Bumpy Johnson’s net worth at death was over $8 million. Johnson, whose real name was Ellsworth Raymond Johnson, made the lion’s share of his wealth from criminal activities, including numbers racket, drug pedaling, kidnapping, and more, before his death on July 7th, 1968. In addition, he also made some clean money through legitimate investments in real estate, investment banking, the hospitality industry, entertainment, and more.
Though he was known for his criminal activities in Harlem, Johnson also gained fame for being a good-hearted man who used a large part of his wealth in taking care of the needs of the poor and less privileged ones in society. After he passed on, the content of his last will and testament was never made open, and thus, it is difficult to know the identity of the person that inherited what he left behind.
How Much Was Bumpy Johnson Worth?
The internet space is suffused with different versions of Bumpy Johnson’s net worth before the Harlem crime lord kicked the bucket. However, it has been established that Johnson left a total of $8 million before he died in 1968.
Perhaps because he operated during the 40s, 50s, and 60’s when the global civilization was still evolving, no one could keep track of his monthly and annual income. Besides, the nature of his business also demanded that he kept a lot of things under wraps so as not to attract the attention of the authorities.
The Sources of Bumpy Johnson’s Net Worth
During his lifetime, Bumpy Johnson created multiple income heads that turned out to be money spinners. The crime lord started life after he was bundled off to Harlem to stay with his big sister, Mabel. That was exactly when he took the decision to drop out of high school to start taking up unruly job options. Unknown to Johnson, Gangster William Hewett was observing and later brought him in to join his gang. This marked his debut in the world of criminal activities in Harlem.
There was a time he undertook bodyguard jobs for some of the high-rolling illegal gamblers in Harlem, leading to so many ruthless murders. The villain made history in crime as a drug peddler and also in other areas like bribery, thievery, pimping, kidnapper, gambling, and so on.
After paying his dues, Johnson started rising through the ranks in the world of organized crime. With time, he became one of the kingpins in gangster lore.
Apart from crime, the gangster lord also earned some honest lucre in real estate, entertainment, and other investments. Thus, he was regarded as a powerful but fair boss, earning recognition from both crooks and law enforcement.
Bumpy Johnson Worked for the Numbers Queen During his Early Days
Under William Hewett’s watch, the school dropout launched a spate of criminal activities from armed robbery to pimping, extortion, political corruption, murder, and kidnapping, which saw him go in and out of jail till he clocked 30. By the time they set him free from jail in 1932, Bumpy Johnson was jobless and broke. However, he met Stephanie St. Clair on his return to the street, and she took him in as her principal lieutenant.
Stephanie, who is also dubbed Queen of the Policy Rackets or Madam Queen, was notorious as one of the most powerful crime bosses in Harlem. With Johnson as part of her team, Stephanie waged a guerrilla war against several New York crime bosses, and notable among them was Dutch Schultz.
During the battle, Johnson succeeded in kidnapping and murdering over 40 people, however, they still lost the war as Schultz and his allies had the authorities on their side. Ultimately, they dominated Harlem’s illegal gambling operations. However, as a result of Dutch Schultz’s deceptive financial practices that engendered bad blood within his mob ranks, the crime boss’ days were numbered. Eventually, he lost his life in 1935 after an Italian gangster known as Charles “Lucky” Luciano ordered a hit on him.
During this period, fortune smiled on Bumpy Johnson as Stephanie, who desperately needed to steer clear of the authorities, took the decision to hand over the reins of her empire to Johnson. With Schultz dead, Luciano and Bumpy Johnson, who were formerly sworn enemies, made an alliance that gave the school dropout control of all the rackets in Harlem. Johnson thus started working as an independent operation, and the condition was that he allows Luciano’s crew, “the Genovese crime family,” to get part of the profits.
It was at this point that Johnson started earning the big bucks and also marked his incursion into other types of crime.
Bumpy Johnson Recorded his Most Notable Investment in the Numbers Racket
It was after he got involved in what was referred to as the numbers racket that Johnson started earning public attention in Harlem. Even though he was already raking in a good income in the underworld, the crime boss quickly decided that the numbers business was a lucrative venture and wasted no time in seizing control of it. He only needed to understand how the game works, and leveraging his knowledge, he started churning out huge profits. Before long, Bumpy Johnson succeeded in building a formidable empire that took him to greater heights.
For the sake of elucidation, the numbers game was in the form of an illegal lottery operating in several Afro-American neighborhoods around the beginning of the 20th century. And the reason Johnson succeeded in taking over the operation was that he intimidated the existing local gangs, offering them protection from the authorities.
Needless to say, this move expanded the crime boss’ influence, making him a powerful and influential figure in Harlem. The residents of the city started respecting him for being fair and generous.
As his influence and power grew, the crime lord established close alliances with prominent figures like Malcolm X, Frank Costello, Elijah Muhammad, and of course, Lucky Luciano. It goes without saying that he experienced a significant boost in his income which opened the high school dropout to a life of opulence filled with exotic vacations, luxury cars, plush abodes, expensive jewelry, and so much more.
Bumpy Johnson’s success in the numbers racket enabled the crime boss to broaden his horizon and engage in even more lucrative investments in other fields, including real estate, bonds, stocks, restaurants, casinos, hotels, and nightclubs.
Johnson’s Drug-Related Crimes
Living life in the street led Johnson into criminal activities like drug peddling, and it goes without saying that he was arrested and jailed several times.
According to Jet, he was arrested and arraigned in 1952 for offenses bordering on drug conspiracy, conviction, and the particular hard substance that was found in his possession was heroin. Following his arraignment, Johnson landed in jail for the ensuing 15 years. Jet also reported that the drug lord appealed the case and only commenced his sentence after losing at the higher court. The majority of his prison sentence was served at San Francisco Bay, California-bae Alcatraz Prison as inmate No. 1117, Johnson only gained parole in 1963.
Before his demise, Johnson ended up being arrested over 40 times and served a couple of jail terms for drug-related charges. With his spate of arrests, detention, and imprisonment, it came as no surprise that the authorities decided to place the narcotic lord under surveillance in 1965.
According to reports, the surveillance was so harsh that it enraged Johnson, which led him to stage a sit-down strike at one police station in Harlem; this happened in 1965. The cops later charged the crime lord for his refusal to leave the station, however, he was acquitted of all crimes.
A short while later, Bumpy Johnson still landed himself in the police net for marijuana possession, and after he was arraigned, the criminal kingpin was sent to jail once again and only regained his freedom in 1968. Following his release, Johnson decided to relocate from Harlem to Los Angeles, California, where he continued his criminal activities, but his health was already deteriorating as a result of hypertension, diabetes, and heart ailment.
With that said, we must note that Johnson was not totally bad, as he is also credited with a strong sense of justice and loyalty. He instituted himself as the protector of local businesses that faced exploitations from other gangs and was a source of help to the less privileged. Johnson was associated with several charitable organizations where he made heavy donations. Good instances are NAACP and Harlem Boys Club, which focused on keeping Harlem youngsters who would have joined crime busy with legitimate activities.
His criminal activities notwithstanding, Johnson still held sway in Harlem, where they dubbed him “The Godfather of Harlem”. His fame as a crime lord also influenced the entertainment industry. His biography inspired biopics like American Gangster, Shaft, Shaft’s Big Score!, Moses Gunn, Ruthie Lee Johnson, Come Back Charleston Blue, Bumpy Johnson, Escape from Alcatraz, The Cotton Club, Hoodlum, and Life. His life also inspired some songs and the video game Mafia III.
Bumpy Johnson was a Shrewd Investor
Though he started accumulating his massive wealth through criminal activities in Harlem, crime was not the only source of income for the narcotic kingpin. According to reports, Bumpy Johnson also made some clean money through genuine investments that yielded millions.
The shrews and business-savvy drug lord was neck-deep in real estate, investment banking, and the stock market. The strategic business decisions he took in diverse industries proved to be unbelievably lucrative, leading Johnson to amass so much wealth.
His Real Estate Investment was Massive
Bumpy Johnson based most of his real estate investments in Los Angeles and New York City. These are the cities where he owned properties ranging from residential apartments to office spaces and commercial buildings. He also owned quite a good number of high-end hotels, and considering his roots, Johnson made provisions for some slum tenements to take care of the needs of the poor.
Apart from building and renting houses, his shrewdness led him to discover another profitable angle in the real estate business. Johnson started acquiring abandoned buildings and turned them into money-spinning projects after renovating them. There were also records of distressed properties he bought and resold at higher profit margins.
He knew exactly when to buy and the best time to put the properties on the market. This was the major reason he made more profit than his colleagues in the real estate business. Out of his substantial real estate empire, Johnson set some buildings aside that were majorly used for hosting events and occasions like parties, conventions, and more. The idea behind this is to earn from event organizers who would pay to hire the halls.
With proceeds from his property investments, Bumpy Johnson became a powerful and influential figure in the real estate industry, and during the time of the “Great Depression”, he used his massive wealth to help in rebuilding New York.
He was a Big Player in the Field of Investment Banking
In addition to his massive real estate empire, Bumpy Johnson also joined the high-stakes field of investment banking. With his links with Wall Street players, the shrewd businessman was able to secure profitable deals through which he earned substantial sums of money. He was neck-deep into bonds and other types of investment banking. Apart from these, the Godfather of Harlem also invested heavily in stock.
Entertainment is Another area Johnson Made Heavy Investments
Over the years, Johnson significantly boosted his fortune through heavy investment in the entertainment world. It is a known fact that the drug lord was no artist, but he contributed to the growth of showbiz by launching his own record label company. He also founded an independent film production firm that turned out to be a huge success.
Bumpy Johnson’s Other Businesses
Johnson also became very successful as a gambler with quite a good number of gambling establishments under his belt. His nightclubs were majorly concentrated in Harlem and were popular among A-list celebs like Sammy Davis Jr., including top people in the Italian Mafia.
Johnson also established a few taxi companies that were bringing in daily income. There was a funeral home, a liquor shop, and a souvenir shop.
He Made Money Through Smart Alliances
One fact about Bumpy Johnson that cannot be disputed is his association with high-profile celebrities, top politicians, kingpins of crime rings, lords of drug cartels, and so on.
The powerful alliance he formed with these notable figures wasn’t just for the sake of socializing, rather, it made handsome contributions to his bottom line. Reports revealed that he collaborated with the cartel lords in closing difficult deals in illegal enterprises like the heroin trade.
Those celebrities in the entertainment industry played major roles when he launched his record imprint and movie production companies. He hobnobbed with some of the iconic performers of that era, including Billie Holiday, Cab Calloway, and Duke Ellington, and they were the ones who patronized him and boosted his income from that end. They were equally instrumental in bringing Jazz music to the nightlife scene in Harlem.
Johnson knows exactly when to pull his political connection plug, especially when he had run-ins with the authorities. People like Adam Clayton Powell and Malcolm X were his friends.
At a point in his career life, Bumpy Johnson became an adviser to a good number of powerful mobsters like Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky, and he didn’t do it for free. The business-savvy drug lord knows when to turn his high-end connections into income heads.
Who Inherited Bumpy Johnson’s Net Worth?
The identity of the person to whom Bumpy Johnson eventually bequeathed his wealth has been a subject of debate for several years.
It may be possible that the Harlem crime boss didn’t leave a will at his demise, or the content was kept hidden from public scrutiny. Whichever may be the case, online sources took time to analyze the members of his family who were likely to have received the late businessman’s fortune.
There was his daughter, Ruthie Lee Johnson, born from his marriage with Mayme Hatcher Johnson. Mayme herself was also considered to be a strong contender in the will, and we must not forget to mention the drug lord’s second daughter, Elease Johnson, whom he had from another relationship.
