The Infamous Last Words of the Mobster Dutch Schultz

Dutch Schultz was a notorious New York City mobster in the twenties and thirties. His actual name was Arthur Flegenheimer, and you can see why he had to change it- he probably wanted to be taken seriously when he illegally sold alcohol (this was the time of Prohibition) or participated in all his other forms of illegal treachery. But perhaps the most interesting thing about this famous gangster were his last hours and the legacy he left behind within them.

Legend has it that the Mafia Commission ordered Schultz’s death. They handed this duty off to a Jewish mobster named Louis Lepke. Schultz was shot while in a restaurant bathroom in Newark at around 10:15 PM. He received a bullet wound in his lower abdomen. While Schultz was in the bathroom, there was a shootout in the rest of the diner which caused a few of his associates to be killed, while many of the resident diners fled the building.

After he was shot, he struggled out the bathroom, returned his seat, and “slumped over the table.” He shouted for someone to call for an ambulance. Ambulances eventually came and took Schultz and some of his associates away.

Once in the hospital, Schultz had a fever of 106 degrees and still hand the wound in his abdomen. While dying in the hospital, Schultz was interviewed by the police. We, today, are lucky enough to have the entire delirious conversation recorded by a police stenographer while a police sergeant and some detectives interrogated Schultz.

SCHULTZ: “Has it been in any other papers? George, don’t make no full moves. What have you done with him? Oh, mama, mama, mama. Oh stop it, stop it; eh, oh, oh. Sure, sure, mama. Now listen, Phil, fun is fun. Aha! please, papa. What happened to the sixteen? Oh, oh, he done it, please. John, please, oh, did you buy the hotel? You promised a million sure. Get out. I wished I knew. Please make it quick, fast and furious. Please. Fast and furious. Please help me get out; I am getting my wind back, thank God. Please, please, oh please. You will have to please tell him, you got no case. You get ahead with the dot dash system didn’t I speak that time last night. Whose number is that in your pocket book, Phil? 13780. Who was it? Oh- please, please. Reserve decision. Police, police, Henry and Frankie. Oh, oh, dog biscuits and when he is happy he doesn’t get happy please, please to do this. Then Henry, Henry, Frankie you didn’t even meet me. The glove will fit what I say oh, Kayiyi, oh Kayiyi. Sure who cares when you are through? How do you know this? How do you know this? Well, then oh, Cocoa know thinks he is a grandpa again. He is jumping around. No Hoboe and Poboe I think he means the same thing.”