Texas Gun Store Sells Rifles At Half-Price For 'Back-To-School' Sale, Before There Was The Incredible Hulk, There Was Cú Chulainn: The Superhuman Of Irish Myth, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch, Records of the Bureau of Prisons/Wikimedia Commons. Gangster William Hewett started to notice him. Some suspect Johnson had something to do with the escape. When Byrd arrived, Lucas cradled Bumpy in his arms, and Johnson briefly opened his eyes and smiled, then fell into unconsciousness. He was her personal bodyguard, as well as her numbers runner and bookmaker. Generation also known as The Greatest Generation. As Mayme Johnson wrote, “That’s why we need more black people writing books to tell the real history. Johnson was born in Charleston, South Carolina on October 31, 1905, to Margaret Moultrie and William Johnson. Eventually the fight on their end was lost, ending with a deal for Johnson. is military terminology referring to "Government Issue" or "General Issue". Johnson soon became one of the most sought-after bodyguards in the neighborhood. Ellsworth Raymond Johnson was born in Charleston, S.C., on Oct. 31, 1905. Most famously, perhaps, is the crime boss’s appearance in American Gangster — a film that Mayme Johnson refused to see. Check with Bumpy first.”. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Johnson and St. Clair aimed to start a war against New York mob boss Dutch Schultz. "She was tickled pink to tell people she was an author at age 93," said Henry Perkins, owner of Perks, a restaurant on Manhattan Avenue near 122d Street in Harlem. But once he was back on the streets of Harlem, he met Stephanie St. Clair. But he wasn’t able to avoid punishment for such crimes and was in and out of reform schools and prisons for much of his 20s. Then learn about Salvatore Maranzano, the man who created the American Mafia. No matter how legitimately he ran his crime business, however, Johnson still spent his fair share of time in the joint. [6] That same year, Johnson was sentenced to 15 years in prison for a drug conspiracy conviction related to heroin. Denzel Washington’s character in the movie, Frank Lucas, was a close associate of Johnson’s who took over after his friend’s death. [1] Friend Frank Lucas claims to have been present (yet this has been refuted), and someone ran down the street to the Rhythm Club to get his childhood friend, Junie Byrd. “My grandmother was put through college by Bumpy Johnson,” the filmmaker tells The Post. Gloria Vanderbilt Fourth Marriage Vanderbilt married her fourth partner Wyatt Emory Cooper , who was an author, on 24th December 1963, the same year she separated from Sidney Lumet. Once there, Johnson moved in with his sister. For Francine, ... His origins with drugs came from his involvement with gangster Bumpy Johnson, whose mob boss actions inspired films in Hollywood as well, and even appeared in American Gangster, played by Clarence Williams III. These leaders included Representative Adam Clayton Powell and Johnson’s old friend Malcolm X. Johnson and Malcolm X had been friends since the 1940s, when the latter was still a street hustler. He … He had affairs with prominent New York celebrities, such as the editor of Vanity Fair, Helen Lawrenson, and the singer and actress Lena Horne. Johnson derived his nickname "Bumpy" from a bump on the back of his head. In 1948 she met and married Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson, the legendary Harlem gangster who was depicted in the movies "The Cotton Club," "Hoodlum," and "American Gangster." Nothing happened in the crime world of Harlem unless Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson gave the word. [9], Johnson was arrested more than 40 times and served two prison terms for narcotics-related charges. He was a respected friend of Lucky Luciano. St. Clair, on the other hand, went her own way, steering clear of criminal activity after serving time in prison for the shooting of her con man husband. [5], In 1952, Johnson's activities were reported in the celebrity people section of Jet. Ellsworth Raymond "Bumpy" Johnson (October 31, 1905 – July 7, 1968) was an American drug trafficker in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. Johnson then began working for him and this was a beginning to his life of crime. Due to a slight deformation of his skull, he was given the nickname “Bumpy.”. By the 1940s, "Bumpy" Johnson had become the reigning king in Harlem, while Saint-Clair became less and less involved in the numbers game. Thinking about converting your brownstone into a speakeasy? [2] As Johnson grew older, his parents worried about his short temper and insolence towards whites, and in 1919 he was sent to live with his older sister Mabel in Harlem. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. See more ideas about bumpy johnson, johnson, real gangster. During another confrontation, Johnson saw Rollins in a dinner club and pounced on him with a blade, quickly leaving his eyeball dangling from its socket before he returned to his table and proclaimed that he suddenly had a craving for spaghetti and meatballs. In 2020, there were reportedly 2,095 billionaires on Earth, with an estimated total net worth of $8 trillion. He was given the nickname “Bumpy” as a young boy due to a bump on the back of his head. Why Harlem Godfather Bumpy Johnson Is The Most Fearsome Gangster You’ve Never Heard Of. With Forest Whitaker, Lucy Fry, Nigel Thatch, Ilfenesh Hadera. Hannah McKennett is a Dublin-based freelance writer that is dedicated to traveling the world while writing about it. One rival named Ulysses Rollins caught the business end of Johnson’s switchblade 36 times in a single streetfight. I’m glad, at 93, to do my part.”. Furthermore, the couple did not share any children together. Alcatraz Prison, where Bumpy Johnson served a sentence for drugs charges in the 1950s and ’60s. Chris Brancato and Paul Eckstein have created a new series for Epix called Godfather of Harlem, which tells the story of the crime boss (played by Forest Whitaker) after he returned to Harlem from Alcatraz and lived out his final years in the neighborhood he once ruled. Johnson was born in Charleston, South Carolina on October 31, 1905. But Bumpy Johnson’s day in the limelight may be upon us. Bumpy Johnson’s criminal career soon flourished further as he graduated to armed robbery, extortion, and pimping. Bumpy Johnson was a notorious 1960s drug kingpin, but Paul Eckstein remembers him as a philanthropist. As Johnson’s wife, Mayme, who married him in 1948, wrote in her biography of the crime boss, “Bumpy and his crew of nine waged a guerrilla war of sorts, and picking off Dutch Schultz’s men was easy since there were few other white men walking around Harlem during the day.”. [4] He became St Clair's principal lieutenant in the 1930s. Mrs. Johnson was born in 1914 in NC, and moved to New York City in 1938, where she found work as a waitress in a club owned by singer/actress Ethel Waters.