- Portrayed by Denzel Washington in American Gangster (2007).
- Has seven children.
- Was illiterate for much of his adult life, including his time as a drug kingpin.
- Was able to tell how much money was in an envelope based only on the weight.
- Claimed that he began his life of crime after seeing his 12-year-old cousin murdered by police in North Carolina. He later claimed that it was Ku Klux Klan members who murdered his cousin for looking "flirtatiously" at a white woman. However, no evidence or records have ever been found that either of those incidents ever happened.
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