The rural South in the U.S. and American gangster life are also known as an honor cultures.

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And I think, in large part, it's due to this culture of, you know, gangster life and thug life that's become so accepted, acceptance of crime, acceptance of drug dealing, the no-snitch campaign, this kind of thing that I think is just poisonous for young minds because that's who's doing it, young people often involved in fighting over drug turf, killing each other.

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In the film he plays the real-life French gangster Jacques Mesrine.

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We see the rise of the real-life Harlem gangster Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), who in 1968 went to Northern Thailand, purchased uncut heroin, shipped it to New York, and sold it on the streets at twice the strength and half the price of what the Mafia was selling.

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Directed by Sir Ridley Scott, American Gangster is based on a real-life story.

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The high-adrenaline life of crime he described resembled that of another famous French gangster, Jacques Mesrine.

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