MJMANDALAY
11-10-2007, 07:52 AM
The Newark lawman who appears on screen in the film "American Gangster" is a bulldog investigator who faces down corrupt New York City cops while on the trail of Harlem drug lord Frank Lucas.
But as is often the case with Hollywood yarns, the reality is not quite so exciting.
Richie Roberts, the Essex County prosecutor portrayed by actor Russell Crowe, spent more time in the office at that point in his career than on the streets.
He did not personally arrest Lucas as he left church with his wife and mother, as portrayed in the movie. In fact, Lucas was already under indictment in New York and sitting in a prison cell when Roberts' unit was able to link him to a New Jersey drug ring in 1975.
The film, which grossed $43.5 million at the box office after opening last week at number one, has left a bad taste in the mouths of the three retired Newark police detectives who investigated Lucas's gang.
Roberts, however, is forthright about what took place in the Lucas caper, and said he and Lucas told the full and accurate story to screenwriter Steven Zaillian.
"The entire story was told to the writer in Hollywood," Roberts said,
For his part, Lucas told The Star-Ledger 85 percent of the scenes depicting him are accurate, although he sidesteps the question of whether he killed people. He said he had no problem with the way Denzel Washington portrayed him.
"There's nobody in the world who can do a better job than Denzel Washington," he said.
But as is often the case with Hollywood yarns, the reality is not quite so exciting.
Richie Roberts, the Essex County prosecutor portrayed by actor Russell Crowe, spent more time in the office at that point in his career than on the streets.
He did not personally arrest Lucas as he left church with his wife and mother, as portrayed in the movie. In fact, Lucas was already under indictment in New York and sitting in a prison cell when Roberts' unit was able to link him to a New Jersey drug ring in 1975.
The film, which grossed $43.5 million at the box office after opening last week at number one, has left a bad taste in the mouths of the three retired Newark police detectives who investigated Lucas's gang.
Roberts, however, is forthright about what took place in the Lucas caper, and said he and Lucas told the full and accurate story to screenwriter Steven Zaillian.
"The entire story was told to the writer in Hollywood," Roberts said,
For his part, Lucas told The Star-Ledger 85 percent of the scenes depicting him are accurate, although he sidesteps the question of whether he killed people. He said he had no problem with the way Denzel Washington portrayed him.
"There's nobody in the world who can do a better job than Denzel Washington," he said.