It’s always frustrating to come across some glorious piece of history that the American public school system failed to teach.  Bumpy Johnson, the “Godfather of Harlem” is one of those who should have been just as popular Frank Costello – the inspiration behind Vito Corleone – and yet there isn’t a whole trilogy dedicated to his criminal contributions.

Beyond his outlaw lifestyle, Johnson was a generous man and a staple champion of Harlem’s Black community. He dined with socialites, hosted civil rights leaders, and helped build up his community until his death in 1968.

The Godfather of Harlem might finally be shedding some light on the gangster who fed the poor with one hand while punching out the mob with the other, but as usual, fact is so much better than fiction.

Bumpy Johnson’s childhood

Ellsworth “Bumpy” Raymond Johnson was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1905. His strange nickname has multiple alleged origins. Family members claimed that the name came from his tenacity; since he “took the bumps of life” so well, his family christened him “Bumpy.” Other claims say he had a slight skull deformation as a child, and the nickname stuck from a young age. The family lived in the South during the Jim Crow Era, a period of racial segregation and violent oppression of Black Americans. When Johnson was 10, his older brother Willie was accused of murdering a white man, and fearing reprisal, the Johnsons sent him to New York to live with an aunt.

After his brother was sent away, Bumpy Johnson started skipping class and lashing out. Unable to tame the wild child, they sent him to New York to live with his brother and older sister in 1919. The move to New York did nothing to change Johnson’s attitude, and he continued to get into fights, skip school, and make trouble. He was bullied by the local children for his short height and bumpy head, but Johnson wasn’t one to stand down from a fight. In the city, he was able to make money off of his bad behavior. He hustled in pool, swept sidewalks, and delivered newspapers – and even sent money home to his parents.

The start of Bumpy Johnson’s gang

At 16, Johnson took a major step in building his gang. Johnson, just like the Italian and Irish gangsters whose territory bordered Harlem, started offering protection services to the Black-owned businesses around him. It was a bold move that put him at odds with the much older William “Bub” Hewlette, the main enforcer for Dutch Schultz, a German-Jewish mobster. Hewlette liked the cut of Johnson’s jib, and the two struck up an unlikely partnership.

By 17, Bumpy’s behavior landed him in the Elmira Reformatory, but the reform school never managed to set him straight.

In the following years, Johnson branched into armed robberies, extortions, and pimping. He was one of the most sought-after bodyguards in the borough. Constantly in and out of jail, he built a name for himself until he was nabbed for grand larceny and went to jail in 1930. When he was released two years later, his modest empire was gone, and he was penniless.