The 2007 film *American Gangster* turned Frank Lucas into a household name. Denzel Washington played Lucas as the heir to Harlem’s criminal throne, inheriting power from the legendary Bumpy Johnson in a dramatic, emotional passing of the torch.
According to Mayme Johnson, Bumpy’s widow, that scene was fiction. She said Frank Lucas was not at Bumpy’s side when he died. He was not at the wake. He was not at the funeral.
Mayme was 93 years old when she began speaking out. She was sharp, furious, and determined to expose what she called Frank Lucas’s lies about her husband.
She watched the trailers for *American Gangster* on BET and was outraged. She saw Frank Lucas claim he was Bumpy’s right-hand man. She heard him say Bumpy died in his arms. She called it all a fabrication.
Mayme said Frank Lucas was nothing but a flunky. She said Bumpy never really trusted him. Frank claimed he was Bumpy’s driver for 15 years. Mayme said that was false.
She said Bumpy drove himself. She recalled that Frank may have driven him only twice. On one of those occasions, someone threw a brick at the car.
Mayme described Frank’s real role as someone who would hold Bumpy’s coat and follow him around. She said Frank had no real relationship with her husband.
Frank also claimed he lived with Bumpy and Mayme for six months. Mayme rejected that completely. She said Frank Lucas never spent one night in her house.
She pointed out that the family lived on 120th Street, not 121st Street as Frank had claimed. She said Frank was never invited to their home for dinners or gatherings.
Bumpy and Mayme regularly hosted politicians, musicians, and celebrities. Names like Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Joe Louis, and Sidney Poitier visited their home. Frank Lucas was never among the guests.
Mayme recalled that Bumpy had a saying about liars. He said you can trust a thief quicker than a liar. A thief steals because he needs money, but a liar lies for the hell of it.
The biggest lie, according to Mayme, was about Bumpy’s death. Frank claimed he was holding Bumpy when he collapsed. He said Bumpy’s last words were instructions for him.
Mayme said that never happened. She said Frank Lucas was not at the wake and not at the funeral. She did not know where he was, but he was not there.
The real story of Bumpy’s death is different. On July 7, 1968, Bumpy and Mayme watched *The Lawrence Welk Show* together. Bumpy then went out with his childhood friend June Bird.
They went to Wells Restaurant on Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Bumpy ordered chicken, grits, and coffee. While eating, he suffered a massive heart attack.
June Bird cradled Bumpy in his arms. Another childhood friend, Finley Hoskins, was also there. Someone called an ambulance. June ran to get Mayme.
Bumpy was taken to Harlem Hospital but died on the way. Frank Lucas was nowhere to be found. Mayme said Frank was reportedly out of the country in 1968.
Mayme believed Frank lied because he thought all the witnesses were dead. She said June Bird, Nat Pettigrew, Sonny Chance, and Finley Hoskins were all gone. Frank waited until they were gone before telling his version of events.
Mayme said Frank probably thought she was gone too. She was not. She was 93 and did not have dementia. She wanted the world to know the truth.
Frank Lucas did build a heroin empire in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He did import drugs directly from Thailand. He did make millions of dollars.
But Mayme argued that Frank’s story was not interesting on its own. By attaching himself to Bumpy Johnson, Frank made his story seem epic. He made it worthy of a Hollywood movie.
So Frank lied about being Bumpy’s driver. He lied about living with Bumpy. He lied about being at important meetings. He lied about Bumpy dying in his arms.
Mayme decided to write a book to set the record straight. She worked with author Karen E. Kanoonus Miller, who had known Bumpy as a child in Harlem.
Publishing houses wanted to wait until 2009 to release the book. Mayme did not know if she would live that long. So Karen decided to self-publish through her own company, Ocean Publishing.
To raise money, they asked people to pre-order the book for $10. About 300 people sent money. Radio DJs, bloggers, and journalists spread the word.
The book, *Harlem Godfather: The Rap on My Husband, Ellsworth Bumpy Johnson*, was published in February 2008. It was the first complete biography of Bumpy Johnson written by the woman who knew him best.
The book told Bumpy’s real story. He came to Harlem from South Carolina as a teenager. He survived gang wars with Dutch Schultz and Lucky Luciano. He became the most powerful man in Harlem.
The book also detailed Bumpy’s friendships with Harlem’s elite. Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Joe Louis, Sidney Poitier, and Sugar Ray Robinson were his friends. They came to his house and trusted him.
Mayme described Bumpy as a protector of Harlem. He kept the Italian mob from taking over the neighborhood. He negotiated peace between street gangs. He paid rents for families who could not afford it.
The timeline alone contradicts Frank’s claims. Bumpy went to prison in 1952 and was sent to Alcatraz. He did not get out until 1963. He died in 1968.
That leaves only five years between Bumpy’s release and his death. Frank’s claim of being his driver for 15 years is impossible.
Mayme said Bumpy’s real inner circle included Junie Byrd, Nat Pettigrew, and Finley Hoskins. They were the ones at Wells Restaurant when he died. They were at the wake and the funeral.
Mayme Johnson died on May 1, 2009, in Philadelphia. She was 94 years old. She died knowing her book was published and the truth was out.
Two days before her death, she learned that a film company was negotiating to buy the rights to *Harlem Godfather*. She was proud to call herself an author at age 93.
Her final public statement about Frank Lucas was direct. She said Hollywood should be ashamed. She said if Frank Lucas told those lies, he should hang his head.
Frank Lucas died on May 30, 2019, at age 88. He never publicly admitted he lied about Bumpy Johnson. He never apologized to Mayme. He never corrected the record.
Mayme had already won. The truth, documented in her book and preserved in her interviews, outlived Frank’s lies.
The story matters because legends are built on lies. When lies become legends, they erase the truth. Frank’s lies diminished Bumpy’s legacy and made it seem like he mentored the man who would destroy his community.
That is not what happened. Bumpy died with his childhood friends by his side. He died loved and respected by Harlem.
Frank Lucas did not inherit Bumpy’s empire. He built his own empire of heroin that poisoned the streets Bumpy had protected.
Mayme Johnson, at 93 years old, with nothing to gain except the truth, made sure the record was corrected. She called Frank Lucas a liar and she won.
Frank Lucas was never Bumpy Johnson’s right-hand man. He was never his driver. He never lived with Bumpy. Bumpy never died in his arms.
In Mayme’s words, Frank Lucas was nothing but a flunky. And the world finally knows it.