Harlem Godfather: The Rap on My Husband, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson

by Mayme Johnson and Karen E. Quinones Miller

Book Overview

The first and only full biography on legendary Harlem gangster, Bumpy Johnson who was depicted in the movies Cotton Club, Hoodlum and American Gangster Al Capone may have ruled Chicago. Lucky Luciano... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0967602831
• ISBN13: 9780967602837
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: Oshun Publishing Company, Incorporated
• Length: 244 Pages
• Weight: 0.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Excellent!!!!!

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...

I bought it for my boyfriend, but loved it myself

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 reco

READS LIKE A NON-FICTION NOVEL !!!!!!

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!!!

One of the Best Books I've read this year!!!

I was a bit surprised that Mayme Johnson still lived, or that Bumpy even had a wife or anything for that matter. It was great to be able to be a part of those who helped to bring this book to the light. Then to actually get the book in my hands and read it, oh I just couldn't put it down. See, I really thought that Bumpy was a character in "Hoodlum" with Laurence Fishburne. My father told me that while he lived in Harlem, he saw him walk by since he was a fixture there and when I did my research I find that the man truly lived and had the lock down on Harlem. It was a very interesting book about his life from his birth to his death in 1968 just as he was about to eat at a restaurant. Very interesting and captivating. She talks about the many celebrities that crossed her path, such as Billie Holliday, Lena Horne, Ethel Waters, etc the real deal about Frank Lucas of American Gangster fame, also some info on Madam Stephanie St Clair, who was featured in Hoodlum, as well. Very interesting book. Thank You Mrs Johnson and Ms Miller.

So Now I Know the REAL story!

First I want to commend Karen E. Quinones Miller for helping Mrs. Johnson write this book. Finally, the truth comes out about the real Bumpy Johnson and not what was depicted in Hoodlum and American Gangster. And speaking of American Gangster, after reading this book I can't believe the out and out lies about Bumpy Johnson that were told in that movie. Hollywood, you should be ashamed of yourself! And if it was Frank Lucas that told Hollywood those lies, Mr. Lucas you should hang your head. This book gives all the details about Bumpy's life from his childhood in Charleston, to his death in 1968. (And no, he did not have a heart attack and die in some department store like they said in American Gangster.) It also details all of his criminal activities dating from back when he was a teenager. Most importantly, after reading this book you feel you've gotten to know the REAL Bumpy Johnson, and not just the legend. He was something else. It also has wonderful little stories about people like Sugar Ray Robinson (you've got to read what Mrs. Johnson said about Mrs. Sugar Ray!) and Lena Horne (tsk, tsk, tsk, to you Ms. Horne!) as well as gangsters like Lucky Luciano and Dutch Schultz. I had to wait for like a month to come out, but it was worth the wait! I'm a big fan of gangster books like The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano, Shoot the Dutchman, and different bios on Meyer Lansky and others . . . but it's so good to read a bio about the most famous black gangster who ever lived. This is now my favorite gangster book. Oh. I almost forgot to mention that I enjoyed reading about Mrs. Johnson's relationship with Bumpy Johnson. You can tell those two were really in love. And there are some parts, like what happened between them right before he died, that will bring tears to a lot of eyes. This was a great book.