PRETTY GANGSTER SERIES
Featuring Stephanie St Clair
America loves the gangster and with so many notables including Dutch Schultz, Bonnie and Clyde, Al Capone, and Lucky Luciano, it’s no wonder Stephanie St Clair was lost in the haystack.
History tells us St Clair arrived in the United States sometime around 1911, a few years before the Great Migration of African Americans from the South to the North. Born on December 24, 1897, she was a native of the French East Caribbean Island of Guadeloupe.
Although there’s no significant amount of detail about her early life before arriving in the United States; what we do know is Stephanie spoke fluent French and was educated beyond Caribbean standards.
Known to be quite arrogant, sophisticated, and with a fierce temperament, she settled in the Big Apple. Using ten grand for start-up costs she introduced the lottery or “policy banking system.”
Some may ask, “What exactly is policy banking?”
Policy banking is the underwriting system that combines gambling, investing and drawing of numbers at random for a prize. So, I guess you could say St Clair was the first to incorporate the lottery as we know it today. Pretty gangster, right?
The lottery was utilized by African Americans and Hispanic cultures in both Cuba and America. Referred to as “Bolita” which is Spanish for little balls, the racket system provided many jobs and generated wealth in Harlem and abroad.
St Clair’s success soon became cause for concern from greedy gangsters and she became a target. With the Prohibition coming to an end, thirsty rebels like Dutch Schultz started feeling their pockets getting lighter.
The Queen, St Clair, was not eager to turn over the empire to her enemies and with the help of her first lieutenant, Ellsworth Bumpy Johnson, she was able to keep Dutch at bay but not for long.
Reports say the female gangster held her own against Dutch, and for a while the two armies went back and forth, waging an all-out war who would control Harlem.
Despite paying her dues to local police to continue running her illegal consortium, Dutch maintained a higher number of paid officials on his payroll, forcing St Clair to turn over her empire. The Queen watched as Dutch quickly rose to power and eventually became a wanted man, hunted by the New York District Attorney, Thomas Dewey.
After hearing of Dutch’s plan to murder the District Attorney, the chairman of the New York Five Family Syndicate, Lucky Luciano ordered the hit on Dutch instead. As Dutch lay on his death bed, wounded from an unnamed assassin, Stephanie sent him the infamous telegram from Galatians 6:7 “As ye sow, so shall ye reap.”
A year later Stephanie relinquished the business to the mob. Reports say at the time of surrender, the Queen was still wealthy and very much alive, many say she may have married, but there are no records to substantiate the claim. It is unclear whether the union produced any heirs, but we all know the line of Black mobsters didn’t stop with Stephanie.
From the hem of her coattail we see, Ellsworth Johnson, known as Bumpy. Born 1905 to 1968, Johnson was an American Mob Boss and the main Harlem associate of Lucky Luciano.
From Bumpy Johnson we see Frank Lucas, born 1930 to 2019.
The former American Gangster became famous for cutting out the middleman to increase his profits and ran Harlem for years before his imprisonment in 1976. After serving five years, Lucas was released, but returned to prison at least twice before his final release in 1991.
The Queen, Stephanie St Clair, a fashionista, a businesswoman, and one hell of a bad-ass leaves behind a legacy of blueprints.
Knowingly it’s important to remember illegal activity is just that, it is illegal.
While we can’t pacify the number of gangsters who predate or postdate Stephanie St Clair’s reign, the intense fascination with the American gangster will forever be linked to American History.
