In 1970s America, nobody used to notice Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) , the quiet driver to one of the city’s leading black crime bosses. But when his boss suddenly dies, Frank exploits the opening in the power structure to build his own empire and create his own version of the American Dream. Through ingenuity and a strict business ethic, he comes to rule the inner-city drug trade, flooding the streets with a purer product at a better price. Lucas outplays all of the crime syndicates and becomes not only one of the city’s mainline corruptors, but part of it’s circle of legit civic superstars.