The Bumpy Johnson Chapters (Season 1)

july 1904 berkeley county south carolina a man named KITT booklet was lynched for arguing with white men with molested booklets sister august 1906 Greenwood County South Carolina a man named Bob Davis was lynched he was falsely accused of raping a white October 1906 Charleston South Carolina [Music] Elsworth Raymond Johnson was born also known as bumpy Johnson chapter 1 the family bumpy grew up is one of seven children in the poor family [Music] his father was a fisherman his mother was a domestic worker when bumpy was 10 years old his brother Willie was accused of killing a white man bumpy's parents said we're leaving New York because they feared a racist lynch mob would kill him meanwhile bumpy was becoming increasingly angry and rebellious three years later his parents sent him to live with the sister in Harlem chapter two the father of Harlem in 1890 Harlem was the next big thing in Manhattan real estate by 1904 the boom returned two bus hundreds of new homes stood unsold thousands of new apartments in Harlem remained vacant Philip a Peyton jr. was an African American real estate entrepreneur Peyton told struggling white landlords that he could fill their empty houses with African Americans the suggestion was accepted because black people were willing to pay higher rents but some white property owners tried to force black residents out of Harlem by 1904 payton formed the afro-american realty company the purpose of the company was to buy these houses for african-american occupancy white people panicked and began fleeing Harlem ie white flight house after house and block after block was left deserted by 1913 Harlem was home to 50,000 African Americans soon African Americans started opening up businesses in Harlem white shop owners hired Irish gangs from Hell's Kitchen and the tender line to frighten off black shop owners black Harlem shop owners weren't going to give up without a fight [Music] they hired local men like William Bob Hewlett to protect their businesses [Music] Bob Hewlett and his gang brand the Irish thugs out of Harlem Philip a Peyton jr. died in 1917 he would later become known as the father of fallen by 1919 Harlem was emerging as the capital of black America 1919 was also the year thirteen-year-old bumpy Johnson moved to Harlem chapter 3 the hustle 1920s [Music] thirteen-year-old bumpy was sent to live with the sister and her family in Harlem they lived on west hundred and fiftieth Street [Music] bumpy would skip school to hang out with friends [Music] friends like Jamison Julie Byrd and Jacob NAT Pettigrew [Music] amid the poverty bumpiness crew found ways to make money from selling newspapers to shooting craps and hustling pool bumpy would also sweep sidewalks in front of individual stores bumpy stashed his money and planned to send it back home to his parents chapter 4 Bob Hewlett Bob Hewlett was born in Virginia in 1888 it was the leader of the bog Hewitt gang [Music] the gang brand protection rackets on local black businesses in Harlem [Music] sixteen-year-old bumpy decided he wanted a piece of the pie [Music] he and this crew offered protection to some of the newer shops in Harlem [Music] one day Bob went to offers protection services to a new grocery store on 7th Avenue but much to Bob surprise the owner was already paying bumpy for protection Bob confronted bumpy and they exchanged words back and forth bumpy refused to give up his territory too Bob [Music] Bob soon realized bumpy wasn't the pushover [Music] buhbuh treated like young bumpy have the spot in exchange for a share of the protection money this was the beginning of their long friendship [Music] chapter 5 playing the numbers by the 1840s states begin to bear in light of recent decriminalize gambling the same carry that saw the emergence of a gambling culture and of illegal gambling [Music] policy gambling also known as the numbers game was an illegal lottery [Music] the numbers game was introduced to Harlem in the 1920s [Music] it operated in Harlan's poor black neighborhoods during this period that was America's largest black-owned business the game consisted of a player picking any three-digit number from 0 to 999 bets were generally a nickel or dime but any amount was acceptable the winning number was taken each day from a source that the promoters of the game cannot control eg Stock Exchange Bank financial balances or racetrack the zones those ran only controlled the numbers game were called policy bankers [Music] Kasper Holstein was a Polish bank jaspera Holstein was born in st. Croix Danish West Indies in 1876 in 1894 he moved to New York and spent his teenage years in Brooklyn he enlisted in the United States Navy shortly before the spanish-american war after the war he came home to work as a 5th Avenue store for them the New York Clearing House was a financial institution that facilitated the daily exchanges in settlements of money between the city's banks each day the New York Clearing House told us were printed in the afternoon newspapers Holstein studied these daily figures six months later Holstein invented declaring house numbers game [Music] it was a gambling gang based on the daily closing results of the New York Clearing House this illegal lottery was played throughout the 1920s [Music] by the mid-1920s hosting to earn two million from his lotteries hosting also owned several properties a nightclub and acres of farmland in Virginia hosting was known as Harlan's only african-american philanthropist he helped fund Marcus Garvey's universal Negro Improvement Association [Music] holstein was famed for his patronage of the Arts charities and other good causes [Music] the numbers game turned over tens of millions of dollars every year by the mid-1920s other black policy bankers that established prosperous numbers operations such as Big Joe issue Willy blunder Stephanie st. Claire and Alex Pappas [Music] Alex Pompeii's was a black cube in America he's born in 1890 Key West Florida [Music] 19:10 parvez moved to new york where he found work as a cigar maker a year later he opened up his own cigar shop in Harlem out of that cigar shop pop I soon began running numbers Pompeii's was also a manager and owner of a Negro league baseball team he later served as the vice president of the Negro National League he was one of the wealthiest men in Harlem chapter six the gutter policy bankers were very serious about their personal security they hired men like Bob for protection it was Bob who suggested bumpy and his crew offer protection to policy bankers in Harlem in 1924 bumpy was escorting Alex Pompey's home after a night out in Spanish Harlem all of a sudden a man came out from an alley waving a gun [Music] he pointed the gun at Papa said the man did he hand over his wallet [Music] bumpy flicked open his switchblade and slashed the thief's face bumpy then shoved pompous into a car and told him to stay put [Music] bumping then proceeded to slash the thief's stroke and body the three drop the gun and fell to the floor a police officer on patrol was passing by and he heard the commotion but by then bumpy had kicked the knife into the gutter the officer began to question bumpy but bumpy was uncooperative the officer then attempted to question Pompeii's but bumpy blocked his path [Music] I'll be told the driver to get pompous out of there the officer tried to push bumpy out the way and then bumpy punched him three more officers arrived on the scene and bumpy was subdued and arrested he was charged with assaulting an officer and resisting arrest he was also charged with attempted murder because the thief survived the night the tank [Music] Pompeii's hired a prominent lawyer to represent pumpy pumpy was only convicted for disorderly conduct and sentenced to one year probation Baron Wilkins was a leading nightclub owner in Harlem he owned the club called the exclusive club [Music] in 1908 he financed his friend Jack Johnson's fight for the heavyweight title he was also a close friend to bugs [Music] in 1924 a man known as yellow Charleston shot and killed a man over a dice game in a basement in Harlem Charleston then approached Wilkins who was standing outside his club he demanded $100 to make a getaway [Music] but then Welkin said he had no money charleston shot him and fled the scene [Music] when bins died and moved to the hospital [Music] when bobbin bumpy heard what happened he began searching the streets for Charleston favoring it he would be killed Charleston handed himself to the police yellow Charleston was convicted of first-degree murder in both deaths he went to the electric chair it sinks in prison in nineteen twenty five seventy thousand people lined up in Harlem for Barron Wilkins funeral procession you a few weeks later bumpy started working for Stephanie st. Claire [Music] she hired him to protect one of the many Harlem number spots [Music] a year later bumpy was sent to prison for ten years on a burglary charge [Music] two years later bumpy was granted parole [Music] in 1927 he was sent to another two years in prison on an assault charge five months after his release he was sent to two years on the grand larceny charge Chapter seven Queen Stephanie Sinclair was born in Guadeloupe in 1886 [Music] in 1910 she arrived in Harlem [Music] she was also known as Madame Queen or occasionally Queenie [Music] in 1922 she started her own numbers racket within a few years she was clearing a quarter million in the year [Music] Queeny was the only female policy banker in Harlow [Music] in 1924 she hired bumpy to be a personal bodyguard [Music] by the 1930s she employed over 70 people [Music] in 1920 the United States banned the sale and import of alcoholic beverages this was known as the Prohibition era in the United States the prohibition of liquor created the business of bootlegging bootlegging was the illegal production or distribution of liquor [Music] by the 1930s bootlegging had become one of the largest industries in America gangsters like Maya Lansky Al Capone Lucky Luciano we're making millions from bootlegging [Music] Dutch Schultz was another gangster who is in the business of bootlegging [Music] he was a violent Jewish mobster and had cops and politicians on his payroll in the late 1920s he decided he wanted in on the numbers racket [Music] Dutch Schultz was born in 1902 and raised in the Bronx during the early 1920s cells drove alcohol trucks for Arnold Rothstein Schultz was also known as the Dutchman or Dutch by the late 1920s shots started his own bootlegging business Schultz illegal operations spread from the Bronx into Upper Manhattan Schultz is known for his short temper and would kill for no reason in 1928 Caspar Holstein was kidnapped as he got out of his limousine [Music] the kidnap is demanded a $50,000 ransom [Applause] a few days later Holstein was released rumors were one of the kidnappers is Vincent Mad Dog called who at the time was working for Schultz in 1931 Holstein retired from the numbers business Schultz became aware of the millions being made by policy bankers in Harlem in 1930 Queenie was sentenced to a year in prison for racketeering by 1931 Schultz had taken control of the numbers racket in Harland polish bankers like Willie Brenda Big Joe Essen Alex Pappas and others surrendered their operations to Schultz they were now in the partnership with Schultz and were reduced to earning a weekly salary of $200 Schultz also hired Bob to be his chief enforcer in Harlem [Music] Bubba pokes Queenie and told her to surrender her business to shows Queen refused [Applause] [Music] over the next few days queeny's number spots were targets of drive-by shootings her employees were beaten and threatened [Music] queenie still refused to surrender her operation to shoulders in 1932 Schultz's men offered money to a friend of queenie they asked the friend the lord queenie into an apartment so that they could kill her the friend ran back to queenie and told her of Schultz's plot in October 1932 bumpy was released from prison Bob asked bumpy to come to work for him bumpy said he would think about it instead bumpy started working for Queenie again in 1933 Schultz went into hiding to avoid tax evasion charges over the next two years Queenie held on to her operation with the help of bumpy in December 1932 Bob and his crew were paid the kidnap and beat up a man the victim decided to press charges in April 1933 bob was found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison [Music] with Bob gone Schultz hired another black man to be his enforcer in Harlem [Music] he was from Chicago and his name was Ulysses Rowland's in 1934 bumpy visited Luciano and asked him to talk some sense into Schultz Luciano said he could do nothing because he in Schultz were partners and other businesses bumpy had started an affair with the editor of Vanity Fair Helen Lorenson in 1935 bumpy you're taking Helen to dinner at a bar in Harlem when suddenly won't be spotted his new nemesis Rowling's bumpy pulled out a knife and stabbed Rowling's in his face and body [Music] Roland's miraculously survived the attack and wanted revenge he left the hospital the same night and found bumpy sitting in a restaurant he pulled out a gun and shot at bumpy's Hey [Music] the bullet went through bumpy's hack and hit an innocent bystander killing her Rowling's was arrested by an off-duty cop who happened to be at the restaurant he was convicted and sent to prison Thomas Dewey was a special prosecutor Dewey was investigating Schultz [Music] Schultze demanded the Luciano and the Commission agree to wag doing but the Commission refused dissension hit on doing Shultz disobeyed the Commission's orders and started making plans that have duly assassinated [Music] on October 23rd 1935 Schultz was shot in the bathroom of a restaurant [Music] he staggered out and sat at a table and was taken to a hospital when an ambulance [Music] the hit was carried out by Murder Inc members while Schultz lay on his deathbed Queeny sent them a telegram as he sow so shall ye reap Schultz lasted for about 22 hours in the hospital before dying Lucky Luciano - control of Schultz number operations a week later Luciano requested a meeting with bumpy Luciano agreed to let the bankers who had fought for their independence to remain independent the mob would also do nothing in Harlem without giving Bobby his cut bumpy now acted as the front man in Harlem for the Genovese family bumpy opened up his own numbers Bank in 1936 queenie retired from numbers and got married the sufi abdul i made but her mid was cheating on Queenie with a woman named Foofa top [Music] in 1938 queenie shot her husband twice [Music] he survived and Queenie was arrested in court Queenie said her maid had only married her for her money [Music] she was found guilty of attempted murder and sentenced to 10 years some weeks after the trial had made married for Tom [Music] six months later her mid died in a plane crash while piloting his own plane after serving her time Queeny moved into a mansion on Long Island she died in 1969 [Music] [Music] you

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Id: 2ZJiaAFco24

Length: 32min 43sec (1963 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 23 2018