Frank Matthews (drug trafficker)
| Frank Matthews | |
|---|---|
| Born |
February 13, 1944 Durham, North Carolina |
| Other names | Black Caesar, Pee Wee, Mark IV |
| Criminal status | Fugitive from justice from 1973 charges. |
| Spouse(s) | Barbara Hinton |
| Children | Three children |
| Conviction(s) | No convictions, fled while under indictment for drug trafficking. |
Frank "Black Caesar" Matthews (born February 13, 1944) is a major heroin and cocaine trafficker who operated throughout the eastern seaboard during the late 1960s and early 1970s. At the peak of his career he operated in 21 states and supplied major dealers throughout every region of the country. Although there is more attention paid to other drug kingpins of the era, Frank Matthews is said by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to be one of the most significant traffickers of the time. He led a flamboyant lifestyle, with large sable mink coats, prime seats at major sporting events, luxury vehicles, and regular trips to Las Vegas where he was treated like a king. Matthews would also become known for hosting a major African-American drug dealers "summit" in Atlanta in 1971. The attendee list, gathered by DEA surveillance, was a who's who of most major African-American and Hispanic dealers throughout the country; they were all there to discuss how to break the Italian Mafia's control of heroin importation so that black drug dealers would not have to rely on them in the future.
Matthews was born towards the end of World War II in Durham, North Carolina. His mother died when he was four years old and he was raised by his aunt, Marzella Steele, the wife of a Durham police lieutenant. Nicknamed "Pee Wee", Matthews was described as bright and curious; nevertheless, he dropped out of school in the seventh grade. He served a year for assault in the juvenile reformatory at Raleigh. On his release, he moved to Philadelphia, where he worked as a numbers writer. He was arrested in 1963 and avoided conviction by agreeing to leave Philadelphia. He moved to the Bedford Stuyvesant area of New York City and became a barber, collecting numbers as he had in Philadelphia. Matthews was now large and muscular; he became both a collector and an enforcer. This gained him the experience and cash he needed to enter illegal drug dealing.
Matthews quickly grew tired of the numbers game after realizing that what he made in a year could be made in weeks in the drug business. He began making plans to transition into the heroin business. In the early 1960s, the main supply of wholesale heroin was the Italian Mafia; Matthews knew he would have to gain favor with someone connected to get a steady, reliable connection from which to base his drug empire. Matthews was able to not only approach but gain an audience before the Gambino family and Bonanno family, both part of the Five Families that have controlled organized crime in New York City since the 1930s. However, both turned the young Matthews down. From his days in the numbers game he knew of "Spanish Raymond" Márquez, a prolific Harlem numbers operator. Márquez put him in contact with "El Padrino", the New York Cuban Mafia godfather Rolando Gonzalez Nuñez, a major Cuban cocaine supplier, shortly before Gonzalez fled to Venezuela because of an upcoming indictment in the United States. Before fleeing, Gonzalez sold Matthews his first kilo of cocaine for $20,000, with a promise to supply more in the future.
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