"Ellsworth Raymond Johnson" (October 31,1905-July 7,1968) AKA "Bumpy Johnson"

Was an American mob boss an bookmaker in New York City's Harlem

neighborhood.The main Harlem associate of the Genovese Crime family,bumpy criminal career has inspired films and television.Bumpy was born in Charleston South Carolina.He derived the name "bumpy"from a bump on the back of his head.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.As bumpy became older,his parents worried about about his short temper and insolence toward  whites and in 1919 he was sent to live with his older sister Mabel in Harlem.Bumpy was an associate of numbers queen Stephanie St.Clair.After being released from prison,he learned 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 numbers operation to Dutch was targeted for violence.Dutch was murdered in 1935,which was arranged by Lucky Luciano and the national crime syndicate.Lucky took over most of Dutch's number operations in Harlem,he took made a deal with bumpy which allowed the bankers who had fought for their independence to remain independent as long as their taxes were paid.That deal made with an instant hero in the eyes of many Harlemities,who were impressed that a 27-year old African American man could actually cut deals with the Italian Mafia.Bumpy was soon the toast of Harlem,and became friends with many Harlem luminaries such Bill "Bojangles"Robinson.Lena Horne,Billie Holiday,and Sugar Ray Robinson.He also became sort of of an unofficial crime boss of Harlem;no one could conduct criminal activities in his section of New York first going through him.In 1948 he met 34-year-old Mayme Hatcher at Frasier's Restaurant Seventh Avenue in Harlem;six months later.By summer of 1952,Bumpy's activities were being reported in the celebrity people of Jet,an America weekly marketed toward African Americans readers,founded in 1951 by John H. Johnson of Johnson Publishing Company in Chicago;Illinois.That same year,Bumpy was indicted in New York for conspiracy to sell heroin (he claimed to have been framed,and many people believe him) and was sentenced to fifteen years in prison.Two years later, Jet reported in its crime section bumpy began its sentence after losing on appeal.He served the majority of his prison time at Alcatraz Prison in San Fransisco Bay,in California as inmate No. 1117,and it has been said he helped three fellow inmates escape by arranging to have a boat pick them up once they broke out and made it into San Fransisco Bay.Bumpy was released from prison in 1963 and returned to Harlem,where he was greeted with an impromptu parade.He was arrested more than 40 times and would eventually serve three prison terms for narcotics-related charges.In December 1965,Bumpy staged a sit-down strike in a police station,refusing to leave,as a protest against their continued surveillance.Bumpy was charged with "refusal to leave a police station "but was acquitted by a judge.Bumpy was under a federal indictment for drug conspiracy when he died of heart failure.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 keeled over over clutching his chest.Childhood friend Finely Hoskins was there,and someone ran down the street to the Rhythm Club to get another friend,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.Bumpy is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.