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?