Harlem, NY

- Finally!

Harlem Godfather: The Rap on my Husband, Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson (Oshun Publishing Paperback) is now available. The first complete biography of the most well-known African-American gangster of all time, Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson, this gripping life history is written by the person who knew Bumpy Johnson best, his 93-year-old widow, Mayme Johnson.  

Collaborating with Essence Magazine and Blackboard bestselling author, Karen E. Quinones Miller, Mrs. Johnson sets the record straight about the legendary Harlem gangster who was known as the only African-American gangster brave enough to stand up to the white mob, and who is depicted in the blockbuster movies Cotton Club, Hoodlum and American Gangster. ,

 

“Most of the information that people think they know about Bumpy is wrong,” says Mrs. Johnson. “That’s because he never used to give interviews, so the newspapers and magazine back in the thirties and forties just made up stuff. And later on it got repeated so often people just took it for the truth. I never got upset because I knew that people just didn’t know better.”

 

Mrs. Johnson, however, says her feelings changed when she heard that Harlem dope dealer Frank Lucas — depicted by Denzel Washington in the movie American Gangster — said he was Bumpy’s personal confidant, and that Bumpy was his mentor.

 

“There’s a difference between being wrong and lying, and what Frank Lucas did was lie. I understand it was probably to give himself some street credibility because he snitched and Bumpy never did, but Frank still shouldn’t have lied,” states Mrs. Johnson vehemently. “Frank even went and told those Hollywood people that Bumpy died in his arms. Frank wasn’t nowhere around when Bumpy died.”

 

Harlem Godfather: The Rap on my Husband, Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson

, details Bumpy Johnson’s life from his early days in Charleston S.C.; his move to Harlem as a teenager; his famous gang war with Jewish mobster, Dutch Schultz, in the thirties; his ascension to the top of the ladder of organized crime in Harlem; and finally his death from a heart attack in 1968 while eating fried chicken at Wells Restaurant in Harlem. Cleverly interwoven in the book are anecdotes of Bumpy’s relationships with various Harlem luminaries, including Billie Holiday, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Sugar Ray Robinson, Lena Horne, and others as well as the history of Harlem that few know.

 

 

Harlem Godfather: The Rap on my Husband, Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson

 

is available in bookstores nationwide and online at Amazon.com and other Internet book sites. Preview the book and visit Mrs. Mayme Johnson online at www.harlemgodfather.com