American Gangster tells the true story of drug Kingpin Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) who in the 1970's became the biggest heroin dealer in Harlem with a smuggling scheme that imported heroin out of Vietnam in the body bags of dead American GI's. Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) is the detective assigned to crack the mystery of who controls New York's drug trade. A dedicated officer who rose above the rampant corruption rife in the force, he found himself at war as much with his fellow officers as with the gangs on the street.