American Gangster 2007

The movie features Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) who used to be the driver for one of the leading black crime bosses in Harlem and Richie Robers (Russell Crowe) who is an honest but very lonely cop (he turned a $970,000 cash bust in).  

Frank portrayed as an intelligent and "ethical" man exploits the death of his boss, to build his own empire. He rules the city's drug trade by bringing in a purer drug by going directly to the source in the Golden Triangle. Frank uses his money to rise in the elite circles and becomes one of the cities top corruptors and influencers.

Richie detects the shift in power in the drug business and senses that the power has shifted from the mafia to someone else. He soon figures that a powerful black man has taken control of the scene and starts putting the pieces together. 

Overall, this is a brilliant movie featuring powerful and credible performance from Dezel Washington and Rusell Crowe and directed by Ridley Scott - well worth watching.