Dutch Schultz

Arthur Flegenheimer (August 6, 1902 – October 24, 1935), better known as Dutch Schultz, was an American mobster who rose to prominence in New York City's underworld during the Prohibition era through bootlegging and later dominated illegal gambling operations including the numbers racket. Born in the Bronx to German-Jewish immigrant parents, Schultz began his criminal career with petty theft and burglary before capitalizing on the demand for illicit alcohol, establishing a network of speakeasies and hijacking rival shipments in brutal turf wars that included clashes with Jack "Legs" Diamond. After Prohibition's repeal diminished bootlegging profits, he shifted focus to extorting and controlling Harlem's policy banks, using enforcers to muscle out local operators and amass wealth estimated in the millions, while evading federal taxes through layered corporate fronts. His empire unraveled when he plotted to murder special prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey, a move vetoed by the National Crime Syndicate; in retaliation, Schultz was ambushed and fatally shot on October 23, 1935, at the Palace Chop House in Newark, New Jersey, by suspected syndicate hitmen, dying the next day after uttering cryptic final words.

Arthur Simon Flegenheimer, later known as Dutch Schultz, was born on August 6, 1901, in the Bronx borough of New York City to German-Jewish immigrant parents Herman and Emma (née Neu) Flegenheimer. Some records indicate a birth year of 1902, though 1901 aligns with contemporary accounts and memorials. Herman, who had worked as a plumber and saloonkeeper after arriving from Germany, abandoned the family around 1910, leaving Emma listed as divorced in the U.S. Census that year and forcing her to support her children through menial labor such as taking in laundry.

The Flegenheimers resided in working-class immigrant enclaves of the Bronx and later Manhattan, amid the dense urban poverty characteristic of early 20th-century New York, where waves of European Jewish migrants faced economic competition, antisemitism, and limited opportunities in factories or service trades. Emma's efforts to maintain the household exposed her son to the harsh realities of immigrant survival, including overcrowded tenements and reliance on community networks in Yiddish-speaking neighborhoods. Arthur, the second of two sons, grew up in this environment of financial instability, with his father's departure exacerbating the family's dependence on his early contributions to the household.

Upon release around 1920, Flegenheimer adopted the street moniker "Dutch Schultz," derived from his German-Jewish heritage—"Dutch" as a corruption of "Deutsch"—and possibly appropriated from a local hoodlum or boxer of similar name, reflecting the ethnic underworld nicknames common in early 20th-century New York. He transitioned from isolated burglaries and larcenies to associating with small-time Bronx gangs, where he honed skills in extortion and hijacking shipments, precursors to larger rackets amid the post-World War I economic shifts and rising organized vice in the city.