14. As With Al Capone in the 1930s, the IRS Was the Nemesis of This 1970s Criminal Kingpin
Frank Matthews’ visits to Sin City were not just for pleasure. Over the years, he made frequent trips to Las Vegas, in which he carried suitcases full of cash to secretly launder at the casinos for a fee. On one of those trips in early January, 1973, he was picked up at the airport by DEA agents on an arrest warrant for conspiracy to sell 40 pounds of cocaine. The feds, who suspected that Matthews had millions in cash stashed away, wanted him held without bail as a severe flight risk. A US magistrate however set bail at $5 million – at the time, the highest bail amount in US history. Matthews, who was also told by the IRS that he owed taxes on the estimated $100 million he earned in 1971, knew he was in serious trouble.
Even if he beat the drug charges, the feds would almost certainly get him on tax evasion. Just like they got Al Capone in the 1930s, the IRS was out to get Matthews in the 1970s. When his bail was reduced to $325,000, he paid it, got out of jail, then disappeared with his girlfriend and about $20 million in cash. Decades later, Matthews’ fate remains a complete mystery. According to Mike Pizzi, a US Marshall who spent years involved in a futile hunt for the fugitive, it is as if Matthews simply disappeared from the face of the earth. Frank Lucas opined on the disappearance: “Some say he’s dead, but I know he’s living in Africa, like a king, with all the fucking money in the world“.