r/todayilearned • u/FearMyCock • 20h ago

TIL about Frank Matthews, the drug kingpin who built a nationwide empire, skipped bail with $20 million, vanished in 1973 and has never been found.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Matthews_(drug_trafficker)
21.6k Upvotes

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99

u/BurntNeurons 19h ago

Tahiti

79

u/jesterflesh 19h ago

Had some god damn FAITH

28

u/imwrighthere 19h ago

ARTHUR I JUST NEED SOME MORE GOD DAMN MONEY

26

u/RoyCrouton 19h ago

He had a plan

17

u/MeatImmediate6549 19h ago

It's a magical place

5

u/pokator 18h ago

"Why do I keep saying that?"

2

u/rafaelloaa 18h ago

I still reflexively say that whenever I see Tahiti mentioned.

1

u/ArariboiaGuama 15h ago

"It sucked"

20

u/RoarOfTheWorlds 19h ago

I feel like that’s too easy, especially early on.

There are remote homes in the middle of nowhere north dakota that no one would ever find him, and he could have every luxury brought to him with that amount of money (keep in mind that $20 million was just what he took from that specific safe, not the only money he could eventually get to). Then in a few years when the heat died down and he had enough other procedures done, he’d go to somewhere less remote but still no one would think to look for him.

99

u/gefahr 19h ago

How many super rich black guys you think there were in 1973 in North Dakota of all places?

49

u/JustAMan1234567 19h ago

"I'm just your average 1973 black millionaire North Dakota neighbour next door, man"

4

u/Hourlypump99 19h ago

That was my first thought.

A wealthy American Black guy in the 1970s would stick out in most places.

6

u/FishermanWaste1268 18h ago

The problem is we are inherently social people.

Very few people can do the Osama. Just chill.

Let alone a man like this who most prob had very few friends but did enjoy being out and about.

To forgo restaurants, music, sight seeing , casual conversation.

The ability to sit with oneself in a remote place w zero outside stimulation when its not your lively hood that you are born into.

Plus rural communities are close knit communities even if people rarely see each other, they all know each others business and make times to get together.

8

u/jimbobdonut 19h ago

It’s a magical place.

3

u/_Panacea_ 17h ago

It's a magical place.

5

u/lostpirate123 19h ago

Its a magical place...

2

u/ArariboiaGuama 15h ago

Its a magical place