Stephanie Saint-Clair (December 24, 1886 - December 1969) was an American mafia boss who manages many criminal companies in Harlem, New York in the early 20th century. Saint-Clair denied the interests of the Mafia for several years after the Prohibition ended; he continues to be an independent operator and has never been under the control of the Mafia. He runs a successful number game in Harlem and becomes an activist for the black community. His nicknames include: "Queenie", "Madam Queen", "Madam St. Clair", and "Queen of the Policy Rackets".
Video Stephanie St. Clair
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Stephanie Saint-Clair was born from a mixture of French and African descent in the West Indies to a single mother, FÃÆ' Â © licienne, who worked hard to send her daughter to school. According to the Declaration of Intent St. Clair in 1924, he gave Moule Grandterre, the French West Indies (now Guadeloupe, West Indies) as his birthplace, not Martinique as is usually quoted.
When StÃÆ'Â © phanie was 15 years old, her mother became very sick and she had to leave school. He was employed as a maid by a wealthy family, where he was repeatedly raped by his son. He managed to save money and, after the death of his mother, eventually left Martinique for France in 1912. Although he could read and write, a rare quality for a black woman at the time, he could not find a decent job.
He emigrated to the United States via Marseille at The Guiana , arriving in New York on July 31, 1911. He used the long trip and the next quarantine to study English. In Harlem, he falls in love with the little villain, Duke, who immediately attempts to prostitute himself. Angry, he planted a fork in his eyes and immediately left New York by bus. The next night, the bus was stopped by Ku Klux Klan. Some black passengers were hanged or burned alive in front of him, and he was repeatedly raped. After this incident, he returned to New York, knowing that the Duke had been shot in a gang fight. After four months, he decided to start his own business, sell illegal drugs with the help of his new girlfriend, Ed.
After a few months, he gets $ 30,000 and tells Ed that he wants to leave her and start his own business. Ed tries to strangle him and he pushes her with such force that he bangs his head against the table and dies. For months afterwards, he hired his own people, bribed the police, and on 12 April 1917, invested $ 10,000 of his own money in a clandestine lottery game in Harlem. As a result of his success in running one of the city's leading number games, he is known throughout Manhattan as "Queenie", but the citizens of Harlem call it "Madame Saint-Clair".
Maps Stephanie St. Clair
Number game engagement
He is involved in banking policies, a mixture of investments, gambling, and playing the lottery. Many banks today will not accept black customers, so they can not invest legally. Banking policy is not technically legal, but it is the only way for blacks living in Harlem to invest their money. In this way he uses the underground economy in Harlem to address racial politics.
At the moment, the numbers game in Harlem is dominated by men and Saint-Clair is the only woman involved. Saint-Clair assists the black community in Harlem by providing many jobs as a number runner and other work in his business. Due to his success in the game of numbers, he lived a lavish life earning over $ 20,000 a year in the 1920s.
Police corruption
Saint-Clair is known for advertising in local newspapers that educate the Harlem community about their legal rights, advocate voting rights, and call police brutality against the black community. Several times he complained to local authorities about police harassment. When they did not pay attention, he advertised in the Harlem newspaper, accusing the senior police of corruption.
The police responded by arresting him on a false charge and he spent eight months in a social home. In response he testified to the Seabury Commission about the kickback he paid to police officers and those who had participated in the Harlem number game. The Commission later fired more than a dozen police officers.
Conflicts with Mafia
After the end of the ban, families of Jewish and Italian-American crime experienced a decline in profits and decided to move to a gambling place of Harlem. The Bronx-based mafia boss, Dutch Schultz was the first to move, hit and kill the number operators who would not pay protection to him.
Saint-Clair and his enforcement chief Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson refused to pay any protection to Schultz, despite the violence and intimidation by the police they faced. St. Clair responded by attacking a business window running a Dutch Schultz betting operation and notifying police about him. This resulted in the police robbing his home, arresting more than a dozen employees and seizing about $ 12 million (about $ 216 million in currency 2016). Saint-Clair never gave it to Dutch Schultz as did many others in Harlem.
After Saint-Clair's struggle with Schultz, he had to stay clean and away from the police, so he handed his business over to "Bumpy" Johnson. Eventually his former enforcer negotiated with Lucky Luciano, and Lucky took over Schultz's place, with the percentage going to be "Bumpy". The Italians then have to go to "Bumpy" first if they have a problem in Harlem.
Luciano realized that the struggle with the Five Families had injured their business, so Schultz was assassinated in 1935 on the orders of the Commission. Although St. Clair was not involved with his murder, he was remembered for sending a famous telegram to his bed stating "As you sow, that's what you will reap." Telegram reportedly made headlines across the country. In the 1940s, "Bumpy" Johnson had become the reigning king in Harlem, while Saint-Clair became increasingly uninvolved in the numbers game.
Next life
After Saint-Clair retired from the numbers game, he started a new era in his life as an advocate for political reform. In the late 1930s, Saint-Clair met her husband, Sufi Abdul Hamid, known as the "Black Hitler" for the anti-Semitism mode, the Nazi activist. Hamid is a militant activist and leader of the Buddhist Islamic cult. The marriage of Saint-Clair and Hamid decreased rapidly when he began having an affair with a black forecaster known as "Fu Futtam".
Hamid and Futtam attempted to open business with Saint-Clair money, and their marriage officially ended in 1938 when Hamid was shot. Saint-Clair was charged for firing at him and spent 10 years at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women in New York. After he was released from prison, Saint-Clair continued his work by telling people in the community about their civil liberties. He continues to write columns in local newspapers on discrimination, police brutality, illegal raids, and other issues facing the black community.
Death
He died peacefully and was still rich in 1969, shortly before his 83rd birthday. One year earlier, "Bumpy" Johnson, who returned to live with him and write poetry, had died.
Depictions
- Described by Novella Nelson in the 1984 movie The Cotton Club .
- Described by Cicely Tyson in the 1997 film Hoodlum .
- Described by Fulani Haynes in the 2007 Katherine Butler Jones drama, 409 Edgecombe Ave, House at Sugar Hill .
- Described by Alexandra Afryea in episode 2014 of the series TV One Celebrity Files
Cultural Reference
- RaphaÃÆ' Â «l Novel Confiant's 2015 Madame St-Clair, Reine de Harlem is a fictional biography of St. Clair.
References
External links
- CourtTV's CrimeLibrary - Harlem Gangs from the 1920s and 1930s
- Harlem Godfather - The Rap on My Husband, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson
- Hoodlum (1997) on IMDb
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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