This article is about Stephanie Saint Claire, a black woman who took on some ruthless New York Monsters. Although, a business racketeer who ran numerous criminal enterprises, Stephanie was a fearless and determined being. She refused to be controlled by the Mafia and operated independently for several years. She successfully managed several businesses in Harlem before handing them over to Bumpy Johnson, commonly referred to as the Godfather of Harlem.
Amid her operations, Mrs. Saint Clair gained popularity as an activist for the black communities. She earned the name Queenie following her lifestyle and impact on the Harlem community.
The Early Life of Mrs. Saint Clair
Stephanie Saint Clair, alias Queenie, was born to a single mother, Felicienne, in the West Indies, present-day Island of Guadeloupe, in the Caribbean. The latter is quite contradictory to Martinique, which was initially cited as Mrs. Stephanie’s birthplace. Stephanie was of mixed races, both French and African. Growing up, Mrs. Saint Clair came from a humble background. Her mother had to work hard to send her to school. Therefore life was not easy for them.
When Stephanie turned fifteen years old, her mother suffered a severe illness, and she was forced to drop out of school. There was no one to provide her school fees. Unfortunately, her mother did not survive the illness as her deteriorated condition led to her death. Since Stephanie had managed to save up some cash, she relocated to Montreal when her mother passed away.
Later she migrated to the United States from Montreal. And in 1912, she arrived in New York. While traveling to New York, she taught herself American English. Subsequently, she would isolate and learn the language. By the time she arrived in New York, she could blend in with the population and communicate fluently. It was not long before Mrs. Saint Claire migrated to Harlem, a famous black-dominated community in the US.
In Harlem, Stephanie fell in love with Crook, Duke, who attempted to prostitute her. When she learned that Duke had been shot in a fight out between gangs, she returned to New York, and after four months, she decided to start her own business, selling contraband drugs with the help of her new boyfriend, Ed.
After a few months, Saint Clair had made up to 30,000 dollars. She told Ed that she wanted to start her own business and needed a break from him. The two ended up fighting as Ed was not about to let go. While struggling to strangle Saint Clair, she pushed him away with force, leading to him knocking his head and finally dying. Months later, she reportedly found work at a dress factory and worked for a racketeer, running numbers in an organized illegal betting ring.
She had managed to save a total of ten thousand dollars, which she used to launch her operation in 1923. As a result of her success in running one of Harlem’s top number games, her popularity became widespread throughout Manhattan as Queenie. At the same time, Harlem residents called her Madame Saint Clair.
What Operations Did Saint Clair Run?
Mrs. Stephanie was involved in policy banking, an admixture of investing, playing the lottery, and gambling. During those days, blacks were discriminated against; they could not access even banking services. They were not able to invest legally. However, Saint Clair launched an operation, policy banking, which catered for the blacks. Although it was not legal, it was the only way blacks in Harlem could invest their money.
At the time Saint Claire joined the game, most of the operations were male-dominated. Being the only woman involved in the game, she was determined, courageous, and wise. Occasionally she aided black communities in Harlem by providing many with jobs within her businesses. Because her numbers business was doing well, she was one of the largest policy bankers at that time, making up to a quarter-million dollars a year and lived a lavish lifestyle.
Her success allowed her to live on an expensive avenue in an area nicknamed Sugar Hill, with neighbors like Madam CJ Walker, the beauty Product Tycoon. Nevertheless, all that changed when the Great Depression hit, when the economy began to suffer a massive plunge.
Police Corruption
Saint Clair was known to dress in expensive outfits and feature in ads in the local newspapers, educating the Harlem Community about their legal rights, endorsing voting rights, and condemning police brutality against the black communities. On several occasions, she complained to local authorities about police harassment. When they failed to react, she decided to run advertisements in Harlem newspapers accusing top-rank officials of corruption.
That landed in trouble as the officers arrested her on a trumped charge, detaining her in a workhouse for eight months. In response to her misery, she testified against the police officers who had participated in the Harlem numbers game. She stated how the officers occasionally received bribes from her. Her testimony led to the commission firing over a dozen police officers.
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Conflict with the Mafia
Following the great depression, Jewish, Italian and American crime families saw a decrease in profits. Thus to maintain their lifestyles and operations, they sought to move to the Harlem gambling scene. Bronx-based mob boss, Dutch Schultz, was the first to relocate to Harlem, beating and killing many operators who would not pay him for protection.
Saint Clair and her chief enforcer, Ellsworth Bumpy Johnson, rejected Schultz’s idea for protection despite the unending intimidation they faced under police. Johnson was an American drug trafficker in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. Bumpy served many sentences during her drug trafficking business and still never quit. Saint Clair is quoted saying she wasn’t afraid of Dutch Schultz or any other man living, and hence he wouldn’t touch her. Dutch had successfully succeeded in putting most of Saint Clair’s colleagues out of business. Dutch had Harlem afraid, and it seemed as though everybody vowed to him. Dutch began making phone calls, threatening, kidnapping, and murdering her men, buying off police, and even at one point got her arrested. Saint Claire got her revenge; however, she raided the storefronts of businesses running Dutch’s betting operations and tipped the police about him.
This resulted in the police attacking his home, searching it, arresting over a dozen of his employees, and seizing approximately twelve million dollars. Saint Clair never submitted to Dutch like the many others in Harlem who eventually did. After successfully getting rid of Dutch, Saint Clair decided to keep off the police, and the only way she would achieve that was bypassing over her businesses to Bumpy Johnson.
Later, a series of negotiations led to Schultz’s position being replaced with Lucky Luciano, though this time, Bumpy had power over Luciano. In 1935, Dutch was pronounced dead after allegedly being murdered. Although Saint Clair was not involved in his assassination, she is remembered for sending an infamous telegram to his bed. It stated that As ye sow, so shall ye reap. The telegram made headlines across the nation.
Around the 1949s, Bumpy Johnson had become the reigning king of Harlem, with Mrs. Stephanie getting less and less involved. Saint Clair’s operation is documented in the series Godfather of Harlem, starring Bumpy Johnson.
Later Life of Saint Clair
After completely retiring from the numbers game, Saint Clair joined activists, dedicating her life to advocating for political reforms. In the late 1930s, Stephanie met Sufi Abdul Hamid, who later became her husband. Mr. Sufi was famous as the Black Hitler because of his anti-Semitic, Nazi fashion of activism. He was a militia activist and a leader of an Islamic Buddist cult. However, their marriage ended when Sufi started cheating with a black fortune-teller known as Fu Futtam.
Hamid and Stephanie’s marriage officially ended when Hamid was assassinated. Saint Clair was convicted for reportedly shooting him. She spent ten years in the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women in New York. When she was released, Saint Claire continued with her work as an activist, informing people in the community of civil liberties. She wrote columns in the newspapers about discrimination, police brutality, illegal search raids, and other issues that the black communities undergo.
Mrs. Saint Clair was exceptionally community-oriented. She could relate to what the black communities in the United States were facing. Though she came to power by illegal means, her wealth significantly impacted many communities in Harlem, more so with economic support.
The Death of Mrs. Saint Clair
Stephanie succumbed in 1969, though the primary cause was not documented. During her death, she was 72 years old, waiting to celebrate her 73rd birthday. Her infamous ally, Bumpy Johnson, had died a year earlier than her. Mr. Bumpy had died of congestive heart failure when he was under police custody over drug conspiracy allegations.
The above piece is aimed to educate on the fierce traits Saint Clair possessed and her concern to help the suffering black communities. It does not praise Saint Clair as a leader of illegal businesses but focuses on the good she did during her life course.
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