American Gangster [DVD]

New York, 1968. Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) is the silent driver and messenger of one of the most charismatic black mafia bosses in Harlem. But when the boss dies unexpectedly, Frank decides to take advantage of the door left open in the power structure to build his own empire and realize his version of the American dream. Thanks to his ingenuity and strict business ethics, he takes control of the drug trade in the heart of the city, flooding the streets with a higher quality product at a better price. Lucas outsmarts all the other mafia groups and not only ends up becoming one of the city's biggest drug dealers, but also one of its civic superstars. Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) is a marginalized cop who knows the streets well and notices that the power of the underworld is changing hands. He believes that a person outside the known clans climbs the ladder of power. Both Richie Roberts and Frank Lucas share a strict code of ethics that separates them from the rest of their contemporaries, transforming them into two solitary figures on opposite sides of the law. When their destinies cross, a confrontation soon breaks out from which surely only one will win...