If you do then you would be hot on the case of Dutch Schultz, the famed bank robber who was taken out by the Prohibition's biggest crime families because Dutch was going to murder NY special prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey... and in the height of prohibition the crime families weren't about to have a bank robber gum up their game.

Dutch was a Bronx-born, German Jew who did not follow the advice of the family and become an upstanding citizen in the family business. He had quite another idea and that was grabbing headlines in the local & national papers as a brank robber. His real name was Arthur Flegenheimer but he changed his name because "Dutch Schultz" sounded better in the paper. He was a man after fame in the wrong light.

He worked the criminal angles of the Prohibition era to become known as the "Beer Baron of the Bronx" and he bumped heads with the likes of Mad Dog Coll & Legs Diamond. He was described as a "man who no more warmth or need for human companionship than a machine". That was the essence of Dutch; a cold man with cold intentions. Oddly enough it was his cold disposition that made other gangsters leary of befriending him and he was out in the cold while other gangsters joined crime families during the Prohibition era. Being cast out in the cold is left him unprotected & vulnerable; though Dutch did not see it that way at the time.

When he became the target of Dewey for investigation Dutch told the head of a crime family that he was going to get rid of Dewey and he was going "hit him myself in the next 48 hours". That confession to another gangster is what signed & sealed his death certificate. The biggest crime families not wanting their cushy political deals going sour because of Dutch bumping off Dewey led them to send hit men to the Palace Chop House & Tavern in Newark where Schultz was and on October 23rd Dutch was shot by Charles "the Bug" Workman.

However, the hit man didn't kill him and Dutch lay in a hospital bed mumbling in dementia while a court stenographer sat beside him recording every mumble. In fact, later both authors William S. Burroughs and E.L. Doctorow used the transcripts to inspire novels. The real mystery, however, remained where Dutch and his bodyguard Bernard "Lulu" Rosencrantz hid their fortune in bank robbery totaling $7 million.

Dutch & Lulu hid the fortune in the Catskill Mountains in Upstate NY when Dewey announced his launch of an investigation against Dutch and since Dutch never revealed the location of the treasure even on his deathbed and Lulu was killed in the shootout in the Palace Chope House & Tavern there wasn't anyone left alive who could tell where Dutch hid the $7 million.

News of the hidden $7 million spread after Dutch died a day after his shooting in the hospital and Lucky Luciano was among those who hurried to the Catskills to find it. It remains unrecovered despite the hundreds of people who have gone up to the Catskills even to present day to hunt & dig for the money.

The $7 million is puported to be in the general area of Route 28 & Esopus Creek. It's never been found, at least no one has reported finding it.

That would def make a good dent in getting bills paid.. But oh well, only been to NY once and well, can just say the money is safe from me.. LOL

my guess is that someone associated with dutch and lulu recovered the money many many moon ago and that's a fortune nobody would admit to finding although by now i'm sure the statute of limitations has run on it having to be turned over. great post magnolia!

reminds me of stories of the jersey pine barrens down here off route 539 going west towards route 72 where there are the miniature pines about how many mobster hits are buried out among the pines. just like the exxon exec who was found buried in a shallow dirt grave in a nasty section of the pinelands off "poor man's parkway" which runs parallel to the garden state parkway down here between new gretna and tuckerton. makes one wonder what might be buried in your own backyard. take care! arsine

I think that Hubby and I are going to take a little trip.

creepyhollows wrote:
News of the hidden $7 million spread after Dutch died a day after his shooting in the hospital and Lucky Luciano was among those who hurried to the Catskills to find it. It remains unrecovered despite the hundreds of people who have gone up to the Catskills even to present day to hunt & dig for the money.

The $7 million is puported to be in the general area of Route 28 & Esopus Creek. It's never been found, at least no one has reported finding it.

*Jumps in car, car screeches off to buy shovel and digging supply*