Frank Matthews

Frank Larry Matthews (February 13, 1944 – disappeared June 26, 1973), also known as Black Caesar, Mark IV and Pee Wee, was an American drug trafficker and crime boss who sold heroin and cocaine throughout the eastern United States from 1965 to 1972. He operated in 21 states and supplied drug dealers throughout every region of the country. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) ranks Matthews as one of the top ten drug traffickers in U.S. history and he is estimated to have had US$20 million in savings.

Matthews led a flamboyant lifestyle, with luxury homes, vehicles and clothing along with prime seats at sporting events and regular trips to Las Vegas to launder money and gamble. He hosted an African-American and Hispanic drug dealers' summit in Atlanta in 1971 and another in Las Vegas in 1972 to discuss how to break the American Mafia's control of heroin importation. Matthews was arrested in 1973 on tax evasion and drug charges but disappeared afterward.

Early life Frank Matthews was born on February 13, 1944, in Durham, North Carolina. His mother died when he was four years old and he was raised by his aunt, Marzella Steele, the wife of a lieutenant in the Durham Police Department. He was nicknamed "Pee Wee" in his youth and attended the East End Elementary school but dropped out in the seventh grade.

At age 14, Matthews led a teenaged gang in stealing chickens from local farms. When confronted by a farmer, Matthews assaulted him with a brick. He was arrested in October 1960 and served a year for theft and assault at the Raleigh State Reformatory for Boys. Upon his release, Matthews moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he worked as a numbers writer. He made contacts that would become his future Philadelphia drug connections, including Major Coxson and members of the Black Mafia. Matthews was arrested in 1963 and avoided conviction by agreeing to leave Philadelphia.

Matthews moved to the Bedford–Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, New York, and became a barber, collecting numbers as he had in Philadelphia, as well as working as a loan shark and enforcer.

Criminal career In 1965, Matthews grew tired of the numbers game. In order to make more money, he transitioned into the heroin trade. During this period, the main supply of wholesale heroin came from the American Mafia through their famed French Connection. Matthews attempted to partner with the Gambino and Bonanno crime families, but both organizations declined. Matthews then approached a criminal acquaintance named "Spanish Raymond" Márquez, a prolific Harlem numbers operator, who put him in contact with Cuban mafia boss Rolando Lucas Gonzalez Nuñez, a partner in a gambling casino on San Andres Island, Colombia and a major cocaine supplier. Shortly before fleeing to Venezuela to avoid an indictment, Gonzalez sold Matthews his first kilogram of cocaine for $20,000, with a promise to supply more in the future.

Matthews purchased a house at 7 Buttonwood Rd in the Mafia enclave in Todt Hill, Staten Island, three blocks from Gambino family boss Paul Castellano, who lived on Benedict Rd. Matthews would take multiple trips to Las Vegas with suitcases full of cash to have his drug money laundered at casinos for a fee of 15–18%.

On July 2, 1973, Matthews was scheduled to appear in a Brooklyn courthouse but never showed. He allegedly took $20 million and fled the country with his girlfriend. Matthews left behind his common-law wife, their three sons and their Staten Island mansion and was never seen again. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) placed a $20,000 reward for Matthews, the highest set by a federal agency since the Bureau placed the same amount for the capture of bank robber John Dillinger.