Organized Crime Figure. She was a female gang leader who ran numerous criminal enterprises in Harlem, New York during the 1920's & 30's. Born on Martinique, an island in the East Caribbean in 1886, she arrived in the United States via Marseilles, France in 1912. Along with her long-time friend and chief enforcer Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson, she took on Dutch Schultz for control of the Harlem numbers racket. When Shultz was shot and mortally wounded in 1935, Madame Queen sent a telegram to his hospital bed which read, "As ye sow, so shall ye reap". The incident made headlines across the nation. By the 1940s, "Bumpy" Johnson had took control in Harlem and she became less involved in the numbers game. She died quietly in Harlem in 1969. She was portrayed by Novella Nelson in the 1984 film "Cotton Club" and by Cicely Tyson in the 1997 film "Hoodlum".
Organized Crime Figure. She was a female gang leader who ran numerous criminal enterprises in Harlem, New York during the 1920's & 30's. Born on Martinique, an island in the East Caribbean in 1886, she arrived in the United States via Marseilles, France in 1912. Along with her long-time friend and chief enforcer Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson, she took on Dutch Schultz for control of the Harlem numbers racket. When Shultz was shot and mortally wounded in 1935, Madame Queen sent a telegram to his hospital bed which read, "As ye sow, so shall ye reap". The incident made headlines across the nation. By the 1940s, "Bumpy" Johnson had took control in Harlem and she became less involved in the numbers game. She died quietly in Harlem in 1969. She was portrayed by Novella Nelson in the 1984 film "Cotton Club" and by Cicely Tyson in the 1997 film "Hoodlum".
Bio by: Terrance Crooms
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