Dutch Schultz — October 24, 1935

Dutch Schultz was shot in a Newark restaurant bathroom on the orders of the very organisation he had spent his career building power within. His crime was not betrayal or incompetence — it was threatening to kill a prosecutor without permission. The Commission decided it was safer to kill Schultz than to let Schultz kill Dewey. He spent his last 22 hours rambling in delirium, and his dying words have fascinated writers and scholars ever since.

Who Was Dutch Schultz?

Dutch Schultz — born Arthur Flegenheimer on August 6, 1902 in the Bronx — was one of the most powerful and feared gangsters in New York during Prohibition. Where most mob bosses cultivated an image of tailored suits and quiet authority, Schultz was notoriously dishevelled, temperamental and unpredictable. He dressed badly, ate cheaply and was given to sudden violent rages that terrified even his own men.

None of that stopped him from building a criminal empire of remarkable reach. Starting with bootlegging in the Bronx in the early 1920s, Schultz expanded into labour racketeering and — most lucratively — took control of the Harlem numbers racket in the early 1930s, squeezing out the independent operators who had run it for years. At the height of his power he was generating millions of dollars a year from the numbers alone.

He was never a made member of the Italian-American Mafia — he was Jewish — but he operated extensively alongside it and had relationships with figures including Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky. His relationship with the Commission was always transactional rather than structural — he was tolerated because he was useful, and he was killed when he became dangerous.

Why Was a Contract Put on Schultz?

By 1935 Dutch Schultz was under serious pressure. Special prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey — ambitious, relentless and politically motivated — was building tax evasion and racketeering cases against him. Schultz had already survived one federal tax trial but a second was coming and the outlook was poor. His rackets were also being squeezed by Lucky Luciano, who had designs on the Harlem numbers operation.

Schultz’s solution was characteristically direct: kill Dewey. He brought the proposal to the Commission, arguing that with Dewey dead his legal problems would evaporate. The Commission refused flatly. Killing a prominent public official — a special prosecutor with a public profile — would bring a law enforcement response of a scale that would threaten the entire organisation. The answer was no.

Schultz didn’t accept the answer. He reportedly began making preparations to carry out the hit anyway, without Commission authorisation. Dewey’s daily routine had been surveilled. A plan was in place. Schultz was going ahead regardless.

At that point the Commission made a different calculation. Schultz was going to kill Dewey — which would bring catastrophe — unless someone killed Schultz first. The contract was issued. Ironically, Dewey later prosecuted several of the men who had voted for Schultz’s death, including Luciano himself.

October 23, 1935 — The Palace Chophouse

The Palace Chophouse, 12 East Park Street, Newark, New Jersey

The Palace Chophouse at 12 East Park Street in Newark, New Jersey was Dutch Schultz’s base of operations. On the evening of October 23, 1935, Schultz was there with three associates — his bodyguards Lulu Rosenkrantz and Abe Landauer, and his accountant Otto Berman, known as Abbadabba.

At around 10:15pm, Murder Inc hitmen Charles Workman and Mendy Weiss entered the restaurant. Workman went directly to the men’s bathroom, where he found Schultz alone. He shot him once, below the heart. Schultz was hit but did not go down immediately — he staggered out of the bathroom and made it to a table, refusing, it seems, to die on a bathroom floor.

Meanwhile, Weiss and an accomplice moved through the restaurant killing Schultz’s three associates. All three — Rosenkrantz, Landauer and Berman — were shot dead.

Dutch Schultz slumped over a table after being shot

The medical team that arrived at the scene had no pain relief available. Schultz was given brandy. He was conscious but already deteriorating rapidly. He was transported to hospital by ambulance and went into surgery. Initially, doctors believed he might survive.

They had not accounted for Charles Workman’s ammunition. Whether by design or accident, the bullets Workman used were rust-coated. Even if Schultz survived the immediate wound, the rust would cause a fatal infection in his bloodstream that would kill him regardless. Workman had built in a fail-safe.

The Last Words

Dutch Schultz spent his final hours drifting in and out of consciousness, his temperature climbing as the infection took hold. A Newark police detective — Sergeant Luke Conlon — was assigned to sit at his bedside and record anything he said that might be useful. A stenographer transcribed everything.

What Schultz said was not useful. It was extraordinary.

“A boy has never wept… nor dashed a thousand kin.”
“You can play jacks, and girls do that with a soft ball and do tricks with it.”
“Oh, oh, dog biscuit, and when he is happy he doesn’t get snappy.”

The full transcript runs to several pages of similarly impenetrable monologue — fragments of memory, distorted phrases, words that seem to hover on the edge of meaning before dissolving into nonsense. Detectives tried repeatedly to get Schultz to name his shooters. He either could not or would not.

The transcript became one of the most studied documents in American criminal history. The writer William S. Burroughs was fascinated by it and incorporated it into his work. The film director and writer E.L. Doctorow adapted it into a novel. The dying words of a gangster — meaningless in themselves — became unexpectedly literary.

Dutch Schultz died at 8:35pm on October 24, 1935 — exactly 22 hours after being shot. He was 33 years old.

The Hidden Fortune

Dutch Schultz is said to have buried a fortune estimated at between $7 million and $9 million — the equivalent of well over $100 million today — in a metal strongbox somewhere in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York, shortly before his death. He reportedly told only one associate where the money was buried. That associate was killed shortly afterwards.

The treasure has never been found. Decades of searches — some organised, some opportunistic — have turned up nothing. The Catskill Mountains have been combed by treasure hunters ever since the story became public. The buried fortune of Dutch Schultz remains one of the great unsolved mysteries of the American criminal underworld.

Frequently Asked Questions — Dutch Schultz

How did Dutch Schultz die?

Dutch Schultz was shot at the Palace Chophouse in Newark on October 23, 1935, and died 22 hours later on October 24. He was shot once in the chest in the bathroom by hitman Charlie Workman. His three associates were also killed. The bullets were rust-coated — ensuring that even if Schultz survived the shot, infection would kill him. He was 33 years old.

Why was Dutch Schultz killed?

Schultz wanted to kill prosecutor Thomas Dewey and brought the proposal to the Commission, which refused. When Schultz threatened to proceed anyway, the Commission had him killed instead rather than risk the catastrophic law enforcement response that killing a prominent public official would bring. Ironically, Dewey later prosecuted several of the men who voted for Schultz’s death.

What were Dutch Schultz’s last words?

Delirious from his wounds, Schultz rambled incoherently for hours while a police stenographer recorded everything. His monologue included: “A boy has never wept nor dashed a thousand kin” and “Oh, oh, dog biscuit, and when he is happy he doesn’t get snappy.” The transcript became one of the most studied documents in American criminal history, fascinating writers including William S. Burroughs.

Who killed Dutch Schultz?

Murder Inc hitmen Charles Workman and Mendy Weiss carried out the killing on orders from Lepke Buchalter and the Commission. Workman shot Schultz in the bathroom using rust-coated bullets — a fail-safe to ensure death even if Schultz survived initial surgery.

Did they ever find Dutch Schultz’s hidden fortune?

No — Schultz is said to have buried between $7 million and $9 million in the Catskill Mountains shortly before his death. Despite decades of searching the treasure has never been found. It remains one of the great unsolved mysteries of the criminal underworld.