Alejandro "Alex" Pompez (May 14, 1890 - March 14, 1974) was an American executive in Negro league baseball who owned the Cuban Stars (East) and New York Cubans franchises from 1916 to 1950. His family were cigar manufacturers who had immigrated from Cuba. Outside of baseball and numbers he was educated as an attorney and he had owned and operated a cigar shop in downtown Manhattan. He later served as a scout, and as director of international scouting, for the Giants franchise in Major League Baseball.
Born in Key West, Florida to Cuban immigrant parents, he signed numerous Latin American players for his Negro League teams, including Martín Dihigo, Minnie Miñoso and Alejandro Oms. He also helped organize the first Negro League World Series in 1924.
Pompez, like many owners of eastern Negro League teams, was involved with organized crime figures. He was one of New York's leading numbers bankers during the 1920s but was forced to join Dutch Schultz in 1932. His connections with Dutch Schultz's organization led to his indictment in 1936 for involvement in policy rackets when New York County District Attorney Thomas Dewey selected him as one of the targets in a crackdown on New York City racketeering. Pompez fled to Mexico after being tipped off to his arrest; he was eventually arrested by Mexican authorities, but Mexican officials refused to extradite him. Pompez decided to return to the U.S. as a state witness in the investigation.
Pompez served on the Baseball Hall of Fame's special Committee on Negro League Baseball in the early 1970s. He died at age 83 in New York City. He was himself elected to the Hall of Fame in 2006.
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