On the night of August 19, 1965, Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson walked out of Smalls Paradise Nightclub in Harlem at 11:43 p. m. after a business meeting with heroin suppliers from Philadelphia. He was 61 years old and had controlled Harlem’s underworld for three decades.
Seven assassins were waiting for him on East 132nd Street. They had been hired by three captains of the Genovese crime family: Tommy Eboli, Anthony “Fat Tony” Sarno, and Vincent “the Chin” Gigante. The trio had met six weeks earlier at a Manhattan restaurant and decided to eliminate Johnson so the family could take over Harlem’s narcotics trade without paying him tribute. The shooters opened fire from three vehicles positioned along the block.
Forty-two rounds were discharged in roughly eight seconds. Johnson was hit 20 times across his chest, abdomen, back, neck, arms, and legs. He returned fire with three shots before collapsing. His lieutenant, Marcus Webb, had been following him that night as part of an unofficial security routine.
After the shooters fled, Webb dragged Johnson into his car and called Dr. Samuel Robinson, an off-the-books physician who ran an unlicensed operating facility in the Bronx. Robinson had been told years earlier by Johnson to be the first call in an emergency. Robinson operated on Johnson for six hours.
The wounds included a collapsed lung, a grazed carotid artery, liver damage, multiple fractures, and massive internal bleeding. Johnson survived. By 6:47 a. m.
, he was conscious and making phone calls. Within hours, Johnson’s organization tracked down all seven shooters at a hotel in Queens. They were executed with 20 bullets each, matching the wounds Johnson had suffered. Their bodies were arranged on the steps of the FBI’s New York field office at Federal Plaza, each with a note referencing Johnson.
The three Genovese captains who ordered the hit were captured the same day. They were executed in a Brooklyn warehouse. Their bodies were later found in three different states. By that afternoon, Philip “Benny Squint” Lombardo, acting boss of the Genovese family, called Johnson from JFK Airport.
He said the hit had been unauthorized, announced the family was withdrawing from Harlem, and said he was retiring to Sicily. Johnson’s response was brief: “Don’t ever come back. ”
The FBI closed its investigation into Johnson that day. A memo in his file recommended against direct engagement, noting he was “too dangerous” to approach.
The file remained classified for decades. Johnson recovered but walked with a limp for the rest of his life and suffered chronic pain from his injuries. He continued to run Harlem until his death from a heart attack on July 7, 1968, at Wells Restaurant in Harlem.
He was 62 years old.