American Gangster quotes

View Quote This is my home. My country. Frank Lucas don't run from nobody. This is America.

View Quote The number one fear of people isn't dying, it's public speaking.

View Quote Pick up the ****in' glass!

View Quote For a cop the uppermost thing is the arrest. For a prosecutor, the arrest is nothing without the evidence to convict. We don't have any real evidence on anyone on this board, so they're coming down. We're starting over from the street.

View Quote His name is Frank Lucas. Originally from Greensboro, North Carolina. Couple of arrests years ago. Gambling, robbery, unlicensed firearm. For fifteen years he was Bumpy Johnson's collector, bodyguard and driver. He was with him when he died. Five brothers, he's the oldest, lots of cousins, all living here now, spread out around the boroughs and Jersey. The brothers are Eugene Lucas in Brooklyn, Earl Lucas in Newark, Lester Lucas in Queens, Turner Lucas, the Bronx and Teddy Lucas, in Bergen County. Except for the chinchilla coat, which no one can explain, Frank's life seems orderly and legitimate. He gets up early. Five a.m. Has breakfast at a Midtown place, usually alone. Then goes to work. Meeting with his accountant, or lawyer, dropping in on one of the several office buildings he owns. Nights, he usually stays home. When he does go out, it's to a club or dinner - with his new wife - friends, celebrities, sports figures - never O.C. guys. Sundays he takes his mother to church. Then drives out to change the flowers on Bumpy's grave. Every Sunday, no matter what.

View Quote Won't get any informants. Not inside. It's like a Sicilian family. Like he's structured his own family the same way to protect himself. Being with Bumpy long as he was, he would have been around Italians a lot. Enough to learn that much.

View Quote Rossi: They seize it, arrest everybody, whack it up and sell it back to us. Our dope. They been living off it for years, these New York cops. They basically control the market with it. What the **** has happened to the world, Frank?

View Quote Toback: What're you doing counting this in front of everybody? Are you out of your ****in' mind? Take it into a room. Now.

View Quote Rivera: 'm a leper. Because I listened to you and turned in a million ****ing dollars. You know who'll work with me after that? Same as you. No one.

View Quote Tango: What're you going to do, boy? Shoot me in broad daylight? In front of everyone?

View Quote Trupo: When's the last time I was in Jersey? Let me think. Never. What're you doing coming over here without letting anybody know? You don't know you can get hurt doing that? You got your money. Now, never, ever, come into the city again unannounced. You come in to see a ****in Broadway show you call ahead first to see if it's okay with me.

View Quote Laurie:What are you saying? That because you were "honest" and didn't take money like every other cop, I left you? You don't take money for one reason: to buy being dishonest about everything else. And that's worse than taking money nobody gives a shit about - drug money, gambling money nobody's gonna miss. 'd rather you took it and been honest with me. Or don't take it, I don't care. But don't then go cheat on me. Don't cheat on your kid by never being around. Don't go out and get laid by your snitches and secretaries and strippers. I can tell just by looking, she's one of them. You think you're going to heaven because your "honest." You're not. You're going to the same hell as the crooked cops you can't stand.

View Quote US Attorney: No ****ing **** has accomplished what the American Mafia hasn't in a hundred years!

View Quote Richie: [after finding the money in the back of the car] This isn't a couple of bucks.
Rivera: It's the same thing. In principle.
Richie: We're talking about principle?
Rivera: Richie, a cop who turns in this kind of money says one thing: He'll turn in cops who take money. We'll be pariahs.
Richie: We're ****ed either way.
Rivera: Not if we keep it. Only if we don't. Then we're ****ed, you're right. But not if we keep it.
Richie: Yes, we are.
Rivera: Goddamn it, did we ask for this? Did we put a gun to someone's head and say, Give us your money? Cops kill cops they can't trust. We can't turn it in.

View Quote Chinese General: How would you get it into the States?
Frank: What do you care?
Chinese General: Who do you work for in there?
Frank: What do you care?
Chinese General: Who are you really?
Frank: It says right there. Frank Lucas.
Chinese General: I mean, who you represent?
Frank: Me.