Heroin-filled coffins? Death of ‘American Gangster’ Frank Lucas recalls tall tales of Thai drug smuggling

The recent death of ageing Harlem gangster Frank “Superfly” Lucas, who embellished his otherwise colourful life with a litany of lies, revives the story of the so-called Cadaver Connection.Despite being portrayed as fact in the 2008 film American Gangster, starring Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington, this tale of a plot to smuggle heroin out of Thailand in the coffins of US servicemen who had died in the Vietnam war never actually happened.It was based on Lucas’ own fanciful recollections,…