American Gangster (Denzel Washington)

In the early 1970s, police corruption in New York was rampant, and the Vietnam War was claiming new victims every day. Dead American soldiers were shipped back to the U.S. in military body bags, or returned home as heroin addicts.

With the help of law enforcement and facing no significant competition, the Italian Mafia operated relatively unchecked in the heroin trade, selling thousands of kilograms to addicts. In exchange for silence, a privileged and untouchable group of white men paid millions of dollars to New York judges, lawyers, and police officers. La Cosa Nostra and their henchmen were untouchable.

Untouchable, that is, until the enterprising "businessman" Frank Lucas seized power. No one had paid much attention to Frank while he was an apprentice to Bumpy Johnson, one of New York's leading black crime bosses. But when Bumpy suddenly died, Lucas seized the opportunity to build his own criminal empire and live out his own version of the American Dream. To gain control of the city's drug market, he flooded the streets with a product that was both purer and cheaper.

Cast

John Hawkes

Denzel Washington

Russell Crowe

Ted Levine

Armand Assante

Josh Brolin

Chiwetel Ejiofor

Cuba Gooding

RZA

John Ortiz