Bumpy Johnson

Ellsworth Raymond Johnson
Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson - Narcotics - On Alcatraz 1954-1958 and 1959/1963
Born	October 31, 1905 Charleston, South Carolina
Died	July 7, 1968(1968-07-07) (aged 62) New York City
Alias(es)	Bumpy
Occupation	Drug Trafficker, Bootlegger, Mob boss, and a number runner
Spouse	Mayme Hatcher Johnson
Parents	Margaret Moultrie, William Johnson

Ellsworth Raymond "Bumpy" Johnson (October 31, 1905 - July 7, 1968) was an African-American mob boss and bookmaker in New York City's Harlem neighborhood. The main Harlem associate of the Genovese crime family, Johnson's criminal career has inspired films and television.

Early life

Johnson was born in Charleston, South Carolina on October 31, 1905. Johnson derived his nickname "bumpy" from a bump on the back of his head.^[1] When he was 10, his older brother, Willie, was accused of killing a white man. Afraid of a possible lynch mob, his parents mortgaged their tiny home to raise money to send Willie up north to live with relatives.^[2] As Bumpy got older his parents worried about his short temper and insolence toward whites, so they sent him to live with his older sister Mabel in Harlem in 1919.

Criminal career

Johnson was an associate of numbers queen Madame Stephanie St. Clair.^[3]

After being released from prison in 1932, Johnson learned that notorious gangster Dutch Schultz, who was known as the Beer Baron of the Bronx, had moved in on the numbers racket in Harlem. Any numbers banker who refused to turn over his or her numbers operation to Schultz was targeted for violence, and even death. Johnson and Schultz entered into a truce where Johnson and St. Clair paid the "family tax" to Dutch and the Italian families, in order to continue to operate independently. The tax was only lifted when Schultz was murdered in 1935, which was arranged by Lucky Luciano and the Italian families and had nothing to do with Johnson, "Madam Queen" or the Harlem numbers rackets. Johnson ended up becoming a Genovese crime family enforcer for the Bronx and Harlem territories.

Luciano took over most of Schultz's number operations in Harlem, but made a deal with Johnson which allowed the bankers who had fought for their independence to remain independent as long as their taxes were paid.^[2] That deal made Johnson an instant hero in the eyes of many Harlemites^{[citation needed]}, who were impressed that a brash 27-year-old black man could actually cut deals with the Italian Mafia.

Johnson was soon the toast of Harlem^{[citation needed]}, and became friends with many Harlem luminaries such as Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Lena Horne, Billie Holiday, Sugar Ray Robinson. He also became sort of an unofficial crime boss of Harlem; no one could conduct criminal activities in his section of New York without first going through him.

In 1948 he met 34-year-old Mayme Hatcher at Frasier's Restaurant on Seventh Avenue in Harlem; and the two were married six months later.

By the summer of 1952, Johnson's activities were being reported in the celebrity people section of Jet,^[4] an American weekly marketed toward African American readers, founded in 1951 by John H. Johnson of Johnson Publishing Company in Chicago, Illinois.^[5] That same year, Bumpy was indicted in New York for conspiracy to sell heroin (he claimed to have been framed, and many people believed him) and was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. Two years later, Jet reported in its crime section that Johnson began his sentence after losing an appeal.^[6] He served the majority of his prison time at Alcatraz Prison in San Francisco Bay, California as inmate No. 1117,^[7] and it has been said that he helped three fellow inmates escape by arranging to have a boat pick them up once they broke out and made it to the San Francisco Bay.^[8] Johnson was released from prison in 1963 and returned to Harlem, where he was greeted with an impromptu parade^{[citation needed]}.

Johnson was arrested more than 40 times and would eventually serve three prison terms for narcotics-related charges. In December 1965, Johnson staged a sit-down strike in a police station, refusing to leave, as a protest against their continued surveillance. He was charged with "refusal to leave a police station" but was acquitted by a judge.^[9]

Death

Bumpy was under a federal indictment for drug conspiracy when he died of heart failure on Sunday, July 7, 1968 at age 62. He was at Wells Restaurant in Harlem shortly before 2 a.m., and the waitress had just served him coffee, a chicken leg, and hominy grits, when he keeled over clutching his chest.^[2] Childhood friend Finley Hoskins was there, and someone ran down the street to the Rhythm Club to get another childhood pal, Junie Byrd. When Junie arrived he cradled Bumpy in his arms, and Bumpy briefly opened his eyes and smiled, then fell into unconsciousness. He was taken, by ambulance, to Harlem Hospital where he was pronounced dead.^[2] He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.

In popular culture

Film

• In the 1971 film Shaft Moses Gunn portrayed "Bumpy Jonas" a character based upon Johnson.
• In the 1984 film The Cotton Club Laurence Fishburne played a character based on Bumpy Johnson, "Bumpy Rhodes".
• The 1997 film Hoodlum directed by Bill Duke portrayed the struggle between Bumpy Johnson and Dutch Schultz. Johnson is portrayed by Laurence Fishburne (who had played a character inspired by Johnson previously in 1984's The Cotton Club), Schultz by Tim Roth, and Lucky Luciano by Andy Garcia.
• In the 2007 film American Gangster Johnson was portrayed by Clarence Williams III as the mentor of Frank Lucas played by Denzel Washington.,^[10] Williams had previously appeared in the Bumpy Johnson film Hoodlum as a rival of Johnson's, in the employ of Dutch Schultz.

Television

• In an episode of Unsolved Mysteries, it is reported that Johnson allegedly helped the three escapees of Alcatraz get to the shores of San Francisco. It is said that he arranged for a boat to pick the three men up out of the bay. The boat then dropped the escapees off at Pier 13 in San Francisco's Hunters Point District.
• In the second episode of HBO's The Wire third season All Due Respect Bumpy is mentioned just before Tree (dealer for Cheese Wagstaff) kills Jelly over a dog fight in which Cheese's dog lost. Three low-level gangsters discuss an incident when Bumpy allegedly attacked a police station single-handedly. This is expanded upon in Richard Price's audio commentary for that episode.

Music

• Johnson was also mentioned on a Lupe Fiasco song called "Failure".
• Bumpy is mentioned in the lyrics of a popular Mac Dre song, Gennie of the Lamp-"I'm Samuel and Denzel in one body and bumpy faced johnson, I'll kill somebody."
• Prodigy titled his first full release following being released from prison in 2011 The Ellsworth Bumpy Johnson EP.

Other

• Johnson is mentioned in Marvel Comics’ Punisher Noir #2 as the employer of Barracuda, a hitman who killed the Punisher’s father (though his name is misspelled “Bumby”).

References

1. ^ Tyler, Gus (1967). Organized crime in America: a book of readings. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. p. 431. OCLC 247980358. http://www.google.com/search?q=a+bump+on+the+back+of+his+head+gave+him+his+nickname&btnG=Search+Books&tbm=bks&tbo=1#sclient=psy&hl=en&tbo=1&tbs=bks:1&source=hp&q=%22a+bump+on+the+back+of+his+head+gave+him+his+nickname%22&aq=f&aqi=&aql=f&oq=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=aa342fba23d29575. Retrieved March 27, 2011. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Harlem Godfather: The Rap on My Husband, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson
3. ^ "Queenie and Bumpy". crimelibrary. 2007. http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/gang/harlem_gangs/5.html. Retrieved 2008-04-09. 
4. ^ "People". Jet. 1952. http://www.google.com/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=Ellsworth+Raymond+Johnson&tbs=,cdr:1,cd_min:Jan%203_2%201,cd_max:Dec%2031_2%201970&num=10#sclient=psy&hl=en&tbs=bks:1%2Ccdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3AJan+3_2+1%2Ccd_max%3ADec+31_2+1970&source=hp&q=Ellsworth+Raymond+Johnson+%22bumpy%22&aq=f&aqi=&aql=f&oq=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=aa342fba23d29575. Retrieved March 27, 2011. 
5. ^ Editors (November 1992). "From Negro Digest to Ebony, Jet and EM - Special Issue: 50 Years of JPC - Redefining the Black Image". Ebony. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_n1_v48/ai_12811539. Retrieved 2009-01-03. 
6. ^ "Crime". Jet (Johnson Publishing Company) 5 (9): 49. January 7, 1954. ISSN 0021-5996. http://books.google.com/books?id=378DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA49&dq=Ellsworth+Johnson+%22bumpy%22&hl=en&ei=4UKPTYfRC4HJgQfsuOC_DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=Ellsworth%20Johnson%20%22bumpy%22&f=false. Retrieved March 27, 2011. 
7. ^ [Former Alcatraz Inmates List http://www.archives.gov/pacific/archives/san-francisco/finding-aids/alcatraz-numeric.html#d], [Numerical Index of Former Inmates of U.S. Penitentiary, Alcatraz, 1934-63 from Records of the Bureau of Prisons (RG 129)
8. ^ Riddle of the Rock: The Only Successful Escape from Alcatraz
9. ^ John H. Johnson. Fact not fiction in Harlem (1980 ed.). Northern Type Printing, Inc. p. 119. ISBN B00072X07G. p.103+
10. ^ "American Gangster full credits on IMDB". http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0765429/fullcredits#cast. 

External links

Biography portal

• Official Harlem Godfather Site
• Harlem Godfather: The Rap on My Husband, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson - by Mayme Hatcher Johnson
• Hoodlum (1997) at the Internet Movie Database
• The Cotton Club (1984) at the Internet Movie Database
• American Gangster (2007) at the Internet Movie Database
• Ellsworth Raymond Johnson at Find A Grave
• Infinite MagaZine Harlem Godfather Bumpy Johnson pt.1 Harlem Godfather pt.2 YouTube documentary
• John H. Johnson. Fact not fiction in Harlem (1980 ed.). Northern Type Printing, Inc. p. 119. ISBN B00072X07G. 
• Mayme Hatcher Johnson. Harlem Godfather: The Rap on my Husband, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson (when ed.). Oshun Publishing Company, Inc.; First edition (February 29, 2008). p. 248. ISBN 0967602831. 

Persondata
Name	Johnson, Bumpy
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	October 31, 1905
Place of birth	Charleston, South Carolina
Date of death	July 7, 1968
Place of death	New York City