Judge Edwin Torres wrote the books Carlito's Way and After Hours (which were adapted to film as Carlito's Way). He claims Carlito was based on three guys who he knew of, who he would never name. In the book, Carlito is a Puerto Rican born in the 1930s in Spanish Harlem and rises up in the late 1950s, working with a young Italian guy who is connected and a Black guy who has connections to Black Harlem's gangsters. Together with some others they form a crew and they become huge in the heroin trade, working as distributors with and for the Mafia, Carlito's height of power being in the late 1960s before he is busted.

My question is, are there any real life Puerto Ricans who were big in the heroin trade, or big in dealings with the Mafia, in the 50s/60s who may have served as inspiration for Carlito?

I find this:

http://gangsterreport.com/new-york-heroin-war-mob-moves-back/2/

Cubans’ greatest enemies at present, however, are the city’s Puerto Rican racketeers, who are in direct competition for the Latin junk market and for gambling and loan-shark operations. On Manhattan’s Upper West Side, with his base of operation around Broadway and 110th Street, Anthony Angelet, a 54-year-old Puerto Rican racket boss, is holding the fort for Raymond (Spanish Raymond) Marquez, who is in jail.

Lionel Gonzalez. another of the city’s powerful Puerto Rican dealers, concentrates his activities in the South Bronx, more specifically from his headquarters along Southern Boulevard between 149th and 150th Streets.
Jose-Rosa-Sunset Park Controlled Sunset Park area of Brooklyn and was key importer into Puerto Rico

In Brooklyn. the top Puerto Rican dealer has been identified as Jose Rosa, whose connections along Fourth Avenue in South Brooklyn are as good as his connections on the island of Puerto Rico. He is, in fact, the island’s key supplier.