Dutch Schultz
Dutch Schultz, born Arthur Flegenheimer, was a notorious American gangster who rose to prominence during the Prohibition era in the early 20th century. Originating from a Jewish immigrant family in the Bronx, he initially gained notoriety through bootlegging operations alongside his partner Joey Noe, eventually branching out into illegal activities such as extortion and gambling. Schultz's violent reputation was cemented after a series of brutal acts, including the kidnapping and torture of a rival gangster, leading to his ascendance as a major crime boss in New York.
Despite his ruthless tactics, Schultz exhibited a complex persona, enjoying literature and humor, which captured public interest. His high-profile lifestyle ultimately attracted the attention of law enforcement, especially prosecutor Thomas Dewey. After a series of legal battles and attempts to evade arrest, Schultz was targeted by rival gangsters who saw him as a liability. He was murdered in 1935 in a hit orchestrated by organized crime syndicates, marking the end of his tumultuous reign. Schultz's legacy lives on, depicted in various films and literature, often embodying the archetypal gangster figure in American culture.
Subject Terms
Dutch Schultz
American gangster
- Born: August 6, 1902
- Birthplace: Bronx, New York
- Died: October 24, 1935
- Place of death: Newark, New Jersey
Cause of notoriety: Despite a mobster career filled with murder, bootlegging, extortion, tax evasion, and gambling, Schultz evaded the law or was acquitted of charges; he served only one brief prison sentence—fifteen months for burglary.
Active: 1919-1935
Locale: New York and New Jersey
Early Life
Dutch Schultz (shuhlts) was born Arthur Flegenheimer and was a young street tough in the Bronx. Flegenheimer’s parents were German-Jewish immigrants; his partner in crime, Joey Noe, was Irish American. Noe and Schultz made money and built their reputations by transporting beer from New Jersey into Manhattan during Prohibition. In 1928, Noe and Flegenheimer set up Bronx speakeasies and supplied beer to Manhattan clubs. They kidnapped competitor Joe Rock, hung him by his thumbs, beat him, and allegedly wrapped a bandage infected with gonorrhea around his eyes. Rock went blind, and the young men’s reputation as ruthless gangsters was solidified. Flegenheimer soon began calling himself “Dutch Schultz” after a legendary New York street fighter from the nineteenth century.
Criminal Career
Schultz became a gang boss as a result of his focused aggression and his ability to organize. However, when he and Noe expanded their bootlegging operations into midtown Manhattan, the move stirred up trouble with their former associate Jack “Legs” Diamond; Diamond subsequently murdered Noe in 1928. Schultz then hired gangsters Bo and George Weinberg and brothers Vincent “Mad Dog” and Peter Coll as protection and started extorting protection money from restaurants and bars.
Schultz earned public attention in 1931 following the shooting of gangster Charles “Chink” Sherman in a brawl in a speakeasy; he was charged and subsequently acquitted for the crime. Also in 1931, Schultz’s men killed Diamond in Albany, New York.
At this time, Vincent Coll then turned on Schultz. Coll was a boyhood friend and a hit man for hire who wanted to be Schultz’s partner after Noe’s death. Coll sprayed bullets into a speakeasy, wounding five children and killing one. He was acquitted of the crime but was soon arrested again for carrying a concealed weapon. Schultz posted Coll’s ten-thousand-dollar bond, but Coll skipped bail and left town. Coll began kidnapping underworld figures and demanded ransom payment from their bosses. Peter Coll was soon gunned down, and Vincent Coll blamed Schultz; in 1932, he killed four of Schultz’s deliverymen and went in search of Schultz himself. However, Schultz’s gangsters caught Vincent Coll in a telephone booth and murdered him with machine gun fire.
Schultz looked like a gangster, with his broken nose, hooded eyelids, and icy stare. However, he read the works of Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare, rode horses, had a wife and two children, and displayed a rough New York sense of humor in interviews. Such contradictions to his violent profession fascinated the reading public, who followed the dramatic saga of American gangsters in daily newspapers. However, this kind of media attention worked adversely for Schultz, who by 1933 had become too high-profile to stay safe. He was charged with tax evasion by prosecutor Thomas Dewey and “hid” from prosecution in plain sight in Manhattan.
Schultz also corrupted police and government officials—notably New York assemblyman Jimmy Hines. Schultz lawyer Dixie Davis made a deal with Dewey to testify against Hines, and Hines went to prison for four years. During this period, he murdered gang member Jules Martin for skimming money. He also took over “policy” in Harlem—penny-ante bets made on three numbers printed in newspapers. Policy became Schultz’s most lucrative operation.
Legal Action and Outcome
In 1934, New York mayor Fiorello Henry La Guardia and the federal government finally agreed to pursue Schultz in earnest and arrest him; they succeeded in their task. The Dutchman, as bribery, offered $100,000 if tax charges were dropped, but his trial proceeded as planned in Syracuse, New York. He gave interviews and passed out money during the court proceedings. The first trial resulted in a hung jury; the second, in Malone, New York, resulted in acquittal.
In 1935, the government charged Schultz with restaurant extortion. Schultz moved to New Jersey and asked his crime syndicate to pursue the assassination of Dewey. The syndicate decided to kill Schultz instead, whom they viewed as unstable and as someone with profitable businesses to absorb. Murder, Inc. (so called by the press), a syndicate specializing in contract killing, got the job.
Schultz and three gang members were fatally shot in the Palace Chop House in Newark, New Jersey, at about 10:15 p.m., on October 23, 1935. Charles Workman and Mendy Weiss entered the restaurant and walked to a back table, where Schultz’s gangsters hovered over ledger sheets, and opened fire. Workman shot Schultz in the side with a .45 pistol while Schultz was in the bathroom. Schultz died from an infection because the bullet nicked his stomach. He asked for a priest and was baptized a Roman Catholic. His feverish ravings, which later became famous, were jotted down by a police stenographer. He died on October 24, 1935.
Impact
The New York mob, organized by Charles “Lucky” Luciano in 1929, was strong enough by 1935 to eliminate independent gangsters such as Schultz. The Dutchman’s scams were absorbed by Luciano’s syndicate after his death, giving it control of restaurant unions and policy. Thomas Dewey estimated that the Schultz gang made twenty million dollars a year from various schemes. Dewey subsequently was elected governor of New York for three terms (1943-1955) and was the Republican candidate for president twice. Schultz was immortalized in popular culture through several films—including The Cotton Club (1984), which cast James Remar as a homicidal Schultz, and Billy Bathgate (1991), based on a 1989 novel by E. L. Doctorow and starring Dustin Hoffman as the Dutchman. Schultz was typically portrayed as the archetypal gangster: brutish, undereducated, and spontaneously violent—characteristics that the real Schultz masked when he wished.
Bibliography
Charyn, Jerome. Gangsters and Gold Diggers: Old New York, the Jazz Age, and the Birth of Broadway. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2005. Includes material on Schultz and other Roaring Twenties personalities.
Downey, Patrick. Gangster City: The History of the New York Underworld, 1900-1935. Fort Lee, N.J.: Barricade Books, 2004. An accurate record of criminal gangs at war during the 1920’s and 1930’s.
Sann, Paul. Kill the Dutchman. New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington, 1971. Written by newspaper reporter Sann, who interviewed persons who knew Schultz during his gangster career, the book is excellent for the details it provides on Schultz’s life; other biographies of Schultz borrow heavily from it.