The world premiere of the Denzel Washington led "American Gangster will benefit Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the Boys & Girls Club of Mount Vernon, NY, it was announced today by Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment. In the film, Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Oscar(R)-winning producer Brian Grazer and director Ridley Scott team to tell the true story of Frank Lucas, a criminal mastermind who came up from the streets of 1970s Harlem.

    As a youth, Washington spent more than a decade as a member of the Boys & Girls Club of Mount Vernon. His history with the organization has led the actor to serve as the national spokesperson for Boys & Girls Clubs of America for the past 15 years. The premiere, sponsored in part by Volkswagen, will be held on Friday, October 19, 2007, at the historic Apollo Theater in Manhattan, followed by a VIP reception. Tickets may be purchased by emailing Kristen Jaquez, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, at kjaquez@bgca.org, or calling 212-377-6416.

    "The Boys & Girls Club exerted a profound influence on me and so many of my peers growing up, and I consider it an honor to give back," Washington commented. "I spent more than a decade as a member of the Club in Mount Vernon, and I'm extremely pleased the production is willing to make 'American Gangster's' premiere a benefit for an organization that plays such an important, positive role in the lives of young people today."

    Another Boys & Girls Club alumnus, Cuba Gooding, Jr., also stars in the film. Gooding belonged to the Boys & Girls Club of Tustin, California.

    The film will be released in theaters nationwide on Friday, November 2, 2007.

About "American Gangster":

Nobody used to notice Frank Lucas (Washington), the quiet driver to one of the inner-city's leading black crime bosses. But when his boss suddenly dies, Frank exploits the opening in the power structure to build his own empire and create his own version of the American Dream. Through ingenuity and a strict business ethic, he comes to rule the inner-city drug trade, flooding the streets with a purer product at a better price. Lucas outplays all of the leading crime syndicates and becomes not only one of the city's mainline corrupters, but part of its circle of legit civic superstars. Richie Roberts (Crowe) is an outcast cop close enough to the streets to feel a shift of control in the drug underworld. Roberts believes someone is climbing the rungs above the known Mafia families and starts to suspect that a black power player has come from nowhere to dominate the scene. Both Lucas and Roberts share a rigorous ethical code that sets them apart from their own colleagues, making them lone figures on opposite sides of the law. The destinies of these two men will become intertwined as they approach a confrontation where only one of them can come out on top.

Washington and Crowe lead a spectacular cast of accomplished and rising stars-including Chiwetel Ejiofor, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Josh Brolin, Ted Levine, Armand Assante, John Ortiz, John Hawkes, RZA, Common and T.I. -- in this blistering tale of a true American entrepreneur.

The screenplay was written by Academy Award(R) winner Steven Zaillian ("Schindler's List").