he fled with to never turn up. There's a lot of ways they could have gotten themselves a conclusion to the Frank Matthews story. But to this day, nothing has come up. 

I tried to sum that sum the Frank Matthews story up as succinctly as possible, but if you're interested in learning more about him, here's a solid documentary on YouTube (I believe it's also on Amazon Prime) that goes into greater detail.