Bumpy Johnson Was Little Known Until Recently
Bumpy Johnson became Harlem’s criminal kingpin, and every hood needed his approval in order to operate in that part of town. He was known to be well-read, a trait that earned him another nickname: “the Professor”. He did nine years in Alcatraz from 1954 to 1963, and was greeted with a parade upon his return. Yet, despite his flashy fashion, his poetic pretensions, and ostentatious distribution of turkeys to the poor on Thanksgiving, Bumpy never joined the pantheon of famous American villains. Indeed, he was largely unknown until the recent release of the TV series Godfather of Harlem.
That was despite the fact that the stock gangster boss character in every blaxploitation film, starting with “Bumpy Jonas” in Shaft, is modeled on Bumpy Johnson. And despite the fact that the entire gangsta rap genre is essentially a homage to Bumpy. He almost certainly murdered and ordered the murder of more people than, say, John Gotti, Jesse James, Billy the Kid, and perhaps even Al Capone. He certainly ran his criminal empire for far longer than any of them ran theirs.