Schultz, "Dutch"

Authors

David G. Schwartz, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow

Editors

Wilbur R. Miller

Document Type

Chapter

Publication Date

8-2012

Publication Title

The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America: An Encyclopedia

Publisher

Sage

Publisher Location

Thousand Oaks, CA

Edition

1st

First page number:

1611

Last page number:

1612

Abstract

Born Arthur Flegenheimer in the Bronx to Herman and Emma Flegenheimer, Schultz drifted into criminal activity after his father, a saloon keeper, abandoned the family in 1916. Schultz went on to become one of the pre-eminent bootleggers and gambling entrepreneurs of the 1930s, and his violent death sealed his place in the pantheon of organized crime. Apprenticed to a roofer, then a printer, as a teenager, Schultz found the street life of Bronx petty criminals more attractive than regular work and took to crime; at the age of 17, he was arrested for burglary. After a 15-month stint in prison (the only jail time of his career, despite many arrests), Schultz returned to the Bronx with the sobriquet “Dutch” Schultz,” borrowed from a well-known local boxer. This was in 1920, after the gold rush of national Prohibition had started. But Schultz, then only 18 and relatively inexperienced at organized criminal activity, did not immediately rise to prominence. Instead, those slightly older than he, who had a few years of serious racketeering under their belts but who retained ambition, took the lead.

Keywords

Gamblers; Gambling; History; Mafia; Organized crime; Prohibition; Schultz; Dutch; 1900 or 1-1935; United States

Disciplines

American Popular Culture | American Studies | Criminology and Criminal Justice | Social History

Language

English

Permissions

Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or use interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the item. Publisher copyright policy allows author to archive post-print (author’s final manuscript). When post-print is available or publisher policy changes, the item will be deposited.

Publisher Citation

Schwartz, D. (2012). Schultz, “Dutch”. In Wilbur R. Miller (Ed.), The social history of crime and punishment in America: An encyclopedia. (pp. 1611-1612). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: 10.4135/9781452218427.n613

Repository Citation

Schwartz, D. G. (2012). Schultz, "Dutch". In Wilbur R. Miller, The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America: An Encyclopedia 1611-1612. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.