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 Ha ...

neighborhood of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Early life

Ellsworth Raymond "Bumpy" Johnson was born in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

, 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 whites, and in 1919 he was sent to live with his older sister Mabel in

. Johnson dropped out of high school and began working unruly jobs. Gangster William Hewett started to notice him. Johnson then began working for him, beginning his life of crime.

Career

Johnson was an associate of

numbers A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original 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. He became St Clair's principal lieutenant in the 1930s. Johnson and St. Clair aimed to start a war against New York mob boss

Dutch Schultz Dutch Schultz (born Arthur Simon Flegenheimer; August 6, 1901October 24, 1935) was an American mobster. Based in New York City in the 1920s and 1930s, he made his fortune in organized crime-related activities, including bootlegging and the n ...

. The fight resulted in more than 40 murders and several kidnappings. Eventually the fight on their end was lost, ending with a deal for Johnson. In 1952, Johnson's activities were reported in the celebrity people section of '' Jet''. That same year, Johnson 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 potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and bro ...

. 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 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 clarifying and ...

. 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 federal prison on Alcatraz Island, off the coast of San Francisco, California, United States, the site of a ...

San Francisco Bay, California San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water f ...

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 A sit-down strike is a labour strike and a form of civil disobedience in which an organized group of workers, usually employed at factories or other centralized locations, take unauthorized or illegal possession of the workplace by "sitting do ...

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.p.103+

Death

Johnson was under a federal indictment for drug conspiracy when he died of

congestive heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, ...

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 Hominy (Spanish: maíz molido; literally meaning "milled corn") is a food produced from dried maize (corn) kernels that have been treated with an alkali, in a process called nixtamalization ( is the Nahuatl word for "hominy"). "Lye hominy" is a ...

grits Grits are a type of porridge made from boiled cornmeal. Hominy grits are a type of grits made from hominy – corn that has been treated with an alkali in a process called nixtamalization, with the pericarp (ovary wall) removed. Grits are of ...

, when he fell over clutching his chest. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in The

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, New York City.

Personal life

Bumpy Johnson married Mayme Hatcher in October 1948, just 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 Shaft may refer to: Rotating machine elements * Shaft (mechanical engineering), a rotating machine element used to transmit power * Line shaft, a power transmission system * Drive shaft, a shaft for transferring torque * Axle, a shaft around whi ...

'' and its 1973 sequel '' Shaft's Big Score!'',

Moses Gunn Moses Gunn (October 2, 1929 – December 16, 1993) was an American actor of stage and screen. An Obie Award-winning stage player, he is an alumnus of the Negro Ensemble Company. His 1962 off-Broadway debut was in Jean Genet's ''The Blacks,'' and ...

portrays "Bumpy Jonas", a character based upon Johnson. * In the 1972 film ''

Come Back Charleston Blue ''Come Back, Charleston Blue'' is a 1972 American comedy film starring Godfrey Cambridge and Raymond St. Jacques, loosely based on Chester Himes' novel ''The Heat's On''. It is a sequel to the 1970 film ''Cotton Comes to Harlem''. Plot Detectiv ...

'', 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 Paul Benjamin (February 4, 1938 – June 28, 2019) was an American actor whose career spanned six decades. Benjamin appeared in dozens of films and television shows beginning in the late 1960s. Biography Born to Fair, a Baptist preacher (1890– ...

plays a character based on Bumpy Johnson, "English". * In the 1984 film '' The Cotton Club'',

Laurence Fishburne Laurence John Fishburne III (born July 30, 1961) is an American actor. He is a three time Emmy Award and Tony Award winning actor known for his roles on stage and screen. He has been hailed for his forceful, militant, and authoritative charact ...

plays a character based on Bumpy Johnson, "Bumpy Rhodes". * In the 1997 film ''

Hoodlum A hoodlum is a thug, usually in a group of misfits who are associated with crime or theft. Early use The earliest reference to the word "hoodlum" was in the December 14, 1866, ''San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin'' after the Hoodlum Band was ...

'', Johnson is again portrayed by Fishburne. * In the 1999 film ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy ...

'', musician

Rick James James Ambrose Johnson Jr. (February 1, 1948 – August 6, 2004), better known by his stage name Rick James, was an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, James began his musical career in ...

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

Clarence Williams III Clarence Williams III (August 21, 1939 – June 4, 2021) was an American actor. He played the character of Linc Hayes in the police television series ''The Mod Squad'' from 1968 to 1973. He also appeared in films such as '' Purple Rain'', '' 52 ...

Television

* In an episode of ''

Unsolved Mysteries ''Unsolved Mysteries'' is an American mystery documentary television show, created by John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer. Documenting cold cases and paranormal phenomena, it began as a series of seven specials, presented by Raymond Burr, Ka ...

'', it is reported that Johnson allegedly helped the three escapees of

Alcatraz Alcatraz Island () is a small island in San Francisco Bay, offshore from San Francisco, California, United States. The island was developed in the mid-19th century with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, and a military pris ...

get to the shores of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

. 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's ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American crime drama television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The Wire'' premiered on June 2 ...

'', " All Due Respect", Bumpy is mentioned just before Tree (dealer for

Cheese Wagstaff Street-level characters comprise a large part of the cast on the fictional HBO drama series '' The Wire''. Characters in this section range from homeless drug addicts up to drug king-pins in charge of entire criminal empires. Barksdale organizatio ...

) 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, pamphleteer, active in radical, republican, and liberal causes such as the French ...

's audio commentary for that episode. * Cable network

Epix Epix (pronounced ''epics'' and stylized as P) is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by the Epix Entertainment LLC subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), a subsidiary of Amazon's MGM Holdings, Inc. The channel's ...

premiered the crime drama television series '' Godfather of Harlem'' in Fall 2019.

Forest Whitaker Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. After making his f ...

plays Johnson. The series was created by executive producers Markuann Smith,

Chris Brancato Chris Brancato (born July 24, 1962) is an American television and film writer and producer. Brancato grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey

and Paul Eckstein, who are producing with

ABC Signature Studios ABC Signature is an American television production studio that is a subsidiary of Disney Television Studios, a division of Walt Disney Television, which is part of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Company. ...

Music

Prodigy Prodigy, Prodigies or The Prodigy may refer to: * Child prodigy, a child who produces meaningful output to the level of an adult expert performer ** Chess prodigy, a child who can beat experienced adult players at chess Arts, entertainment, and ...

titled his first full release following being released from prison in 2011 '' The Ellsworth Bumpy Johnson EP'', which was followed by '' The Bumpy Johnson Album''. *

Central Cee Oakley Neil H. T. Caesar-Su (born 4 June 1998), known professionally as Central Cee, is a British rapper and songwriter from Shepherd's Bush, London. He rose to prominence in 2020 with the release of the singles "Day in the Life" and "Loading". ...

released an EP in 2022 titled ''No More Leaks'' which featured a track titled "Bumpy Johnson".

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 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 Prohibition-era gangsters