FORMER "AMERICAN GANGSTER" FRANK LUCAS TELLS KIDS ''Get Grades, Not Guns Or Drugs''

Frank Lucas, former drug kingpin and inspiration for the blockbuster film American Gangster, is using his newfound celebrity for a good cause by starting a lecture series aimed at New York City high school students.

In association with his Frank Lucas Youth Foundation, the reformed gangster will begin the series at JFK High School in the Bronx on Tuesday, December 18 entitled "Get Grades, Not Guns or Drugs." The series will be geared towards students but will be open to the general public as well. Lucas will address topics including unity, optimism and brotherly love in addition to a Q&A segment. The talks will serve as a spring board for the Frank Lucas Youth Foundation Symposium, which will be held on January 12 in Newark, NJ.

"If I can just save one child then this will all be worth it," said Lucas. "These kids must know that the road of drugs, violence and crime is a dead end road."

Though the reformed criminal has claimed to turn over a new leaf, urging students not to follow in his footsteps, an earlier scheduled appearance was recently cancelled due to Lucas' inability to sell everyone on his new image.

"I changed my mind the night before," Principal Adolfo Muhammad of MS 143 in Brooklyn told New York's Daily News, after being asked why he cancelled Lucas' lecture. "I'm just not convinced in this particular case. ... I need to see a little more before I bring him in."

"I was very disappointed," Lucas responded. "I really wanted to talk to them, to tell them what I did was wrong. I'll go down on my knees if I have to."

BEANIE SIGEL TAPES ANTI VIOLENCE PSA

Beanie Sigel has been embroiled in his share of legal drama over the years, but now he’s stepping up in an attempt to help reduce crime in his violence plagued hometown of Philadelphia. The Roc-A-Fella artist recently taped an anti-violence public service announcement in conjunction with Philly’s Fox 29. In the spot, which Beans sat down to film this past week, he urges young people to avoid the pitfalls of the street that will only lead them to prison or death. “Exercise your mind, not your trigger finger,” he urges viewers. When asked by a Fox reporter why kids would heed the advice of an artist known for his violent music, the rapper explained that his reputation gives him credibility with at-risk youth. “If this is a message for the youth, it gotta come from somebody that they not only respect, but they know. That been through what they’re goin’ through,” the Broad Street Bully explained. “I got the scars. I got the wounds. I know. Why should they listen to me, who else they gonna listen to?” Philadelphia has had 375 murders so far this year, making it one of the most violent major cities in the country.




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