Murray Humphreys – the Montgomeryshire mind behind the Chicago mob

However as a leading member of Al Capone's Chicago Outfit, the man who would be known as Murray Humphreys, had been unrivalled.

Humphreys was born in the city in 1899 to parents who had emigrated from Llandinam several years earlier having been married in Llanidloes.

Life had been no kinder to the Humphreys family in Chicago and Llywellyn began his career in crime as a seven year old.

However Llywellyn had not been a violent thug and when he was 13 years old he was taken into the custody of a judge called Jack Murray who had encouraged him to pursue a career in law.

Murray had not taken his advice though took his name.

The hills of Carno. Picture by Bill Boaden/Geograph.

The hills of Llandinam. Picture by Bill Boaden.

For the rest of his life Llywellyn Humphreys was known as Murray Humphreys.

Though it would be just one of his many nicknames he would garner in a lifetime of crime.

Three years later he served 60 days in Chicago's Bridewell Jail having convinced the prosecutor of the merits of a lesser larceny charge he would admit to rather than risk convicting the curly haired 16 year old of burglary.

He told the prosecutor 'If you reduce the charge to one of petty larceny, I will plead guilty. I will get a light sentence. You will get a conviction that looks good on your record. Everybody will be happy. What's more, you will receive a suitable gift before the case goes to court.'

Murray briefly went straight and married but was tempted back to a life of crime and in 1921 set up a bootlegger with fellow criminal Fred Evans.

All went smoothly for several years until Murray hijacked some bootleg belonging to the Capone mob.

When Humphreys was identified by the truck’s driver as the hijacker who had stuck a gun in his face, some Capone men picked Humphreys up and brought him before Capone.

Al Capone.

Al Capone.

However the smooth talking of Humphreys endeared him to the man who was known as 'Scarface.'

Humphreys climbed the ranks of the organisation.

He was known as the 'The Hump' and 'The Camel' for his love of camel hair coats and also known as Mr Einstein' 'The Brainy Hood' and 'Mr Moneybags'.

Capone remarked 'Anybody can use a gun. 'The Hump' can shoot if he has to, but he likes to negotiate with cash when he can” and 'Nobody hustles like The Hump'.

Humphreys' speciality had been bribing officials.

He said: 'The difference between guilt and innocence in any court is who gets to the judge first with the most.'

However there can be no doubt about his ruthless streak.

Humphreys was one of the planners behind the infamous St Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929 when seven members of Bugsy Moran's gang were lined up against the wall of a garage in North Street, the very street where the Hump was born, and machine gunned to death.

In 1931 he was indicted for the kidnapping of union president Robert Fitche but escaped conviction.

The 1930s saw Humphreys rise to the top of the Outfit with Capone in jail for tax evasion and described as 'Public Enemy Number One' by authorities.

He served 13 months for tax evasion after surrendering following an 18 month man hunt.

Chicago in 1938. Wiki.

Chicago in 1938.

Humphreys continued to play a prominent role in the Outfit for the next two decades.

For paroling three jailed mobsters, Humphreys had used his leverage to ensure a US Supreme Court nomination for Attorney General Tom Clark in 1949.

Humphreys continued to exploiting the intricacies of the legal system's Double Jeopardy rule and the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment for the Mob’s benefit.

When “Greasy Thumb” Jake Guzik died in 1956, Humphreys arranged for the to be removed from the restaurant and taken home where the widow was told her husband had died at home rather than compromise the restaurant and the Mob's activities.

By now Humphreys had made millions of dollars for the Mob and travelled the world as far as Iran and the Philippines where he had been hosted by kings and presidents.

As the top advisor to boss Sam Giancana, Humphreys came to be followed by the authorities and topped their 'Hoodlum List.'

However Humphreys did not care and is even recorded to have joined the federal agents and bought them lunch one day.

Humphreys said: 'You've been following me all day. There's no need for two cars. I'll ride with you.'

Murray Humphreys.

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Murray Humphreys.

The FBI bugged a known meeting place of the Mob's for five years and Humphreys began each morning by saying 'Good morning, gentlemen, and anyone listening. This is the 9 o'clock meeting of the Chicago underworld.'

He was also heard to say 'Go out of your way to make a friend instead of an enemy' and 'If you ever have to cock a gun in a man's face, kill him. If you walk away without killing him after doing that, he'll kill you the next day.'

The stunned FBI agents noted every word for five years from 1957 and many developed an affection for Humphreys who had always encouraged helping the wives of jailed men and using violence as a last resort.

The FBI would discover Humphreys a much-loved father and neighbour who had given silver coins to those in need and spent every Christmas donating food to native American families.

However at the same time, Humphreys had endured several turbulent years which had culminated in his daughter being committed to a mental asylum in Kansas while Murray and his wife divorced.

FBI chief J Edgar Hoover remarked Humphreys 'perhaps the most brilliant mob mind in Chicago' though by the mid 60s he had remarried and taken the name Lewis Hart while living with worsening health in Florida.

He visited Wales just once, in 1963, travelling to the land of his parents under an assumed name.

In 1965, Giancana was arrested and Humphreys went on the run.

However the FBI had come to learn Humphreys' habits and the fact he tended to travel by rail to Oklahoma due to his worsening vision and the call was put out to stop the train where he was promptly arrested.

Humphreys claimed to have not known of the subpoena though witnesses claimed to have seen him on the train reading a newspaper with his face on the front page.

Humphreys was once again arrested.

Murray Humphreys.

Murray Humphreys on his arrest.

However when agents arrived at his door the ageing mobster had opened it pointing a 38-caliber revolver.

One of the agents is quoted as saying: 'Murray, for Christ’s sake, you know we’re FBI agents, put down the gun.'

Humphreys was jailed and bailed and was dead by the same evening having suffered a heart attack while vacuuming his house. He was aged 66.

FBI agent Bill Roemer had spoke of his affection for Humphreys with his grieving family.

He later said: '"I had clearly developed an affinity for Hump – more so by far than for anyone else in the mob.

'The man had killed in the Capone days on the way up. He had committed my cardinal sin, corruption, many times over. But there was a style about the way he conducted himself. His word was his bond.

'Without question, I preferred working against a despised adversary such as a Giancana rather than a respected adversary such as a Humphreys.

'Each was a challenge – the difference being that I enjoyed the fruit of my success so much more against Giancana than I did against 'The Camel'. In Chicago there would be plenty more mobsters to choose as targets. But none like Hump.'

Newspaper coverage of his death.

A newspaper report from the following day.