Bumpy Johnson

Bumpy Johnson was an American racketeer who controlled organized-crime operations in Harlem from the 1930s until his death in 1968.

Connect

Stephanie St. Clair: Stephanie St. Clair was a Harlem numbers operator who resisted Dutch Schultz’s attempt to take over her gambling business. Her struggle against Schultz helped establish the Harlem underworld in which Johnson later rose.
Harlem Renaissance: The Harlem Renaissance was a flourishing of African American arts, literature, and intellectual life centered in Harlem during the 1920s and 1930s. Its cultural prominence preceded Johnson’s rise and helped make Harlem a nationally visible neighborhood.
Policy game: The policy game was an informal lottery system that became a major source of employment and income in Black neighborhoods. Johnson’s organization drew power from the local gambling economy and its network of operators.
American Gangster: American Gangster is a 2007 crime film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Denzel Washington as Frank Lucas. The film depicts Johnson through Lucas’s account of their relationship, which historians have questioned.
Dutch Schultz: Dutch Schultz was a New York City gangster who sought control of Harlem’s illegal numbers business during the early 1930s. His campaign against St. Clair shaped the power balance Johnson inherited.
Numbers game: The numbers game was an illegal lottery popular in Black urban communities, financed and operated by local entrepreneurs. Control of numbers gambling supplied a major source of income and influence in Johnson’s Harlem.
Numbers racket: The numbers racket was the organized illegal operation of lotteries, including collecting bets and paying winnings. It was the central business through which Johnson exercised control in Harlem.
Cotton Comes to Harlem: Cotton Comes to Harlem is a 1970 crime novel by Chester Himes, set in Harlem and featuring detectives Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones. Himes’s Harlem fiction offers a contrasting literary world to later popular portrayals of Johnson.
Frank Lucas: Frank Lucas was a Harlem drug trafficker who rose to prominence after Johnson’s death. Lucas later claimed a close relationship with Johnson, though accounts of their association are disputed.
Harlem: Harlem is a neighborhood in northern Manhattan, New York City, with a long history as a center of African American life. Johnson’s criminal authority was rooted in Harlem’s neighborhood institutions and streets.