The Infamous...Bumpy Johnson

Ellsworth Raymond Johnson was born on October 31, 1906 in Charleston, SC. 

In 1916, Johnson's brother, Willie, was accused of killing a white man. Fearing that he'd become the victim of a retaliatory lynching, his parents sent him to live with the boys' sister, Mabel, in Harlem. In 1919, the Johnsons sent Bumpy to New York as well.

Bumpy found employment sweeping floors and selling newspapers. He subsequently embarked on a gambling career, hustling pool and shooting dice. Within two years of arriving in New York, the South Carolinian transplant had become a burglar as well. He reportedly earned the nickname "Bumpy" because of a prominent bump on the back of his head.

Johnson attended Brooklyn's Boys High and after graduating, he enrolled in City College as a pre-law major.

At 19-years-old, Johnson was arrested for burglary following completion of a single semester in college. He would serve seven years in prison. 

In 1932, a newly-paroled Johnson's entrance into organized crime came when he was hired as an enforcer by Harlem numbers-runner Madame Stephanie St Clair. St Clair needed the additional muscle for her war with Jewish-American mobster Arthur "Dutch Schultz" Flegenheimer. Initially a bootlegger, Schultz encroached on St Clair's operation following the repeal of Prohibition. The Schultz conflict raged for years, eventually prompting St Clair to retire and turn her operation over to Johnson, with whom it's believed she also had an intimate relationship.

The numbers was an unofficial and illegal lottery devised in the 1920s. Players made bets on a three-digit number of their choosing, gambling that their number would be the one selected as the big winner.

Following Schultz's October 1935 murder, suspected to have been ordered by mobster Salvatore "Lucky Luciano" Lucania, Johnson secured a deal with the Italian gangster that allowed his and the other Black organizations to remain independent on the condition that they paid a 1% tribute to La Cosa Nostra.  This independence -- and his expansion into the heroin trade -- allowed Johnson to flourish and he eventually became the preeminent gangster in Harlem. Numbers-running brought in an estimated $100 million in 1935.

Johnson's growing power -- and his taste for nightlife -- brought him into regular contact with celebrities with whom he forged friendships, including: boxing champion Sugar Ray Robinson; tap dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson; and singers Cab Calloway, Billie Holiday and Lena Horne.

In 1948, Johnson met future wife Mayme Hatcher, with whom he quickly began a romantic relationship, at a local restaurant. That October, Johnson proposed during a drive around Harlem with Hatcher in his Cadillac.

A ladies man, Johnson maintained a relationship with writer and former Vanity Fair managing editor Helen Lawrenson. But he was also a family man. Johnson raised his grandchild, Margaret Johnson, born in 1950, as his daughter, pampering her with chauffeured limousine rides to private school and extravagant birthday parties.

In 1952, Johnson was indicted for narcotics trafficking. In 1954, after being released on $22,500 bail, Johnson turned himself in to New York police to begin a 15-year prison sentence stemming from a drug-trafficking conviction. Johnson had filed -- and lost -- an appeal accusing multiple prosecution witnesses of perjuring themselves at his trial. He was sent to San Francisco's infamous Alcatraz prison, where he was designated inmate number 1117.

Nicknamed "the Rock", Alcatraz, which was ordered closed down by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy in 1963, was notoriously difficult to flee. However, during his stint, Johnson is widely believed to have aided the June 11, 1962 escape of three men from the island facility. Johnson is rumored to have arranged for a boat to transport the escapees to Pier 13 in San Francisco's Hunter's Point once they reached the San Francisco Bay.

Upon his release and return to Harlem in 1963, Johnson was welcomed back to his adopted hometown with a parade. Vowing to go legit, Johnson opened the Palmetto Exterminating Business shortly after his return. 

In 1965, Johnson orchestrated a sit-in protest at a local police station in order to express his objection to law enforcement surveillance. He was charged with, and eventually acquitted of, "refusal to leave a police station".

In 1967, Johnson was arrested following a brief chase through traffic and charged with drug trafficking by federal agents acting on information supplied by a confidential informant. However, a search of Johnson's vehicle came up empty. He was released on $50,000 bond. 

On July 7, 1968, Johnson dined at Harlem's Well's Restaurant, where he suffered a heart attack in the company of childhood friend Finley Hoskins. After being transported to Harlem Hospital, Johnson was pronounced dead from congestive heart failure. His last meal was chicken legs, hominy grits and coffee.

Funeral services for Johnson were held on July 11 at St. Martin's Episcopal Church, located at 122nd St and Lenox Avenue. He was interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.

Johnson with his granddaughter Margaret at her 14th birthday party

The Infamous..."Crazy Joe" Gallo

Joseph Gallo was born on April 7, 1929 in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn, New York to a loan shark father, Umberto, and his wife, Mary. Joseph had one sister, Carmella, and two brothers: Lawrence and Albert. Joseph attended Brooklyn's Public School 179.

Rumor has it that after seeing Kiss of Death in 1947, Gallo began imitating and dressing like the film's main character Tommy Udo, portrayed by Richard Widmark. In 1950, Joey was convicted for burglary but was given a suspended sentence after being diagnosed with paranoid-schizophrenia. Seven years later, he allegedly murdered Albert Anastasia, head of "Murder Incorporated", which earned him (as well as Larry) a position in the Profaci crime family as a made man. Gallo and Jackie "Mad Dog" Nazarian allegedly shot Anastasia to death as he sat in a barber chair in Manhattan's Park Sheraton Hotel.

Not long after, the dissatisfied Gallo brothers and various fellow mobsters rebelled against the head of the family, Guiseppi "Joe" Profaci, and established a base of operations in a South Brooklyn warehouse. By this time, Larry had earned the nickname "the Boss" and Albert, the youngest Gallo sibling, was known as "Al the Blast". In 1961, the Gallos kidnapped Profaci's brother, brother-in-law and Profaci family underboss Joseph Colombo, demanding a greater share of the organization's proceeds in exchange for their release. On January 31, 1962, Larry and Al, along with fellow gang members John "Lupo" Commarato, Leonard "Lenny" Dello, Anthony "Tony Shots" Abbatemarco, Frank "Punchy" Illiano and Alphonso "Peanuts" Serantonio, rescued six children from their burning apartment on South Brooklyn's President street, which they controlled. Joe was incarcerated at upstate New York's Attica Correctional Facility at the time. 

In 1960, Gallo married Jeffie Lee Boyd and in 1962, the couple welcomed a daughter, Joie. The pair divorced when Gallo was sentenced to five years in prison. However, upon his release, the two remarried. The couple divorced for the second and final time in 1971, after which Jeffie moved to California with Joie.

Larry Gallo died of cancer in 1968.

After serving eight years for an attempted extortion conviction for muscling the owner of a Brooklyn bar, Gallo was released from the Ossining State Correctional Facility on April 11, 1971. During Gallo's incarceration, Joseph Anthony Colombo took over the Profaci family following the death of the organization's namesake. While he renamed the gang after himself, Colombo nevertheless founded the Italian American Civil Rights League, an organization dedicated to eliminating the "myth" of Italian Americans, such as himself, as gangsters. Opposed to his high-profile, Gallo challenged Colombo for power shortly after his release, attempting to extort him for $100,000. In turn, Colombo placed a hit on Gallo. However, on June 28, Colombo was shot in front of a crowd of thousands, including NYC mayor John Lindsay, at an Italian American Civil Rights League event near Central Park. As Colombo was preparing to speak, an African American man, Jerome Johnson, opened fire on him. Johnson, in turn, was quickly shot to death. Though the incident, which left Colombo paralyzed, garnered an enormous amount of publicity, including a cover story in Time magazine, a clear motive for the shooting was never established. However, many believed that it was orchestrated by Gallo.

Later that year, a film adaptation of the book The Gang Who Couldn't Shoot Straight, loosely based on Gallo's crew and their exploits, was released. Though he reportedly resented the film's depiction of him, Gallo befriended the actor --Jerry Orbach -- who portrayed the character "Kid Sally", who was loosely based on Gallo. It wasn't long before Gallo and his new girlfriend, Sina Essary, began going on double dates with Orbach and his wife Marta. In fact, Gallo and Essary, a former nun from Ohio, were married in the Orbach's home in March of 1972. Popular 1970s comedian David Steinberg served as Gallo's best man.

Joe Gallo (left)

On April 6, 1972, Gallo, dressed in a pinstripe suit and a gray fedora, and friends, including his new wife Sina Essary Gallo, whom he'd married the previous month, and her 10-year-old daughter, Lisa (a Broadway star); his sister, Carmella Fiorello; Steinberg; the Orbachs; stand-up comic Don Rickles; childhood friend (the two met at P.S. 179) and bodyguard Peter "Pete the Greek" Diapoulas and his date, Edith Russo; and bodyguard Robert "Bobby Darrow" Bongiovi partied at Manhattan's Copacabana to celebrate Gallo's birthday until the legendary nightclub closed at approximately 4 a.m. Gallo's party --minus the Orbachs, Rickles, Steinberg and Bongiovi -- then headed to Umberto's Clam House in Gallo's black 1971 Cadillac for breakfast. At approximately 5:30 a.m. on April 7, 1972, Gallo was shot to death by a lone unknown assailant armed with a .38 caliber handgun during his birthday celebration at Umberto's, located at 129 Mulberry Street in Manhattan's Little Italy. Diapoulas sustained a gunshot to the left hip during an exchange with the triggerman, during which 20 shots were fired. The assailant, who, according to witnesses, entered the restaurant through a side door, was described as being middle-aged, having black hair and standing 5'8". 

Gallo upended the table at which the group was seated, and after sustaining injuries, exited through the front door before collapsing, dead, on Hester Street. Because Umberto's was located one block from Police Headquarters, officers arrived quickly, alerted by the shooting, and both Gallo and Diapoulas were transported, via police car, to Beekman-Downtown Hospital for treatment. Gallo had been shot in the back, left elbow and left buttock and was pronounced dead at the hospital. Diapoulas, who was placed under police guard at the facility, refused to cooperate when questioned about the shooting. In fact, he even declined to reveal his name. Mrs. Fiorello, who was overcome with emotion, had to be sedated. Diapoulas was subsequently convicted for unlawful possession of an unloaded firearm and served a year in prison.

The Gallo-Colombo war intensified following Joe's death. At approximately 9:30 pm on August 11, 1972, a lone assailant armed with two long-barreled revolvers, gunned down four men dining in Manhattan's Neapolitan Noodle restaurant. Two of the men, Leon Schneider and Jack Forem, survived, while the other two, Sheldon Epstein and Max Tekelch, were killed. Forem sustained a bullet in the leg and Schneider was treated at New York Hospital for four gunshots. The triggerman, a Las Vegas hitman, had mistaken the four victims for Colombo soldiers and opened fire when they left the bar area of the restaurants with their dates. In the summer of 1974, four members of the Gallo crew were shot at a benefit held at a Brooklyn synagogue. One of the men, Steve Grillo, was killed. 

In 1975, Diapoulas identified Gallo's killer as Carmine Di Blase, also known by the alias Sonny Pinto. Joseph Luparelli later admitted to being the getaway driver.  

Joe Gallo

Umberto's Clam House

Albert Anastasia post-mortem

The Infamous...Angelo Bruno

Angelo Annaloro was born on May 21, 1910, in Sicily, Italy. He moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with his family as a teenager. Annaloro's father opened a local grocery store, where he Angelo helped out.

Bruno became a "made man" during his thirties.

Annaloro eventually adopted the surname "Bruno" as a nod to Philadelphia mobster Giuseppe "Joe Bruno" Dovi. Bruno married Sue Maranca, with whom he eventually had two children: Michael and Jean.

Bruno painted the windows of the family home on Broad Street black in order to protect his number-running business from surveillance.

Bruno later moved his family to a three-bedroom rowhouse on 934 Snyder Avenue -- the first home that he owned. 

Bruno was named head of the Philadelphia family by 1959, replacing Antonio Pollina. Bruno oversaw the organization's participation in extortion, loan sharking and racketeering, which yielded significant profits.

In 1960, Bruno was reported to be one of nine men who comprised La Cosa Nostra's national commission.

In late 1963, Bruno was charged with conspiracy to travel across state lines to commit extortion following an October 31 indictment; his bail was set at $75,000 by U.S. Commissioner Francis H. Farrell.

In 1976, Atlantic City, New Jersey was on the verge of legalizing gambling in the city, prompting Bruno to exploit his ties to Pittsburgh steel corporations to involve himself in the construction of casinos -- and later, their operation -- in the burgeoning gaming destination.

Bruno earned the nickname "the Gentle Don" because of his rumored preference for resolving conflicts non-violently. Bruno even exiled one of his soldiers, Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, to Atlantic City, New Jersey because he deemed him too violent. Bruno also adhered, at least officially, to the long-standing Cosa Nostra prohibition on narcotics sales. 

Not one to shun the limelight, Bruno rubbed shoulders with celebrities such as Frank Sinatra, Joe DiMaggio and Vic Damone. DiMaggio even reportedly sold some of actress Marilyn Monroe's jewelry to the mobster after the couple divorced.

Bruno threw his daughter Jean an extravagant 16th birthday party at chic Philadelphia area nightclub the Latin Casino.

In 1971, Bruno was indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with conspiring to prepare a fraudulent tax return -- for 1965 -- for his wife, Sue. Mrs. Bruno was charged with knowingly submitting the alleged false return. However, after Bruno's co-defendants, Martin A. Coopersmith and Marvin J. Levin, were granted a separate trial and acquitted following the three-week proceedings, his conspiracy charge was dismissed.

However, following Bruno's refusal to testify before the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation, he was incarcerated at the New Jersey State Prison, located at Yardville, NJ.

In April 0f 1977, Bruno met with New York's Gambino crime family capo regime Paul Castellano at Cherry Hill, New Jersey's Valentino's Restaurant. According to investigators, the summit was convened at the Gambinos' request because of their interest in securing Bruno's approval to operate in Atlantic City, which was a part of his South Jersey turf for decades, and would soon be hosting legalized casino gambling. Subsequently, two Gambino family members met with Bruno at his home on April 10, Easter Sunday, at which an agreement between the two organizations was reached. In May, Bruno agreed to testify before the State Commission of Investigation, but ultimately failed to satisfy the panel's inquiries regarding organized crime in New Jersey. In June, New Jersey governor Brendan Byrne signed a bill allowing casino betting in the Garden State.

On Friday, March 21, 1980, Bruno had a meal of chicken Sicilian and rigatoni marinara at South Philadelphia restaurant Cous' Little Italy before heading home. He was killed by a single shotgun blast to the back of his head as he sat in the front passenger seat of a car parked in front of his South Philadelphia rowhouse, located at 934 Snyder Avenue. He remained seated upright with his mouth open in death. Bruno's driver, John Stanfa, sustained minor injuries from shotgun pellets. Bruno's murder is widely believed to have been retaliation from members of his own organization who resented his agreement to allow the Gambinos to conduct business within their territory. It would later be revealed that Philadelphia family consigliere Anthony "Tony Bananas" Caponigro put out a contract to murder Bruno.

Bruno's funeral was held on March 27. His copper-lined casket weighed 800 pounds. Bruno's death would bring an end to the longest tenure of anyone atop the Philadelphia family in the organization's history. 

Caponigro was found murdered in April; his corpse was discovered in the trunk of a car in the South Bronx, New York. Approximately $300 in cash was found lodged in his mouth and rectum as a message -- a warning against greed. He'd been shot to death at his own home by mob enforcer Joe "Mad Dog" Sullivan because he'd failed to secure the Commission's (the Mob's ruling body) blessing to kill Bruno.

In February of 1981, a federal racketeering indictment naming Bruno the head of the Philadelphia crime family came down. Bruno wasn't charged because of his murder.

Though a May 27, 1981 Philadelphia Daily News article announced Bruno associate Frank "Frankie Flowers" D'Alfonso as the new boss in the wake of the former's murder, the report was incorrect and angered the actual new head of the family, Nicodemo Scarfo, who'd succeeded short-lived organization head, and former Bruno underboss Philip "the Chicken Man" Testa after his March 1981 murder. Scarfo consequently dispatched Eugene "Gino" Milano and Salvatore Testa to interrogate D'Alfonso, who was never inducted into the mafia, about his business dealings. When he refused to answer their questions, Testa and Milano beat D'Alfonso with a baseball bat and a pipe, leaving him for dead.

Though he survived the assault, D'Alfonso was shot to death in 1985, allegedly at Scarfo's behest. Nicholas Milano, Eugene Milano, Joseph Ligambi, Salvatore Merlino, Lawrence Merlino, Francis Iannarella, Thomas DelGiorno, Frank Narducci, Phillip Narducci and Scarfo were charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit the murder and possession of an instrument of crime. Following a three-week trial, all but DelGiorno and Eugene Milano -- both of whom agreed to cooperate with the prosecution -- were convicted on all charges and given mandatory life sentences for the murder conviction. However, the convictions were reversed on appeal in 1992, largely due to prosecutorial misconduct. 

Stanfa was named boss of the Philadelphia family in 1989. 

On March 17, 2016, the Philadelphia Historical Commission rejected a petition to have Bruno's three-bedroom Snyder Avenue rowhouse designated one of the city's historical landmarks.

The Infamous...Phil "Chicken Man" Testa

Philip Carlos Testa was born on April 21, 1924 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

Eventually, Testa joined the Philadelphia crime family and rose through the ranks to become underboss to the organization's longtime leader, Angelo Bruno.

On Friday, March 21, 1980, Bruno was killed by a single shotgun blast to the back of his head as he sat in the front passenger seat of a car parked in front of his South Philadelphia rowhouse. Bruno's sudden demise left Testa in charge of the organization.

On February 21, 1981, Testa and nine others, including: Frank "Chickie" Narducci, who oversaw the organization's gambling operations; Harry "Hunchback" and Mario "Sonny" Riccobene; former Teamster Joseph "Chickie" Ciancaglini; Carl "Pappy" Ippolito; Frank Primerano; Pasquale Spirito; former Philadelphia police officer Joseph Bongiovanni; and Charles Fred Warrington were indicted on federal racketeering charges involving gambling and loan-sharking. After surrendering to federal agents, Testa was freed on $40,000 bail. 

On March 15, 1981, Testa was killed on the porch of his South Philadelphia home by a bomb filled with shotgun pellets and nails. The murder would be the sixth in the Philadelphia family power struggle that ensued following Angelo Bruno's 1980 shooting death. Testa was interred with his wife, Alfia Arcidiacono Testa, at Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon, PA.

A suspect in Testa's homicide, Rocco Marinucci, was subsequently discovered shot to death one year after the former's death; firecrackers had been placed in the mouth of his corpse. However, on June 11, 1982, 21-year-old South Philadelphia waiter Theodore DiPretoro was arrested and charged with Testa's murder. On September 21, 1983, DiPretoro pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in connection to Testa's killing in order to avoid the death penalty. He also admitted that Marinucci participated in the murder as well.

At 10:23 pm, on September 15, 1984, Testa's son, Salvatore Testa, was discovered murdered on Garwood Road in Glouchester Township, New Jersey. He'd been shot once behind each year and wrapped in a blanket. Acting on an anonymous tip, police located the younger Testa's corpse attired in white tennis shorts, matching sneakers and a white Temple University t-shirt. 

Phil Testa (left) and Angelo Bruno (right)

The Infamous...Anthony "Tony Pro" Provenzano

Anthony Provenzano was born on May 7, 1917 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He was one of six sons of Sicilian immigrants Rosario and Josephine Dispensa Provenzano. At 17-years-old, Anthony dropped out of school and took a job as a truck driver in Hackensack, New Jersey, earning $10 per week. 

Provenzano married Marie-Paule Migneron, with whom he had four daughters: Marie, Josephine, Charlotte and Doreen.

Provenzano joined the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and by 1941, he'd worked his way up to shop steward. By 1958, the former amateur boxer had become the head of the 13,000-member Local 560 Teamsters Union, headquartered in Union City, New Jersey. The following year, Provenzano was called to testify before the Senate Labor Rackets Committee investigating racketeering; he invoked his Fifth Amendment rights 44 times in response to questioning from the committee's chief counsel, Robert F. Kennedy.

In 1961, Provenzano was tried for the murder of union rival Anthony Castellito. Court testimony revealed that Provenzano had paid mobster Harold Konigsberg $15,000 to kill Castellito. Konigsberg and three associates carried out the hit at the former's Kerhonkson, New York summer home; after being struck with a lead truncheon, Castellito was strangled to death with a garrote.
In 1963, Provenzano was tried for extortion. During the trial, a Provenzano rival, Walter Glockner, was murdered in Hoboken, New Jersey. Following his conviction, Provenzano was sentenced to seven years in prison and sent to the high-security federal penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania -- the same facility where Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger, serving a 20-year sentence for three bank robberies; future mob boss, John Gotti; and Teamster president Jimmy Hoffa were incarcerated. 

Hoffa was last seen in a Detroit suburb on July 30, 1975. When he disappeared, Hoffa was scheduled to meet with Provenzano. Like Castellito, Hoffa's body has never been found. An FBI investigation determined that three Provenzano associates had abducted Hoffa and cremated his remains in an incinerator after putting his body through a garbage shredder.

In 1978, Provenzano was convicted for his role in Anthony Castellito's murder and sentenced to 25 years-to-life in prison. That same year, Provenzano was convicted for extortion in New York and given a four-year federal prison sentence. The following year, he was convicted of extortion in New Jersey and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.

Provenzano began his sentence in 1980 at FCI Lompoc, a low-security federal facility located 140 miles northwest of Los Angeles, California. Though he was eligible for parole in 1985, Provenzano declined to attend a parole hearing, as his release would've led to the start of his 25-year sentence in New York and he reportedly preferred the California weather. 

In November of 1988, Provenzano was admitted to Lompoc District Hospital for treatment of congestive heart failure. On December 12, 1988, he suffered a fatal heart attack. Provenzano's funeral was held at Clifton, New Jersey's St. Andrews Roman Catholic Church on December 17. He was interred at Hackensack's St. Joseph's Cemetery. 

Jimmy Hoffa (left) and Anthony Provenzano (right)