People v. Lucas, 106 Misc. 2d 672 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1980)

Supreme Court of New York, decided 4 December 1980 (106 Misc. 2d 672, 435 N.Y.S.2d 466); opinion by Justice Eve Preminger. The defendant, Frank Lucas, was under indictment with a codefendant for the 1974 shooting of George Ford, and moved to dismiss on the ground that the prosecution had used testimony and leads derived from his own cooperation, for which he had been promised immunity.

The court’s statement of facts says that “Frank Lucas, the chief defendant, was head of a heroin empire that had flourished for over a decade,” and that “George Ford, the victim, was one of Lucas’ retailers supplying upper Manhattan.” It says that in 1974, “after he and Lucas had been indicted by the Federal authorities in a large drug conspiracy case, Ford agreed to co-operate with the government against Lucas,” and that “on July 24, 1974, Ford was shot down on the street near his candy store. With Ford’s demise, the government’s narcotics case collapsed and Lucas was acquitted.” It goes on to say that Lucas was later convicted “of two narcotics conspiracies and sentenced to consecutive terms totaling over 70 years,” and that “In May of 1977, Lucas was promised full use immunity for his co-operation.” The decision ends: “Defendant’s motion for dismissal based on the “use” of Atkinson’s and Jackson’s testimony is denied.”

This is a pretrial ruling. Its account of Lucas is the court’s summary of the prosecution’s record for the purpose of the motion, not a verdict on the murder charge, and no later record of that charge has been opened. The opinion says “upper Manhattan”; it does not use the word Harlem. No Second Circuit opinion on Lucas’s federal convictions has been found. Biography beyond this record is not filed.