Dutch Schultz Research Papers

Dutch Schultz was an infamous gangster, bootlegger and murderer who became a powerful figure in the New York crime world earning the nicknames “Beer Baron of the Bronx” and “The Dutchman.” He also expanded to illegal gambling and clashing with rival gangsters such as Legs Diamond and Vincent Coll. On top of all of these crimes, he would get in violent gun battles with the police. Dutch Schultz was one of the most violent gangsters in the 1920’s, but is not as well known as others.

Schultz was born Arthur Flegenheimer in the Bronx of New York City. In his early teens his father abandoned the family, and soon after, Schultz quit school and started working odd jobs. At just 17 years old, Schultz was arrested for burglary after realizing crime

Soon after his release, Schultz returned to his violent criminal ways by going back to the streets and joining his gang of thugs once again. Soon his associates would give him the nickname “Dutch Schultz”, which he would hold for the rest of his life being one of the most feared criminals of New York. It was in the 1920’s when Schultz turned to bootlegging and became associated with violent local gangsters such as Legs Diamond and Lucky Luciano. Schultz then bought a partnership in an illegal saloon. Soon after, Schultz formed a gang of his own with a fellow criminal Joey Noe. The two of them would build together an illegal business selling beer in New York, intimidating anyone who wouldn’t buy from them. Schultz even went as far as kidnapping and then torturing a man who wouldn’t buy their booze. The group was going well so the two decided they would expand their operations from the Bronx to Manhattan, but this decision would lead to a brutal territorial battle with Legs Diamond. Diamond’s gang started to take Schultz’s liquor shipments which made Schultz very unhappy. In October 1928, Noe was shot and killed by a member of Diamond’s gang. In retaliation, Schultz demanded members of his gang to kill

Schultz was then in search for nothing but power and wealth. Schultz got into violent battles with many other gangsters as well, including Vincent Coll. In the 1930’s, The two clashed in a vicious gang war which led to many deaths in both gangs until Coll was eventually killed by members of Schultz’s gang in February 1932. Schultz continued to grow larger with the goal of becoming the best criminal there ever was with his bootlegging operation. He thought he was doing well for himself so he decided to add illegal gambling to his criminal record. Schultz would get his gang to operate slot machines and run a policy racket. At this time Schultz was attracting too much attention upon himself to authorities. Schultz eventually was indicted on a tax charge in 1933. But he remained hidden from authorities until he decided to surrender in November 1934. In his first case, it ended with a hung jury and in the second one he was acquitted. It turned out that he hired a public relations firm to change his image. By doing so he donated a lot of money to charity and even gave up his highly expensive wardrobe for a short period of time. A lot of time passed while he