Federal authorities have officially ended their search for Brooklyn’s notorious drug kingpin Frank Matthews, aka “Black Caesar.”
According to reports, the FBI has officially stopped searching for Matthews after 53 years.
Legend has it that when Matthews wanted to partner with the Italian mafia to sell heroin in 1971, they refused. So he called a meeting in Atlanta with other Black drug dealers and they connected directly with drug suppliers in Cuba and Colombia.
Matthews would later become one of the biggest drug traffickers in U.S. history.
He sold drugs in 21 states and generated over $100 million in net profits.
In January 1973, the DEA arrested Matthews at an airport in Las Vegas. He was charged with income tax evasion and conspiracy to distribute heroin and cocaine. A federal magistrate set his bail at $5 million – a record bail amount at the time.
His bail was reduced to $325,000 cash.
On July 2, 1973, Matthews was scheduled to appear in a Brooklyn courthouse but he never showed. He allegedly took $20 million in cash and fled the country with his girlfriend.
He and his girlfriend were never seen again.
Police raided his home in Staten Island’s affluent Todt Hill and found an empty safe.
Frank’s wife, Barbara Hinton (pictured left and right), raised their three children alone. Despite his cheating ways, she never cooperated with authorities for 53 years.
Barbara never remarried and she still claims she never heard of a man named “Frank Matthews” when approached by authorities.
If Matthews is still alive he would be 81 years old.
Matthews’ legend lives on in movies, documentaries, rap songs, and books.
Some theories suggest he was killed by the Genovese crime family to prevent him from turning state’s witness against them. Others believe he fled the United States and lives in the West Indies under an assumed identity.
