Ellsworth Raymond "Bumpy" Johnson (October 31, 1905 – July 7, 1968) was an American crime boss in the

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

neighborhood of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Early life

Ellsworth Raymond "Bumpy" Johnson was born in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

, on October 31, 1905, to Margaret Moultrie and William Johnson. 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.Harlem Godfather: The Rap on My Husband, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson Johnson's nickname "Bumpy" is derived from a bump on the back of his head. As Johnson grew older, his parents worried about his short temper and insolence towards white people, and in 1919, he was sent to live with his older sister Mabel in

. Johnson dropped out of high school and began working in casual jobs. Gangster William Hewett noticed Johnson, who began working for him and his life of crime.

Career

Johnson became an associate and enforcer for

numbers A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The most basic examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...

queen Madame Stephanie St. Clair. In the 1930s, he quickly climbed the ranks to become her most trusted soldier. St. Clair incited a war with her rival, Jewish mob boss Dutch Schultz, for control of Harlem's rackets. The war resulted in more than 40 murders and several kidnappings and ended with St. Clair's arrest and imprisonment. Johnson, however, struck a deal with the Mafia after Schultz's 1935 murder through which he quickly built up his own organization in Harlem in exchange for favorable business deals. In 1952, Johnson's activities were reported in the celebrity people section of '' Jet''. That same year, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for a drug conspiracy conviction related to

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...

. Two years later, ''Jet'' reported in its crime section that Johnson began his sentence after losing an

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which Legal case, cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of cla ...

. He served the majority of that sentence at

Alcatraz Prison United States Penitentiary, Alcatraz Island, also known simply as Alcatraz (, ''"the gannet"'') or the Rock, was a Maximum security prison, maximum security federal prison on Alcatraz Island, 1.25 miles (2.01 km) off the coast of San Francisc ...

in San Francisco Bay, California as inmate No. 1117, and was released in 1963 on parole. Johnson was arrested more than 40 times and served two prison terms for narcotics-related charges. In December 1965, Johnson staged a sit-down strike in a police station by refusing to leave as a protest against continued police surveillance of black neighborhoods. He was charged with "refusal to leave a police station" but was

acquitted In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal means that the criminal prosecution has failed to prove that the accused is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the charge presented. It certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an o ...

by a judge.p.103+

Death

Johnson was under a federal indictment for drug conspiracy when he died of a heart attack on July 7, 1968, at the age of 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 fell over clutching his chest. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in The

Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

, New York City.

Personal life

Bumpy Johnson married Mayme Hatcher in October 1948, six months after their first meeting. Johnson had two daughters, Ruthie and Elease, the latter of whom was from another relationship. His wife died in May 2009, at the age of 94.

In popular culture

Film

* In the 1971 film '' Shaft'' and its 1973 sequel '' Shaft's Big Score!'', Moses Gunn portrays "Bumpy Jonas," a character based upon Johnson. * In the 1972 film '' Come Back, Charleston Blue'', the title character is loosely based on Bumpy Johnson, a criminal who is looked upon as a positive role model among the people. * In the 1979 film '' Escape from Alcatraz'', Paul Benjamin plays a character based on Bumpy Johnson, "English". * In the 1984 film '' The Cotton Club'', Laurence Fishburne plays a character based on Bumpy Johnson, "Bumpy Rhodes". * In the 1997 film '' Hoodlum'', Johnson is again portrayed by Fishburne. * In the 1999 film ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

'', Actor Clarence Williams III plays a Harlem gangster, "Spanky Johnson," who was loosely inspired by Bumpy Johnson. * In the 2007 film '' American Gangster'', Johnson is again portrayed by Clarence Williams III. * In the 2018

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

documentary series '' Drug Lords'', Johnson was featured in the third episode of the first season.

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 San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. 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 the third season of

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

's ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime fiction, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created and primarily written by the American author and former police reporter David Simon for the cable network HBO. The series premiered o ...

'', " 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 Richard Price (23 February 1723 – 19 April 1791) was a British moral philosopher, Nonconformist minister and mathematician. He was also a political reformer and pamphleteer, active in radical, republican, and liberal causes such as the F ...

's audio commentary for that episode. * Cable network Epix (now MGM+) premiered the crime drama television series '' Godfather of Harlem'' in Fall 2019. Forest Whitaker plays Johnson. The series was created by

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

s Markuann Smith, Chris Brancato and Paul Eckstein, who are producing with ABC Signature Studios.

Music

* Prodigy titled his first full release after his release from prison in 2011 '' The Ellsworth Bumpy Johnson EP'', which was followed by '' The Bumpy Johnson Album''. * Central Cee released an EP in 2022 titled ''No More Leaks'' which featured a track titled "Bumpy Johnson".

Gaming

* The character of Sammy Robinson in '' Mafia III'' was partially inspired by Ellsworth Johnson. The kingpin who protagonist Lincoln Clay becomes is also largely inspired by Bumpy Johnson, along with people like Frank Lucas and

Nicky Barnes Leroy Nicholas Barnes (October 15, 1933 – 2012) was an American crime boss, active in New York City during the 1970s. In 1972, Barnes formed The Council (drug syndicate), The Council, a seven-man African-American organized crime syndicate tha ...

References

External links

Harlem Godfather: The Rap on My Husband, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson - by Mayme Hatcher Johnson
* * Infinite MagaZine Documentary * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Bumpy 1905 births 1968 deaths African-American gangsters American drug traffickers American crime bosses American bootleggers Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York) Criminals from South Carolina Criminals from Manhattan Genovese crime family Inmates of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary Gangsters from New York City People from Charleston, South Carolina People from Harlem American gangsters of the interwar period