{"id":31384,"date":"2022-05-08T18:18:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-08T23:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/?p=31384"},"modified":"2023-02-17T04:24:45","modified_gmt":"2023-02-17T10:24:45","slug":"bumpy-johnson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/bumpy-johnson\/","title":{"rendered":"Gambling Legends: The Fascinating Story Of Mob Boss Bumpy Johnson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Bumpy
Bumpy Johnson. [Image: Records of the Bureau of Prisons\/Wikimedia Commons]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bookmaker and mob boss, a drug lord and brutal murderer,\ndevoted family man, avid reader of philosophy, poet, and philanthropist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you think we got confused and wrote about several\ndifferent people, think again. This is the story of a man that was all of the\nabove.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bumpy Johnson was a 20th<\/sup>-century Harlem crime\nfigure revered and reviled by the public. As the “Harlem Godfather,”\nhe dominated the neighborhood’s illegal gambling scene and ruled with an iron\nfist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, as a respected confidante of Malcolm X, Bumpy had a\nconflicting morality that earned him his community’s fear, love, and\nadmiration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who Was\nBumpy Johnson?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ellsworth Raymond “Bumpy” Johnson was a mob boss\nin the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His nickname originated from the unusual growth on the back\nof his head, though some attribute it to the number of enemies he\n“bumped” and made disappear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bumpy\u2019s criminal activity spanned over four decades, half of\nwhich he spent in and out of the most notorious prisons in America. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout his 40-year career, Bumpy was a bookmaker,\nbodyguard, pimp, and drug lord. At the same time, he was a published poet,\nphilosopher, philanthropist, and devoted father.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From fleeing his home to avoid racial persecution to ending\nthe war between Harlem bookies and the Italian mafia, Johnson was a figure\nwhose criminal acts were inextricably linked to his race. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time he died in 1968, Bumpy had become the anti-hero of Harlem<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Early\nYears<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Bumpy Johnson was born in South Carolina in 1905. Living in the Deep South during the Segregation Era<\/a>, Bumpy was raised against a torrid backdrop of racism and oppression. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His family lived in constant fear of racial violence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Johnson was 10 years old, his brother Willie was\naccused of murdering a white man. Fearful that a lynch mob would attack him,\nWillie was sent to live with family in Harlem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bumpy followed Willie not long after, and it was in Harlem\nthat Bumpy would eventually become one of the most infamous crime bosses in New\nYork City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Criminal\nBeginnings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By the age of 15, Johnson was hanging around with a wrong\ncrowd and working odd jobs, as well as playing pool and shooting dice for\nmoney. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the age of 16, he and his gang of merry men were selling\nprotection and committing armed robberies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And by 17, Bumpy found himself a resident of the Elmira Reformatory<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Jonhson was still young, he met William \u201cBub\u201d Hewlett,\na gangster who admired Bumpy\u2019s boldness when he refused to leave Bub\u2019s\nstorefront. He invited Bumpy to work for him, protecting Harlem\u2019s high-profile\nnumbers runners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Illegal\nGambling Operations <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Though card rooms offering games like poker and blackjack<\/a> were flourishing in cities across America, it was the numbers game that took over Harlem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also known as the numbers racket or Italian lottery, it was an illegal lottery<\/a> popularized in the 1920s and 30s. With bets starting at just a penny, the game was predominantly played in poor and working-class neighborhoods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While many independent bookmakers capitalized on the numbers racket, Bronx mob boss Dutch Schultz<\/a> bulldozed almost every bookie into working for him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dutch
Dutch Schultz. [Image: Legends of America]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This was much better than the alternative – losing their business altogether. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Stephanie St. Clair<\/a>, one of the only female racket runners in Harlem, refused to back down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Queen Of Numbers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Johnson\u2019s reputation as a bold and brutal bodyguard attracted\nSt. Clair\u2019s attention. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Stephanie
Stephanie St. Clair. [Image: History Collection]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Nicknamed the \u201cQueen of the Policy Rackets,\u201d she enlisted\nhis help, and together they waged war against the most prominent crime bosses\nin New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schultz, in particular, was a target of Johnson’s\naggression. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnson’s wife, Mayme Hatcher, noted in her biography<\/a> that he waged a “guerrilla war of sorts” and picked off Schultz’s men one by one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1935, Schultz\u2019s attempts to monopolize the numbers game\nended abruptly after Italian mobster Charles \u201cLucky\u201d Luciano ordered a hit on\nhim. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around the same time (perhaps due to his murder), St. Clair\ndecided to lay low. Subsequently, she handed the business over to Johnson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnson had met St. Clair in 1932 after he left prison. In the years between their meeting and St. Clair\u2019s withdrawal from Harlem\u2019s rackets operations, Bumpy kidnapped and murdered over 40 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mollifying The Mafia<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Luciano, who was also a prominent racketeer and New York cardroom\noperator, had also been feeling the effects of Schultz’s attempted takeover. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Schultz now out of the way, Johnson and Luciano could\nform an alliance that, unbeknownst to Johnson, would set a precedent for his\ncareer as a crime boss. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pair agreed that Johnson could control all the racket operations in Harlem, provided that Luciano received a share of the profits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Lucky
Lucky Luciano. [Image: The Mob Museum]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Though the deal wasn\u2019t perfect, Bumpy had managed to do what\nso many before him hadn\u2019t: He negotiated and ended the war with the mafia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The simple agreement was meaningful because, as Mayme notes,\nthe people of Harlem realized \u201cfor the first time a black man had stood up to\nthe white mob instead of bowing down and going to get along.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After this negotiation, Johnson became a revered figurehead\nof Harlem – the man who stood up for his community and won. Bumpy was now the\nleading operator of Harlem’s underground casino scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Expanding The\nBusiness<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Alongside the Harlem number rackets, Johnson became involved\nin drug trafficking, mainly selling heroin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As his gang grew, Bumpy eventually became the kingpin of\nHarlem. Now, any and all illegal business ventures had to be approved by\nJohnson first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With profits rolling in, Bumpy was able to provide for the\nmost vulnerable in Harlem. He delivered meals, gifts, free turkeys at\nThanksgiving, and put the children of financially struggling families through\ncollege. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus he became a complex, double-sided coin: A murderous\ncrime boss on one side and a philanthropic Robin Hood on the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bumpy\nJohnson\u2019s Family<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Bumpy\u2019s family is a prime example of the moral ambiguities\nsurrounding his life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He met his wife, Mayme, in 1948 after serving a 10-year prison sentence for various crimes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though she was well aware of his violent criminal history, the pair married three months later and stayed together until his death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bumpy
Bumpy Johnson’s Wife, Mayme Hatcher Johnson. [Image: Back Then]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Bumpy\u2019s relationship with his daughter Elise was also a\ncontradiction of his two identities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though a family man, Bumpy was estranged from his daughter, who was addicted to the heroin that he trafficked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bumpy and Mayme ended up raising Elise\u2019s daughter, their granddaughter, as their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bumpy
Bumpy Johnson’s granddaughter, Margaret Johnson. [Image: profvalue.com]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Doing Time In Alcatraz<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 1952, Bumpy was sentenced to 15 years in prison for\nconspiring to sell heroin, the longest sentence he would face in his lifetime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite his appeal, the verdict was maintained, and he was sent to Alcatraz<\/a>, the most notorious prison in America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnson served 10 years of his 15-year sentence. During this\ntime, unconfirmed reports claim that he used his outside connections to help\nthree inmates escape. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayme theorized that although Bumpy himself could have\nescaped, he preferred to leave as a free agent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After serving his time in Alcatraz, Bumpy was welcomed back\nto Harlem with an enormous parade. However, upon his return, Bumpy found that\nthe Italian mafia had overrun the narcotics trade in Harlem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Godfather of Harlem, <\/em>the 2019 Epix series documenting Johnson\u2019s life, portrays Bumpy Johnson\u2019s daughter Elise\u2019s addiction as the catalyst that inspires him to rehabilitate the neighborhood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bumpy
Bumpy Johnson. [Image: All That\u2019s Interesting]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Friendship With Malcolm X<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Towards the end of his life, Malcolm X<\/a> began to sever his association with Johnson\u2019s criminal reputation. Before then, however, the two had been close friends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bumpy had known Malcolm X since he was a street hustler in the 1940s. Malcolm even enlisted Bumpy\u2019s protective services when he split from the Nation of Islam, and his enemies began to stalk him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Malcolm
Malcom X. [Image: Live Science]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, Malcolm X decided his association with a known\ncriminal might damage his image and asked Bumpy to stand down his guards. He\nwas assassinated only weeks later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though he distanced himself from Johnson in the end, Malcolm X had always admired Bumpy for his intelligence and poetic ability (the latter of which had seen him published in several prominent magazines during the Harlem Renaissance<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Did\nBumpy Johnson Die?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Amidst another indictment for trafficking crimes, Bumpy\nJohnson died in 1986. In an unexpected (and rather anticlimactic) capitulation\nof his decades-long crime career, Bumpy died of a heart attack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite numerous attempts on his life by various drug lords\nand mafia gangsters, cholesterol ultimately killed off Harlem\u2019s most notorious\ncrime boss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His wife, who would outlive Johnson by a further 41 years,\nnoted that it was the best possible way for Bumpy, or any man, to pass. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayme reflected: \u201cBumpy\u2019s life may have been a violent and\nturbulent one, but his death was one that any Harlem sporting man would pray\nfor \u2013 eating fried chicken at Wells Restaurant in the wee hours of the morning\nsurrounded by friends. It just can\u2019t get better than that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n