By Bradley Davis, NBC News Producer

When you meet Frank Lucas, it's hard to fathom that this 77-year-old man in a wheelchair was once among the most feared gangsters on the New York streets in the 1970s.  But once you get him talking, the former kingpin quickly shows his charming but domineering personality, as he orders everyone in sight to do his bidding.  (Of course, the orders that he'd give back in the day may have involved a bit more violence than getting him an egg sandwich for breakfast, as he asks his son to do this morning).

Photo: Michael Sofronski / Polaris file

I recently interviewed Frank for an upcoming edition of Dateline NBC with Matt Lauer airing this Sunday at 10:30pm.  It's a first look at the new Universal picture, "American Gangster," starring Denzel Washington as Lucas and Russell Crowe as Richie Roberts, the New Jersey cop-turned-prosecutor who doggedly pursued him.  Matt interviewed the film's stars, and I talked with the real-life Lucas and Roberts.

The stories intertwined in the film reflect the ways their own lives came together in the 1970s.  After convicting Frank on a series of narcotics charges, Roberts and other law enforcement officials were able to persuade him to cooperate with their investigation of the drug trade.  He eventually became an informant in more than 100 narcotics cases.  In return, Lucas -- who had been given a 70-year sentence on narcotics charges -- only served five years in prison. (He would serve a additional seven years in a later case).  It's a sore spot for Lucas that he refuses to discuss, perhaps out of fear that his own enemies might still lurk to seek their revenge for ratting them out.

Richie Roberts is able to shed a bit more light on what happened.  The two men, once arch nemeses, are now friends.  Richie, once his prosecutor, is now Frank's defense attorney and even the godfather to his young son.  He says that Lucas is not the same man that he put behind bars and he "wouldn't be associated with him" if he were.  While not excusing any of the horrific crimes Frank committed, he says Frank was indeed a very valuable witness who ultimately helped law enforcement in immeasurable ways in those other cases.  When he took Frank to trial, a moment came when he realized he could get him to turn. 

Richie Roberts:  We had a witness-- a mother whose son OD'd.  And she testified and... there were nine defendants left when she testified.  The others had pleaded.  So, there were nine lawyers, nine defendants.  The courtroom was full of-- of normal celebrities-- the usual celebrities.  And-- she got up there and told her story.   How she saw him in the bathroom... with the needle in his arm.  Good kid-- dead.  And she told that story and there wasn't a dry eye in the courtroom.  And the judge asked are there any questions from the defense.  No one said a word.  Frank came out-- you know, into the holding cell at that time.  And-- his lawyer came to me and said, "Frank wants to talk to you."  So, I went in and it was, you know, not much bigger than between you and I.  A little cot.  And I sat on one end.  He sat on the other.  And he had his head in his hands and his eyes were teary, as were mine.  And he said-- words to the effect, "I never thought of it that way."  And when he said that, I felt that should we a conviction and we could work with him.  And that's what happened.

Frank Lucas exudes a distinctive charisma even though he's been physically weakened by time on the street and behind bars.  I talked with him about the film, "American Gangster," which he had only just seen days before our interview.  He was gushing about the movie and Denzel Washington's performance, saying he was "amazed at the way he had (him) down."  Although Lucas was well known in the criminal underworld of New York and among law enforcement in the '70s, the new film is bringing him a tidal wave of press attention.  He appears to be relishing it, although it wasn't enough to get him to come to the movie's premiere at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.  He reportedly circled the block in his car that night before deciding not to make an appearance.  Was he afraid of retaliation by any of the criminals he testified against?  Or was he afraid of the crowd and the spotlights?

A vivid storyteller, he has quite a riveting one to tell -- a criminal twist on Horatio Alger.  This semiliterate African-American man grew up in the south, came to New York and built a drug empire unlike any other in the late '60s and '70s, beginning his life of crime in the '50s as the protegee of Harlem gangster Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson.  When Johnson died in 1968, Lucas took over his drug operation and expanded it.  The key came when he was able to corner his own supply of heroin in the so-called "Golden Triangle" of Southeast Asia, where numerous American soldiers had become addicted to heroin during the Vietnam War.

Utilizing a military connection, he and his crew designed a disturbing scheme to get the heroin in the United States--smuggling bags of dope in the coffins of dead U.S. soldiers being flown back from Vietnam.  The infamous operation became known as the "Cadaver Connection" (a nod to the Italian mafia's well-known French Connection that came to light in the 1960's).  Drug abuse, racial strife, and the Vietnam War...all of these hot-button issues of the late '60s and '70s would crystallize together to form the backdrop for the Frank Lucas story.

Lucas is eager to talk about the movie, but when it comes to his crimes, he can be circumspect.  Because there is no statute of limitations on murder, he says, he "won't talk about killing" and "knows nothin' about that."  He was never convicted of murder himself, although law enforcement has attributed a number of homicides to his gang, who were dubbed "The Country Boys." 

Frank's eyes light up, however, when he discusses his daughter, Francine Lucas-Sinclair.  Francine was only three years old when federal agents raided the Lucas home in New Jersey in 1975, arresting her father.  It took her years to come to terms with her family's criminal past, as both of her father and mother Julie Lucas served time in prison on narcotics charges.  Taking lessons from her own experience, Francine has established a website, Yellowbrickroads.org, with resources for the children of imprisoned parents. She's determined to help other children handle the turmoil and anxiety that she faced herself growing up. Lucas expressed to me how proud he was of his daughter.  He says he supports her "to the hilt" and wants people to know about all the hard work she's doing to raise this awareness.

Listening to him, it's a bit difficult to believe this proud family man was once the cold-blooded "American Gangster," but as Richie Roberts says, "he could charm the pants off anybody."

Read the full transcript and see video from the Dateline special on "American Gangster" here.

On Thursday's Today show, fourth-hour co-anchor Hoda Kotb is going to discuss the battle with breast cancer that she has endured over the past several months. (THURSDAY UPDATE: WATCH VIDEO HERE.) I sat down with her to talk further about this revelation, and, among other things, her Egyptian heritage, her early career rejections, and her obsession with her iPod. Read on.

Q: A lot of people want to know about the pink ring that you wear on your index finger.

Hoda: I wear this, just to kind of... it's not like I need a physical reminder of my breast cancer, aside from what has happened to me. But it just reminds me. I feel safe with it on. I don't know... I think when you make it through cancer, anyone who's survived it and so many people have, everyone gets a take-away. My take-away, what I got from this whole ordeal, was the headline that "You can't scare me." That's what I took away. It's such an exciting, liberating headline. If you survive it, that's what you get. And it also reminds you that your life has limits. It's to be valued and not wasted. I decided I'm not wasting one more minute. Suddenly your life gets clearer, and it weeds everything out. It just gives you clarity. And I also wear the ring just because I know that I'm in a big club with lots of people.

Q: Why did you decide to come forward now and talk about breast cancer?

Hoda: This is one of those decisions that you struggle with, in terms of what to share and how much to share. So I really spoke for two reasons. Number one, it's breast cancer awareness month and I thought it would be a good time to talk about this. And number two, I recently met a guy on a plane, and he said words that I'll never forget. He told me: "Don't hog your journey." And when he said that, my eyes just opened wide. He told me that I could keep everything for myself, or I could use it to help people. So right then and there I told myself that when it's time, I'm going to do it. And I did.

Q: Let's go to some other topics... Lots of viewers want to know about your name. What kind of name is it, and what does it mean?

Hoda: My parents were both born in Egypt. So my name Hoda is so weird here, but in Egypt it's like Jane. I've walked down the streets in Cairo and someone yelled out "Hoda!" and like 10 girls turned around. I'm literally the Jane Smith of the Nile, but here everyone's like "What's your name? How do you spell it? Rhoda?" I did a whole interview once, no lie, where the guy was calling me Yoda. And he was a name injector and said it over and over again. And you know when it's already gone too far, and then you can't correct him? I just started laughing. Luckily it was a taped interview for Dateline so we could edit it out.

Q: So both your parents were born in Egypt, were you born in Egypt?

Hoda: No I was born in Oklahoma. Grew up some in Morgantown, West Virginia, and mainly in Alexandria Virginia. And we went overseas back and forth. We lived in Egypt for a year, and Nigeria.

Q: Do you still have family in Egypt? Have you been back recently?

Hoda: Yes. I haven't been back in a while. Most of the times I've gone back lately were for work-related stories, and on the side I'd get to see my uncles and aunts and stuff like that. But I haven't been back for a few years. We're trying to plan a family trip back soon.

Q: Egyptian is certainly a more unusual ethnicity here in the U.S. Do you have any specific traditions you celebrate, or unique Egyptian practices?

Hoda: My parents raised us red, white and blue. You know a lot of immigrants from that generation wanted their kids to be only red, white and blue. You're going to play baseball, and here's some apple pie. We were raised in that whole tradition of everyone acclimating. My parents felt that they picked this country, and we were going to be like the people in this country. I don't think we lost our uniqueness though. We still have different stuff that Egyptian people eat or drink or do, and we celebrate those things. And we have a bond... I'll get voicemails sometimes from people I don't know saying "We're so proud of you! We're Egyptian!" And I'm like "OK!"

Q: Tell us about how your got your first job on television.

Hoda: I had just graduated from college and I had my resume tape. I borrowed my mom's car and drove to Richmond to meet with a News Director. He met me, put my tape in the machine, and after 30 seconds said "I'm sorry. You're just not really ready for Richmond." But he said he had a buddy in Roanoke who might hire me. So I drove 4 more hours to meet with him, and I was all excited and planning my life in Roanoke. That guy put my tape in and told me that I was not ready for Roanoke, but he has a friend in Memphis who might hire me. And Tennessee is a long skinny state, and he was at the other end, so I was driving forever to get there. Driving driving driving all night long. I'm a bleary-eyed mess when I meet with the guy there, and he tells me that I'm just not ready for Memphis. After that, I was in the car for 10 days driving all over. Everyone kept referring me to someone else and I kept getting rejected. All of Alabama rejected me. Everyone was "so sorry" and I "just wasn't ready." On the way home, I got lost in Mississippi and stumbled upon a sign for Greenville. I met a News Director there and he was watching my tape, and he kept watching it! He watched past the point where everyone else had stopped. It was unbelievable! My heart was pounding. And I'll never forget it. He said: "I like what I see" and hired me on the spot. And honestly, if I had gone to that job first I might not have taken it, because it was such a small market, you had to shoot your own stuff, and you got paid government cheese money. But after everyone else telling me no no no, it was great.

Q: Before being named host of the 4th hour of the Today Show, what was a previous career highlight for you?

Hoda: Anchoring in New Orleans was a big deal for me because I fell in love with that city. In terms of other job milestones, when you get the knock from NBC News... you've been working in local TV your whole life and then someone calls you and says "Hey, what about the network?" I mean, your whole life you dream of the network! Who doesn't dream of the network? I remember when I first got hired at NBC for Dateline, I was freaking. I kept thinking that someone was going to come into my office and say "OK Hoda, it's time to go back to Greenville. Come on. Giddyup!" I still have pinch me moments.

Q: Some viewers have written in asking what you miss the most about New Orleans.

Hoda: You know what I miss? I miss getting hugged by strangers on the street. They walk right up and hug you. Sometimes they don't even ask. Even better that way. It's like a warm blanket wrapped around your shoulders, that city is to me. I feel a real connection. I can say I miss the food and the music, and I do miss all that. But what I really miss is looking at people who look at you the way a relative would look at you. There's nothing better than a pair of New Orleans arms wrapped around you.

Q: Has there ever been a story where it was really hard for you to separate yourself as a human being from yourself as a professional journalist?

Hoda: Probably in New Orleans [after Hurricane Katrina] because it was personal for me. There's one scene that I won't forget. We saw in the distance a group of people hobbling towards us. They were nurses, their feet were bloody, and they had walked all the way from their hospital. They were sobbing, exhausted, and bleeding. After I interviewed them, I saw an ambulance coming and flagged it down. I told them that they needed to drive the nurses. But they told me they couldn't take them because of regulations. I knew I was stepping out of what I was supposed to be doing, but I couldn't help it. The guy said they can't take anyone to a place other than their final destination. So I said: "You know where their final destination is? Where you're going! They just need to get off that highway." So they threw them in the back and took them. I couldn't just leave someone sitting there. It's a weird feeling when you're in some of these tragic situations and you see suffering, and you're holding a notepad. It's weird. I don't miss my deadlines, I always get my interviews done, and I'm not going to not do my work. But I'm also not a robot.

Q: So how's the 4th hour going?

Hoda: Oh God I love it. I love it.

Q: What do you like most about it?

Hoda: I like walking in in the morning, and seeing the crew. That's the first thing I love. Because no matter what hour it is, you hear "Morning Hoda! How you doing?" You walk into this upbeat, pumped up, fun environment. Imagine if you walked in and everyone was all grumpy and grumbling? It just feels good. And I love the camaraderie of the show. I like that there's an authenticity to it, and it feels real. I love working with Ann, and Natalie, and Tiki and everyone else. When we're all together, it just turns into this zany, fun, smart show. I feel really really lucky.

Q: So where's the dance trophy? [In case you missed it, Hoda won Today's "Shall We Dance" competition. Watch her winning moment HERE.]

Hoda: Ha ha! It was too big! Look, my apartment is only so big. I'd have to take out my coffee table to get that thing in. So I'm letting the people at the Today Show guard it for me and take care of it, as I look for space to rent another apartment.

Q: A viewer wrote in the following, and I quote: "In the looks and age driven industry you compete in, how do you find the courage to be open about your actual weight numbers? This morning you said you weighed 140, and I was thrilled that a celebrity of your status would openly talk actual numbers. So many women lie and put an unfair pressure on others to lie as well. Not all women weigh 110 pounds! Thank you for your support of normal, healthy, shapely women!" What do you think about that?

Hoda: You know, I do weigh 140. And that's on the good days! Somedays the scale goes a little higher than that. But I feel like that's me. Look, I'm 5'9". I've always been a big girl. I've always been the big girl in the back of the picture or on the bottom of the pyramid. I have a lot of hangups I'm sure, but one of them is not my weight. That's just not my issue.

Q: Lots of viewers have written in and asked about your personal life. Are you married?

Hoda: I am separated.

Q: Let's do some getting-to-know-you favorites. Favorite movie?

Hoda: I'm so bad with movies. People ask me this all the time and I never know... You know what movie I love and have watched a thousand times? "Love Actually." I love that movie!

Q: Favorite book?

Hoda: I'm going to go with "The Kite Runner."

Q: Favorite music, or band, or singer, or kind of music?

Hoda: I love all kinds of music. I'm so addicted to my I-Pod it's sick. I have to have it on all the time. I listen to everything from Red Bone which is old but fun... I listen to all kinds of country. Lately I've been listening to Jo Dee Messina -- she's just fun, upbeat. Let me look at my I-Pod hang on... [reaches for I-Pod] I love this new I-Pod! It's so cute. Really, I love everything. I hate to say I like it all because that sounds so boring, but I do. I really love country music, I really love old school, and I like Top 40. I like bubblegum pop. I could listen to that all day.

Q: Favorite color?

Hoda: Blue.

Q: Food?

Hoda: Probably grapeleaves.

Q: Ice cream flavor?

Hoda: Oreo cookie but with big chunks of oreo. Don't give me this skimping on the, oh there's an oreo crumb. I'm talking like chunks of the cookie.

Q: TV show?

Hoda: I watch "Law & Order." And then I watch more "Law & Order." I'm a huge fan. I love that you can turn on any channel and you know what's on? "Law & Order." Like it doesn't even matter -- it could be 3 in the morning, or 6, or when you wake up... I'm addicted. I mean it's the best.

Q: Sports team?

Hoda: I love sports. I love the Saints, and they're killing me this season. And the other team I gotta say... I fell in love with the Yankees living in New York. And I'm so depressed about the whole thing with Joe Torre and everything. That really gives me a pit in my stomach.

This post originally posted at allDay blog. Read more about Kotb's battle with cancer here.

By Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor

I begin today, sadly, with something of a rant.  First, there was a ban on dodgeball.  Then, cupcakes started getting banned from school functions.  Now, it's hugs.

We might as well just fold up our tent and go home.  The nation that saved the world in World War II runs the risk of being ruled by fears of cupcakes and hugs.  Can you imagine a national radio audience hearing FDR say, "The only thing we have to fear is… the transmission of germs through needless hugs"?

And back to dodgeball: I am a better person today because Kervin Abner was the most feared dodgeball player at Hendy Avenue School in Elmira, New York.  Kervin threw that red rubber bouncy ball -- the size of a toaster oven -- at 150 miles per hour, hard enough to emblazon your chest with the brand name of the ball if you had the misfortune of being in its path. Kervin was my dodgeball idol. We feared him. The Germans would have feared Kervin in World War II. He was that good. Kervin made us better. Dodgeball, cupcakes and hugs have all played a role in the forming of America.  What do we do now?

We have a heck of a broadcast planned for tonight: exclusive new political polling (along with Tim Russert to report it), Fred Thompson, religion, space and more.  And how about Jimmy Carter?

My favorite viewer email came from Melissa in Winnipeg.  Thank you.

Wake up call
Fifty years ago, this country got the jolt of a lifetime. On Oct. 4, 1957, America's arch-rival, the Soviet Union, launched a tiny satellite that had an enormous and immediate impact: Sputnik. It is difficult to understate the level of fear triggered by this watershed event, but you can get a sense of it watching this newsreel from the time. The story generated banner headlines for days afterward, reminding Americans that Sputnik was repeatedly passing over their very heads.

At President Eisenhower's first news conference after the launch, 21 of the 23 questions asked were about Sputnik (the other two were about the crisis in Little Rock), and the president's attempts to reassure had little effect on a jittery public. The Soviets were America's sworn enemies, after all, and the two countries – each building massive nuclear arsenals – were locked in a fierce Cold War competition that now included space itself. For the United States, Sputnik was seen as a warning that the Soviets were pulling ahead – in missile technology, in scientific knowledge, in the sheer ability to get big things done. The word "Sputnik" entered the language, and spawned such vaguely pejorative offspring as "beatnik" and "peacenik."  Sputnik triggered – or at least kicked into high gear – the Space Race that America eventually won. When the Apollo 11 crew made it to the moon 12 years after Sputnik, they "came in peace for all mankind." But they also raised an American flag and, in a sense, crossed a finish line in a race whose starting gun had fired on Oct. 4, 1957.

Today in history
Taking a look back to see what happened on a certain date in history is really just another way of seeing where we are now. Take today's date, for example. We're still living with the consequences of a number of things that happened on Oct. 3 in years gone by: The "not guilty" verdict in the O.J. Simpson murder case, 12 years ago today. The battle of Mogadishu (of "Black Hawk Down" fame) in 1993, killing 18 American soldiers, and giving people like Osama bin Laden the idea that America was vulnerable. The announcement from 45-year old Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton on October 3, 1991 that he was a candidate for president. And let's not forget that American original, Woody Guthrie, who inspired a generation of singers and songwriters – Bob Dylan chief among them. Guthrie died after a long illness on Oct. 3, 1967 – 40 years ago today. 

I hope you'll take a moment to read today's Medal of Honor biography, and I look forward to having you join us for tonight's broadcast.