"The next time you run into Denzel [Washington] ask him about why he said he would never play a snitch," Damon Dash implored after an impassioned interview about his latest project, "Mr. Untouchable," at his office. "I showed him the script first and he said he liked it, but would never play a snitch." Dash is referring to Washington's starring role as Frank Lucas in "American Gangster" that opens a week after "Mr. Untouchable," based on Harlem drug lord Nicky Barnes.

Dash and Barnes [in "Mr. Untouchable"] speak disparaging about Lucas. Lucas put his digs in about Barnes in The New York Magazine piece, "The Return of Superfly." The author, on whose piece "American Gangster" is based, is quoted as saying, "Lucas ... expresses no love for his more famous Harlem dope-dealer rival Nicky Barnes, who rankled the older pusher by appearing on the cover of ‘The New York Times Magazine' in his trademark goggle like Gucci glasses, bragging that he was "Mr. Untouchable."

With two films about black drug dealers vying for tickets at the box office, the question of course arises as to whether drugs and murder is being glorified on screen? "No," he tells The Film Strip. "Let me make it mathematical. Sell drugs. Make a lot of money for a short period of time and end up dead or going to jail or snitching on your friends.

"What intelligent individual would look at that and say, ‘Wow, I sell drugs, I'll make a lot of money for a short period of time, end up dead, in the witness protection program or in jail.' So I don't see how it could possibly glorify it. This sums up the whole equation."

But what about the not-so-smart individuals and impressionable young minds, he is asked? "I think the responsibility lies on the parent," Dash opines. "When I was young I saw someone sell drugs. Then I saw them die, and it made me not want to sell drugs. You can't underestimate the youth like that. I would never want to think anyone is that dumb.

"But I also think sometimes it's the person that's delivering the message as well. Hopefully I'm credible enough to think that demographic would listen and consider the source."

Damon Dash, Mary-Jane Johnson and Marc Levin

A Harlem native himself, Dash built his $350 million empire from film, apparel, publishing and spirits. With all his successes, Dash does have some regrets.

"The first part of my life when I was young, I made a lot of money," he explained. "I put a lot of wrong values into the world and I saw the repercussion when my younger cousins and nephews did the wrong things based on what they thought was the right thing. I know I was directly responsible for a lot of that, but you evolve and grow.

"That's the reason why I don't make hip hop music any more because I could never watch a kid rap about something negative and me know a bunch of other kids are gonna follow or be a part it [negative behavior]. The repercussions could be very severe and it's just wrong. The way I combated that was by changing the hustle. I'm quite sure Nicky Barnes today is not the same person he was 30 years ago and he would probably go about things a lot different. But I think because of his ego, and he's so stubborn, he would never publicly admit it."

The spur that moved the "stubborn" Barnes to cooperate with the documentary, "Mr. Untouchable," was seeing a script of "American Gangster" says director Marc Levin. "Mary Jane (producer) and I tried over a year and was rejected. It was said he was working with writers on his own thing," Levin recounted. "Then, two things happened; he saw some of my work and he got a hold of the ‘American gangster' script. He was outraged at what he saw and how Hollywood was going to render this era."

"He knows what Frank Lucas was and there was no way in the world he was going to let Frank Lucas take his shot," Dash added. "He said he snitched, too, and that's not fair." "Nicky went off," Levin interjected, "and said Hollywood was full of bull. He was so enraged that this was going to be the popular culture version of what went down the 70s."

Then, Dash does a 160 degrees turn.

"People in the projects were like ‘f*ck Nicky Barnes. Let his memory die. Nicky Barnes came from Harlem. Just because you're black doesn't mean you're accepted in Harlem. Nicky was the epitome of cool. But his betrayal was so severe, we haven't recovered from it."

Further explaining his hometown, Dash went on to say that, "A lot of people in Harlem never leave Harlem. They never go get a job." Ouch! He continued to pontificate by explaining that, "They don't want to be told what to do, whether it's excusable or not, it's what it is. But in that you have to have honor. You have to have rules and regulations with honor. Whether it's the rules of America, it's the rules of Harlem, rules of Black Harlem and if you don't live by those rules you're supposed to be shunned.

"You're not supposed to be acceptable. And what happened was the president of those rules, Nicky Barnes, the one who damn near wrote the rules violated them ... If Nicky Barnes can do it, why can't I and that's what happened and that's why Harlem is where it is today.

"There's no place for a snitch, no matter what. Why 70 other people got to go for just one guy. So, to me, it seems like bullsh*t. I'd never betray my partner whether it's criminal or whatever. Just because I have to do time, I'm gonna put you in jail and you believe in me as a friend? That's some bullsh*t. There's no honor in that. Nicky Barnes said he would endorse Giuliani for president so that says something ... it's on the tape."

And if you didn't get Dash's drift early on, he says in no uncertain terms be wary of what you watch.

"The rule of thumb is never believe Hollywood and never believe the press."