Murray Humphreys
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| Murray Humphreys | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1899 Chicago, Illinois |
| Died | November 23, 1965 Chicago, Illinois |
| Penalty | Died before trial |
Murray Llewelyn Humphreys (1899 - November 23, 1965), was a Chicago mobster of Welsh descent who was the chief political and labor racketeer in the Chicago Outfit during the Prohibition. His family hailed from the village of Carno, in Powys, Wales.
His nicknames included, "The Camel" and "The Hump." It has been suggested that the nickname, "The Camel," derived from his preference for wearing camel hair coats. However, a more likely explanation is that, "The Camel," evolved from his other nickname, "The Hump", which came from his last name.
Joining the Chicago Outfit in the mid-to-late 1920s, Humphreys worked with Alphonse "Al," "Scarface" Capone to build relationships with Chicago politicians, businessmen, and labor leaders. Humphreys feuded with Capone over the control of The Outfit until Capone went to prison in 1931 for tax evasion. Humphreys was later indicted for the December 1931 kidnapping of Union president Robert G. Fitche, but escaped conviction.
In 1933, Humphreys helped Al Capone arrange a fake kidnapping. The "victim" of this crime was to be John "Jake the Barber" Factor, a British con artist wanted in his home country for stock swindling. Factor, a Capone friend, was facing extradition proceedings when Humphreys faked his disappearance. In addition, Humphreys framed Capone rival Roger "Terrible" Touhy with the kidnapping charge. Touhy received a 99-year prison sentence.
In 1959, Touhy was finally released from prison. However, a month later Roger Touhy was found murdered. Six months after Touhy's death, Humphreys supposedly bought several shares of an insurance company. Eight months later, Humphreys redeemed these shares for $42,000. An IRS investigation soon determined that these shares had been originally owned by John Factor. The IRS claimed that the $42,000 was a payment from Factor to Humphreys for the fake 1933 kidnapping; they forced Humphreys to declare the money as income and pay taxes.
In 1965, Humphreys was charged for perjury to a federal grand jury. While being arrested, Humphreys refused to let go of a piece of evidence of his bosses from his pocket. This led the FBI to believe he was about to draw a gun. However, the National Crime Syndicate was reportedly alarmed by this latest example of erratic behavior; within hours of his arrest, Murray Humphreys was found dead of a heart attack. A small wound was discovered on the body near the right ear, raising speculation that Humphreys was killed by an injection of air from a hypodermic needle. This theory was never confirmed. A documentary was later carried out and it proved that no wound was ever found in the right year.
Humphreys will be remembered for getting Outfit bosses to consider reasoning with an intended victim first, before killing him, because killing someone always leads to more problems. He will also be remembered for leading a movement in The Outfit away from flamboyancy and such that attracted press attention. While some Made men, like Salvatore "Sam," "Mooney" Giancana and Filippo "John 'Handsome Johnny' Roselli" Sacco, craved the limelight, most took Humphreys cue, and kept behind the scenes. Humphreys spent most of his life in a nondescript bungalow in the south shore community of Chicago. His heed to stay in the shadows was igonored by Giancana and Roselli, which led to both of them being brutally hit themselves by the mob.
There is at least one humorous story about Humphreys that he made happen in his criminal career. The mafioso was eventually being driven everywhere as he moved up in The Outfit, just because it was safer for him to have a driver than to be driving. One day, law enforcement had been following Humphreys everywhere his driver took him in his car. Finally, Humphreys had had enough of being followed. The Outfit lieutenant got out of his car, sent his driver home and went up to the car that was following him and said, "You've been following me all day. There's no need for two cars. I'll ride with you." Which, he did. Apparently, Humphreys even bought the officers lunch.
[edit] Further reading
- Giancana, Sam and Giancana, Chuck. Double Cross: The Explosive, Inside Story of the Mobster Who Controlled America. New York: Warner Books, 1992. ISBN 0-446-51624-4
- Hersh, Seymour M. The Dark Side of Camelot. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1997. ISBN 0-316-35955-6
