Dutch Schultz Biography

Dutch Schultz

Dutch Schultz is one of the best known New York mobsters of the prohibition era. After dropping out of school in the fourth grade and turning to a life of crime, Schultz started with pickpocketing and petty theft, moved up to bootlegging and smuggling, and eventually left his mark in bloody gang wars. In 1933 he was acquitted of income tax evasion, but much of his power was lost to “Lucky” Luciano. Nevertheless, he was a board member in Luciano's national crime syndicate, and drew attention from special prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey. In 1935 he tried to convince his associates to assassinate Dewey, but Murder Inc. opted instead to murder Schultz along with three associates. His life is one of the best examples of mafia brutality, and is portrayed in movies such as The Gangster Wars (1981) and Hoodlum (1997).