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Harlem Godfather: The Rap on my Husband, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson | 
 enlarge | Authors: Mayme Hatcher Johnson, Karen E. Quinones Miller
Publisher: Oshun Publishing Company, Inc.
Category: Book
Buy New: $15.00
New (1) Used (5) from $11.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 141176
Media: Paperback
Edition: First
Pages: 248
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.5
ISBN: 0967602831
Dewey Decimal Number: 364
EAN: 9780967602837
ASIN: 0967602831
Publication Date: February 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
Al Capone may have ruled Chicago. Lucky Luciano may have run most of New York City. But from the 1930s to the late 1960s, when it came to Harlem, the undisputed king of the underworld was Ellsworth Bumpy Johnson. He was called an old-fashioned gentleman. He was called a pimp. A philanthropist and a thief. A scholar and a thug. A man who admonished children to stay in school, and a man who some say introduced heroin into Harlem. Bumpy was a man whose contradictions are still the root of many an argument in Harlem. But there is one thing on which both his supporters and detractors agree in his lifetime, Bumpy was the man in Harlem. If you wanted to do anything in Harlem, anything at all, you'd better stop and see Bumpy because he ran the place. Want to open a number spot on the Avenue? Go see Bumpy. Thinking about converting your brownstone into a speakeasy? Check with Bumpy first. The police knew it they came to him to negotiate peace between young street gangs. The politicians knew it they counted on him to deliver votes on Election Day. Even the Italian and Jewish syndicate knew it, although they had to find out the hard way. Harlem Godfather: The Rap On My Husband, Ellsworth Bumpy Johnson is the first complete biography of a man who for years was Harlem s best kept, and most cherished secret. The book is written by Bumpy's widow, Mayme Johnson, and details not only his criminal life and relationships, but also his close relationships with Harlem luminaries like Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Joe Lewis, Sidney Poitier, Bill Bojangles Robinson, and Sugar Ray Robinson to name a few. This book also details Bumpy's relationship Harlem dopedealer with Frank Lucas, who has called himself Bumpy's right-hand man, but was -- according to Mrs. Johnson -- little more than a flunky.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
Excellent!!!!! May 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I really loved this Book.. After spending years searching for any information on Bumpy Johnson, I was excited to find that this book would be published. When I recieved my copy I read it in two days, and was very happy to learn about the "Real Bumpy Johnson". He was some man... The movie couldn't get it right, but this book certainly has... Congratulations to the author on a job well done...
 The Real American Gangster April 25, 2008
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
Imagine sitting around on the living room floor in your grandmother's house, listening carefully as your grandmother recaps your family history. That is the feeling I got while reading Harlem Godfather: The Rap on my Husband, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson by Mayme Johnson and Karen E Quinones Miller.
Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson was born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina, where he was already making a name for himself. His parents, worrying about his safety, send him to live with his older sister, Mabel, in Harlem. This was the beginning of a new sheriff in town, and he meant business.
If loyalty is what you wanted; Bumpy was the man to find. Anything happening in Harlem had to be approved by him as well, and he never ever backed downed. Especially when he knew he was right. Though his main business was numbers running and protection, he was sentenced to fifteen years in prison, on a drug trafficking charge. Something he did not see coming, for all of Harlem knew the type of man he was.
Mayme Johnson wanted to set the record straight about the type of man, her husband, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson, was. The type of people he kept company with and how he dealt with those who thought they could bring him down. At 93 years-old her memories of the things which took place, from the time Bumpy was young all the way up until the day of his death, was impressive. Though she met Bumpy in 1948, he along with his true friends shared the events of his earlier days with her, as well as things that took place when she was not there.
Mayme Johnson and Karen E Quinones Miller cleared up a lot of falsified information in Harlem Godfather: The Rap on my Husband, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson. Sometimes they flipped back and forth within the timeline, but it was not hard to keep up with. The main thing I had a concern about was the lack of proper editing. There were numerous errors of all sorts. The binding was also an issue for me. I found it hard to hold the book comfortably. All and all I still recommend Harlem Godfather: The Rap on my Husband, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson to anyone wanting to know the truth about the real American gangster.
Jennifer Coissiere
APOOO BookClub
I bought it for my boyfriend, but loved it myself March 25, 2008
I was dubious about buying this book, but I decided to go ahead and get it since I'm familiar with the author. I knew it wasn't something I would like myself, but figured my boyfriend would so it wouldn't be a waste.
After I got it I flipped through a few pages before my giving it to my boyfriend. Well why did I do that! I was hooked from the very first page.
This is really and truly one of the best books I've ever read.
It tells the story of Bumpy Johnson, the gangster who ran Harlem after fighting it out with the Mafia in the thirties. I had seen the movie Hoodlum, so I knew Bumpy was a colorful character, but the movie didn't tell the half of it. This books tells Bumpy's early life, how he turned to a life of crime, and the principles he had while in the life. He wasn't like the thugs they have out here now. He was tougher than any alive, for one. But also, as tough as he was (and he was tough!) he still was a good man in a lot of ways. That's why he was so loved.
The book tells about Bumpy's childhood in Charleston, his arrival in Harlem in 1919, and how he got started as a gangster. We also learn about a lot of the other colorful characters he ran with like Bub Hewlett and Madame Queen who were also portrayed in the movie Hoodlum, and also what eventually happened to them.
It also tells about Bumpy's time in prison, and how he raised so much hell there the wardens were trying to figure out how to get him the heck out of prison. Can you imagine that?
The book also tells about other Harlem characters who've never been written about. Like Dickie Wells, who was a gigilo who romanced white movie stars and got rich doing so, and then spent all his money uptown in Harlem, treating black women to a good time. He was a gigilo who never took a dime from a black woman but bilked white ones for all they had.
And the book also talks about Red Dillard Morrison, who was almost (but only almost) as colorful as Bumpy.
And the book gives an interesting history of Harlem that I never knew, and how the black people had to hire people like Bub Hewlett and Bumpy Johnson (they called them the Harlem Bad Men) to protect them from the whites who would come up from Hells Kitchen and try to break black heads. Bub really put a stop to that!
There's also great stories about Bill Bojangles Robinson, Lena Horne and others. And I didn't know that Bumpy was godfather to Sydney Poitier's oldest daughter. But with all that, Bumpy was still a bad man, and a colorful one that you can't help taking a liking too. He didn't smoke or curse around women he didn't know, but he would still shoot or cut a man in a minute.
Like another reviewer already said, the book reads like a novel, and a really good one. Even though it's more than 200 pages I flew through it and then was mad when I was finished because it was so good I didn't want to stop reading it.
I can't say enough about this book. Like I already said, it's one of the best I've ever read. I really, really, really recommend it to everyone!
READS LIKE A NON-FICTION NOVEL !!!!!! March 24, 2008
This book is GREAT!. I love the way Bumpy Johnson's story is told from his wife's point of view without the book being all about her. Ms. Quinones-Miller is such an excellent writer that you forget while reading it that it is a non-fiction book. I read this book from the moment I got it until I finnished and I was not dissapointed at all. I suggest this book to anybody who loves BIOGRAPHIES AND URBAN FICTION. It is the best!!!
America's True Gangster Mr. Bumpy Johnson (token) March 17, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Thank You Mrs. Johnson for sharing this true to heart story about Bumpy Johnson with alot of history intertwined. I looked at American Gangster and Hollywood have it all wrong. From reading this book about Bumpy's life, I feel that he helped pave the way and made Harlem what it is to this day, and his legend still lives thru Harlem. This story was told from his childhood years until his last days. I felt I truly knew Bumpy Johnson when I read the book, but while reading, I wished I had not only knew Mr. Johnson, but I wished only for a glimpse of The Harlem Godfather. This book is told thru his wife's voice, and it was no fairy tale, but it was told from the heart of a woman who loved him the most. I not only learned about Bumpy, but I learned about others such as Lena Horne, Bill "Bojangles", Lucky Luciano, Flash Walker (who Frank Lucas so wanted his life to be) and Billie Holiday. I was the most amazed at how a young little boy from the south that came to Harlem and took over. I also have to give Bumpy his credit whatever he went thru or did, he still loved his people and did his time like a true man and snitching wasn't even in his vocabulary.
Thanks Mrs. Mayme Johnson and Karen E. Quinones from setting the record straight for all of America. Thanks for educating me on a part of American History of Bumpy Johnson, and telling me a story that I will will always know who the real Bumpy Johnson really was from his start until that last tear from my eyes to the end of the book!! Bumpy Johnson, Harlem's and America's True Gangster R.I.P. !!
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