6. Deadlier Than Al Capone?
Bumpy Johnson almost certainly murdered and ordered the murder of more people than, e.g.; 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. The fact that he was black, and so were most of his victims, is a factor in explaining why he is not as famous as other iconic American criminals. His exploits did not resonate far beyond Harlem.
Another factor is that there was something cold and reptilian about Bumpy. Most famous criminals were hot and passionate. Bumpy Johnson, by contrast, quietly made his victims disappear, like Al Capone’s successor Frank Nitti – another crime boss who ran his criminal kingdom for decades, and garnered relatively little public attention.