Back in touch with an ‘untouchable’

If you lived in New York City in the 1970s, chances are you heard about Leroy “Nicky” Barnes. He was the heroin kingpin, dubbed by some the Al Capone of Harlem, an underworld superstar who had tauntingly posed for the cover of the New York Times Magazine in 1977 with the headline “Mister Untouchable.”

But then-President Jimmy Carter saw the photo staring at him from the cover and sent word down from the White House to federal law enforcement: wage an all-out campaign to put Nicky Barnes behind bars.

When it was over, Barnes’ empire was smashed, its key personnel sent away to prison. But all these years later, a funny thing has happened. The onetime Harlem drug lord is living under an assumed name in the U.S. witness protection program. He was convicted on federal drug charges in 1978 and sentenced to life in prison. But believing he had been wronged by his street brothers, he turned government witness and won his release after spending 21 years behind bars.

Barnes, who is now 74, is the subject of a documentary from director Marc Levin titled “Mr. Untouchable.” Magnolia Pictures will release the film Friday.

The 92-minute documentary features Barnes, his face obscured in shadows, speaking out about his crimes, his empire and his philosophy (even quoting from Italian Renaissance philosopher Machievelli, who advised on how a prince can retain control of his realm). Occasionally, the camera focuses in on a thick cigar Barnes wiggles between his fingers. There are also shots of him seated behind a desk with stacks of money -- and a single bullet -- illustrating his lucrative and violent past.

The documentary’s premiere comes only a week before the arrival of director Ridley Scott’s feature-length film “American Gangster” starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. Washington plays Frank Lucas, who in real life was a key competitor of Barnes. Lucas, who became a prosecution witness, is also now a free man.

Even today, debate rages over which of the two was Harlem’s bigger drug kingpin. “And there was a third guy too,” Levin pointed out. “His name was Frank Matthews. [He] was also a legendary character. No one knows what happened with him, whether he escaped, ended up living in a villa in Africa, or if he was killed. . . . They were contemporaries and, in a sense, I guess, business competitors.”

Levin, who grew up in New Jersey, knew of Barnes as a street legend and also remembers seeing the magazine cover. He said the idea for the film originated with British documentary producer Mary-Jane Robinson.

One thing leads . . .

The seed for the film was sown in 2003, when Robinson visited rapper Jay-Z’s downtown club 40/40 and struck up a conversation with a stranger, a well-dressed black man who, after learning she made documentaries, suggested she do a film on Nicky Barnes. Robinson, who had never heard of Barnes at the time, started her research and later contacted Levin, who had worked on HBO’s groundbreaking documentary series “America Undercover.” Production began in October 2005.

“Mr. Untouchable” includes interviews with people on all sides of the Barnes saga, from law enforcement personnel who worked diligently to put him away to his closest associates and his ex-wife, Thelma Grant, who pleaded guilty to federal drug charges and served 10 years in prison. But the filmmakers weren’t sure that they would be able to interview, or even find, the documentary’s principal subject. Levin said his film was nearly completed when he got word that Barnes would like to talk to him. They met in the summer of 2006. It quickly became clear that Barnes was not only intrigued by their project but also upset that “American Gangster” was about Lucas and not him. Barnes had somehow got hold of the script for the Universal Pictures gangland drama and told Levin: “Hollywood is so full of baloney. They want to make a Steven Seagal movie and I’m talking about a Steven Spielberg movie. They got it all upside down. [Lucas] and his ‘countryboys,’ they didn’t run New York, I did.’ ”

Levin said Barnes and Lucas recently met to talk about old times. “Their conversation, if I could characterize it a little, was like a reunion of fraternity brothers,” Levin said, adding that it is a miracle that either man is still alive.

Levin said his “take-away headline” from the meeting was that Barnes and Lucas were endorsing Republican Rudy Giuliani -- the former mayor and federal prosecutor in New York -- for president in 2008.

“I couldn’t believe it,” the director said. “I heard these two ex-heroin kingpins say, ‘Giuliani would make the best president because he’s a man of principle . . . a man of his word. But when it came to betting on the race, they said [Democrat] Hillary [Clinton] was going to win.”

At its zenith, the Nicky Barnes crime collective, known as the Council, had an annual income of $72 million, according to the film. Barnes, in the film, fingers the bullet on the desk in front of him as he opines on how survival in his former world depended on a willingness to take lives. “Anyone who is in power who is not willing to terminate, will be terminated,” he said.

In his prime, Barnes owned five homes, had 300 expensive, hand-tailored suits and furs, flashed diamond jewelry, had beautiful women hanging on his arms and was protected by half a dozen bodyguards. Time magazine said he drove two Citroen-Maseratis and four Mercedes.

Hip-hop mogul Damon Dash, who is assisting with the marketing of “Mr. Untouchable,” grew up in Harlem at the time when Barnes was a larger-than-life figure admired by many in the black community.

“You have to understand, the heroes in our circle was the guy who had the biggest car, the most money and the best girls and a certain swagger,” Dash said. “He had all of that -- and a certain independence. When he told on his friends, it was like the biggest betrayal. . . . He abandoned what he believed in. He used to kill snitches. He pushed the button on people for even thinking they were a snitch. He’s definitely not the man he was then. Once he snitched, he died. He killed Nicky Barnes.”

Dash, who co-founded Roc-A-Fella Records and has since branched off into other businesses, including indie filmmaking, said he wants to be a bridge for audiences who may not understand what the Nicky Barnes era was like. “I’m going to be there to let you know this is what he’s saying, what he is doing. He was on the cover of the New York Times [Magazine], but he still hustled. If anyone else had been on the cover, they would have stopped selling drugs, but he kept hustling.”

Although the heroin he distributed destroyed countless lives, Barnes was still idolized by many Harlem residents. Newspaper columnist Jimmy Breslin once interviewed a youngster outside Yankee Stadium and asked him if he wanted to grow up to be a baseball star like Reggie Jackson. No, the youngster replied, he wanted to be like Nicky Barnes.

Free holiday turkeys

For his part, Barnes made it a point to give back to the community. For instance, he would dispense free turkeys in Harlem every holiday.

Levin, who has made numerous independent films, episodic television and documentaries, said producer Robinson was responsible for lining up many of the on-camera interviews. Former U.S. Atty. Robert Fiske Jr., who prosecuted Barnes, was a key to getting others in law enforcement to cooperate with the filmmakers, Levin added.

Getting the criminal side to cooperate was a little more dicey.

A number of Barnes’ former associates still hate that he snitched. One former lieutenant, calls him a “coward” for what he did. When Levin called them to say that Barnes had agreed to participate in the movie at the last minute, the director said he could hear the phone drop. “There were some heated discussions,” Levin said. “They said, ‘You told us Nicky wasn’t going to be in the film.’ I said, ‘Look, that’s why I’m calling you now. I didn’t think he was.’ Even going to meet him, I didn’t know we’d come back with anything.” But the crisis soon passed.

Levin believes audiences will come away conflicted in their feelings about Barnes. “For me, ultimately, it wasn’t even about drugs and murder,” Levin said. “It was about power. . . . You get an insight into the power of a personality and [this] corrosive force. The materialism and narcissism of Nicky is universal.”

robert.welkos@latimes.com