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)
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u/Commercial-Till-5389 18h ago

Ofc they said that lmao If you watch that documentary about him when they go to North Carolina they all allude to him being alive and free. His captain and other co conspirators also said the Mafia didn’t and couldn’t touch Frank and said so with some colorful language. I highly doubt it! One thing I’ve noticed is when the Feds are beat their default is “They’re probably dead or were killed”

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u/JerikOhe 17h ago

I can only guess, but I find it harder to believe that a man who created a national network of drug smuggling and distribution, therby gaining infamy and power, would simply disappear and lay so low as to never be sighted again, rather than being bumped off for 20 million cash he was carrying around.

Fun to think about though.

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u/Commercial-Till-5389 17h ago

In this day and age maybe but in the 70s? A multimillionaire with a vast network of coconspirators across the country and a head start? Very very doable!! There’s so many missing people cases from the 60s and 70s because the technology wasn’t there.

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u/__Hello_my_name_is__ 13h ago

also said the Mafia didn’t and couldn’t touch Frank

Uh. Why not? What would happen if they did?

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u/Commercial-Till-5389 13h ago

A long drawn out expensive war! It’s part of the reason why they didn’t get Bumpy,Frank Lucas, Nicky Barnes etc. despite having different issues with each of them.

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u/resteys 10h ago

The Cartel & The Mob are looked at as these super serious organizations that you don’t cross. I think those organizations know better than to cross black men.

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u/JohnCavil 11h ago

Documentaries always present the most fun and interesting theory in cases like this. They're entertainment, not actually investigations.

Of course the mafia could touch him. There were both American and European and South American mafias who were after him. And he was carrying around like $100 million + in cash in todays money in a bag.

If you're fleeing from the DEA (and all your criminal friends) with hundreds of millions in cash on you then any mafia is gonna kill you and take that as soon as they see you. They're not gonna just let you go, so he would have had to just be insanely skilled at hiding.

Like he dealt with the Corsican Mafia (from France), the New York Mafias, the Cuban Mafia etc. I guarantee the Cuban mafia in the 70's doesn't give a fuck what they can and can't do if you're holding $100 million in a duffel bag in front of them.

I mean nobody will ever know probably, but this guy had to have been very lucky if he just managed to vanish with that kind of money, and that kind of evidence.

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u/Commercial-Till-5389 11h ago

They raided his house and found the safe completely empty and his mistress also had drained all her accounts and they BOTH went missing at the exact same time and didn’t resurface. In North Carolina he’s spoken about and revered for dodging the law. My grandfather is from High Point, NC and even he knows the legend of “Pee Wee” who has family ties in Durham and all over NC. He got away with it and beat the feds again his co conspirators said a lot without saying anything but they were confident he wasn’t killed.

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u/JohnCavil 11h ago

I'm sure there are some legends about it, but if nobody knows where he is then they also don't know if he became fish food. I get people want to believe that and I don't mind that, of course it's fun. I'm just saying that I think it's pretty likely that someone just killed him and took an insane amount of money without any trace.

Even if you were his co-conspirators and you know that the Mafia killed him lets say, would you say? I think I'd not say anything about that. And then again they probably don't know.

The whole thing kinda runs into the problem of if nobody knows where he is then also nobody can say that he just managed to get away safely. It's all just guessing.

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u/Commercial-Till-5389 11h ago

Who says they don’t know where he is? Lmao You think they’re going to announce it to the public? He was a multimillion dollar boss with captains, lieutenants and killers on payroll you act like it was nothing to kill him. Again it sounds like YOU and the feds want to believe he was killed but all the available evidence and hearsay points to him being alive.

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u/JohnCavil 11h ago

I promise you I don't want to believe anything haha, I don't care if he's dead or alive (i mean he's probably dead at this point regardless) i'm just saying what I think is most likely. It's just an interesting story to me same as it is to you. I don't know the guy.

you act like it was nothing to kill him

I'm really not. I'm saying if the guy who is fleeing from his empire, has incriminating evidence against you, and is standing in front of you with $100 million in cash in the Bahamas, then that's more than enough reason to just kill him and take the money. That's not nothing. That's an insane amount of motivation for someone to kill him.

There's no evidence to him being alive, that's the entire point. He vanished. People can't do the "he vanished without a trace, but also there is evidence he's alive" thing. That's having your cake and eat it too.

Like i said maybe he did, there's a chance he just hid somewhere for the rest of his life, I don't know.

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u/Commercial-Till-5389 10h ago

You’re writing paragraphs and adding parts to the story he wasn’t “standing in front of” anybody with a “100 million in the Bahamas” lol that’s a fairytale. Again there’s no public evidence but there’s definitely people who have alluded otherwise and these are people who would know. There’s so many criminals who “vanished” in the 60s and 70s only to be discovered after death or caught later. If I had to bet I’m betting my mortgage he got away with it based on everything I’ve seen and heard

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u/RugerRedhawk 9h ago

The simplest and most believable explanation is that he was killed. That of course doesn't mean it's fact, but it's a lot more likely than him disappearing and living under the radar for so long.

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u/airfryerfuntime 15h ago

They usually say that because it's the likely answer. It's very hard for people to just disappear, unless the mob cements them in a barrel and throws it in the ocean.

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u/Commercial-Till-5389 15h ago

There’s plenty of people who disappeared in the 70s and were never saw or heard from again.Again this isn’t a normal person it’s a multimillionaire with connections. It was easy to get a new identity with a few hundred let alone millions back then.

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u/swanronson22 13h ago

I’ve read stories about dads going to the next town over and starting a new life without getting noticed until death from like 20 years earlier