The president notwithstanding, gangster Dutch Schultz truly understood the art of the deal.
When he sat for a conversation, Schultz never failed first to unholster his gun, drop it on the table before him, and ask, "Now, what was it you wished to discuss?"
I admire the Dutchman's style. Except I'm afraid of guns, don't own one, and don't pack in public. I prefer to pack my blankie.
From 1920 to 1933, Schultz distributed bootleg beer to speakeasies in the Bronx, building a loyal clientele through threats and intimidation. By 1928, his sales—adjusted for inflation—reached $30 million a year. Rivals called him the "Beer Baron of the Bronx."
Schultz was, without doubt, a psychopath; no act of violence was beneath him. By combining kidnapping, beatings, torture and murder, he and his gang of Jews rapidly showed the local Italians two could play at the game. Schultz became nationally famous for the phrase—coined by his accountant—“Nothing personal, just business.”
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| Dutch Schultz's 1931 Armored Lincoln |
The Dutchman expanded his enterprise from the Bronx into Manhattan in 1928, crossing paths with the Irish gangster Legs Diamond. Diamond retaliated by having Schultz's business partner killed. Schultz, in turn, had Diamond's partner killed; then Diamond, as well.
Schultz rounded out his portfolio at this time by adding illegal slots and lotteries to bootleg beer.
Like Al Capone, Schultz eventually was indicted for tax evasion. Although exonerated by two juries, Schultz fled New York in 1935, after the state's prosecutor threatened to indict him for running his illegal lotteries. He relocated his headquarters to the Robert Treat Hotel in Newark, New Jersey.
But Schultz just couldn't let go of his anger at New York's prosecutor. He told rival mob bosses he was going to kill him. Rubbing out a public figure was off limits, so the bosses contracted the hit squad Murder, Inc. to kill Schultz, which it did on October 23, 1935, while the Dutchman was dining in the nearby Palace Chop House.
My mother, 15 at the time, vividly recalled visiting the Palace Chop House and seeing the scores of bullet holes left by Murder, Inc. in the walls and windows and mirrors.
She also recalled attending a family wake where Squawk Reilly, Legs Diamond's business partner, arrived to pay his respects. Chastened by the Dutchman's recent demise, Squawk was attended by no less than four bodyguards.
