newjerseynewsroom.com

BY ALICIA CRUZ

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Julianna Farrait, the ex-wife of 1970s notorious heroin dealer Frank Lucas, the focal point of the 2007 feature film "American Gangster," was arrested at a hotel room in the Isla Verde, a district of Carolina, Puerto Rico on May 19 after Drug Enforcement Administration agents say she tried to sell cocaine to an undercover informant.

Farrait, 70, made a brief appearance in court on May 20, only speaking long enough to request that the presiding judge address her in Spanish, according to The Winnipeg Free Press. Farrait, who has not yet been assigned an attorney from the public defender's office, has been charged with conspiracy to violate narcotics law.

Agents say in a recorded conversation on May 11, Farrait allegedly told an informant she had two kilograms (4 pounds) of cocaine in Puerto Rico and that an unnamed individual had an additional eight kilograms (18 pounds) to sell, according to the police report.

On May 19, Farrait allegedly arrived at the hotel in La Isla Verde to meet with the undercover informant where she displayed the drugs. Federal agents from New York, who say they had been tailing Farrait since February 2009 with the help of an informant, then entered the room and arrested her, the complaint stated.

Farrait, husband Lucas and daughter, Francine entered the witness protection program in 1977 after federal agents raided their Teaneck home in 1975. After his conviction, Lucas provided evidence to prosecutors that led to more than 100 drug-related convictions.

After 5 years in custody, her husband's lengthy prison sentence of 40-year Federal term and 30-year New Jersey state term for drug convictions were reduced to time served plus lifetime parole. For her part, Farrait was tried and convicted for tossing suitcases crammed with tens of thousands of dollars out of her bathroom window the morning of the raid. She served six months in jail. Lucas

Several years after she and Lucas left the witness protection program Farrait once again found herself in trouble with the FBI. On what was supposed to be a mother-daughter vacation, Farrait took her daughter to Las Vegas while she participated in a drug deal along with her husband.

FBI agents arrested Farrait and Lucas at the Stardust Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas. Farriat, a former homecoming queen in her native Puerto Rico, served four years in prison for her participation. Inspired by the imprisonment of both her parents, Farrait and Lucas' daughter, Francine developed an online resource center titled "Yellowbrickroads" for children of imprisoned parents.

At her first court appearance, Farrait did not enter a plea and will have to wait for her next hearing to learn whether the judge will grant bail.

Francine Lucas-Sinclair's creation "Yellow Brick Roads" is a national non-profit organization dedicated to providing a safe haven for children of an incarcerated parent(s). In a day and age where so often it seems that the sins of a parent(s) are laid to ret on the doorstep of the child(ren), "Yellow Brick Roads" strives to empower these children by serving as a vehicle through which they can express their feelings, thoughts, dreams and fears.

The organization offers guidance, life skills classes, academic support, activities and counseling opportunities in a structured and welcoming environment "to ensure that each child succeeds with the confidence needed to share their voices with each other, their communities and especially their parent(s)."