"Dutch Schultz was shot twice in the stomach in a Newark café
last night. Three of his henchmen also were shot. Schultz and his companions were all wounded critically. Machine guns mowed them down."
- Daily News, Thursday, October 24, 1935
Dutch Schultz was born Arthur Flegenheimer
at the turn of the century in the Bronx. He went on to become
the king of beer there during Prohibition. He also ran the numbers
rackets. Dutch was never shy about letting his rivals know what
he thought with a bullet. Unfortunately for him, he became known
as a loose canon in the underworld, not to be trusted. In 1935,
the national crime syndicate decided he would have to go.
Murder, Inc. found him in a restaurant in
Newark, NJ. He was on his way out of the bathroom when the shooting
started. Three of Schultz's henchmen were killed in the initial
blasts and Schultz himself was shot while coming out of the can.
He died two days later.
The Syndicate declared Dutch Schultz should
die for his crimes against the mob. Among them were threatening
to kill Thomas E. Dewey, federal prosecutor and later governor
of New York, which the Mafia feared would draw unwanted attention
to their organization. Schultz was also in trouble because he
was trying to muscle in on territory outside of his own backyard.
Finally, he was considered a loose cannon in what was fast becoming
an organized, national entity.
Schultz wouldn't have been left on the streets for long anyway. Federal prosecutors were closing in on him for income tax evasion and the Dutchman's powers were no longer at their height. "The mob tried its best to bribe Schultz free. But not a single official would touch their money or consider winking at the law. So Schultz, the cops were told, demanded his money back. The mob refused to give it to him - having already spent some of it. Schultz brought heavy pressure to bear. It was too heavy, police concluded. His former allies, irritated and alarmed, determined to strike first. Last night's shooting, so police believed, was the result."
- Daily News, Thursday, October 24, 1935