Adrian Lassiter told Rolling Stone magazine his uncle had died of natural causes without giving further details. Lucas told the New York Times in 2000 that he was making $1 million a day at the peak of his criminal empire. "I could not have people who made less money than me walking around thinking they ruled the world," he wrote in his autobiography "Original Gangster." Arrested in 1975, he collaborated with the US authorities and was paroled in 1981 despite a 70-year prison sentence. He was again arrested in 1984 and sentenced to an additional seven years in prison for drug trafficking.

Source: The Nation Bangkok June 01, 2019 06:00 UTC