The Rise, Fall, and Sudden Disappearance of Brooklyn's "Black Caesar" Frank Matthews
The Rise, Fall, and Sudden Disappearance of Brooklyn's "Black Caesar" Frank Matthews
When the Italian mafia refused to do business with aspiring drug trafficker Frank Matthews, he found a way to become a kingpin while cutting out the mob entirely. In 1973, he mysteriously vanished
Background
On July 2, 1973, Frank Matthews failed to appear for his hearing in Brooklyn federal court. The 29-year-old drug kingpin was facing a litany of charges ranging from tax evasion to narcotics trafficking.
Matthews and his girlfriend had been arrested by DEA agents at Las Vegas’s McCarren Airport, attempting to board a flight to Los Angeles. His bail was set at $5 million, which at the time was a record.
The court slashed Matthews’s bail in half after he agreed to be extradited to Brooklyn to face tax and cocaine distribution charges. After several weeks in confinement in New York, Matthews's bail was reduced to $325,000.
Matthews posted bail, and in April 1973, he walked out of jail. Sometime between his release in April and his scheduled court hearing in July, Frank Matthews Disappeared.
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