For more than 30 years, Bumpy Johnson was famed for being one of New York City’s most revered — and feared — crime bosses. His wife called him the “Harlem Godfather,” and for good reason.
Known for ruling Harlem with an iron fist, he dealt with anyone who dared challenge him in a brutal fashion. One rival named Ulysses Rollins caught the business end of Johnson’s switchblade 36 times in a single streetfight.
Records of the Bureau of Prisons/Wikimedia Commons A mugshot of Bumpy Johnson, aka the Godfather of Harlem, at a federal penitentiary in Kansas. 1954.
During another confrontation, Johnson saw Rollins in a dinner club and pounced on him with a blade. By the time Johnson was done with him, Rollins’ eyeball was left dangling from its socket. Johnson then proclaimed that he suddenly had a craving for spaghetti and meatballs…