Murray Humphreys(The Camel)

Has there ever been a non American/Jew as powerful in the Mafia as Murray Humphreys, from what I've read his influence and control reached as far as the white house and loved by many apparently../Interesting charterer.

you bet, he was interesting, was a great help to the chicago outfit. controlled many unions, and was said to be responsible for getting ricca and a few more out of jail in the forties, a supreme court justice {tom clark} let them out, they were in prison for the Hollywood extortion case. its believed Humphreys somehow got to clark. and its widely believed that Humphreys came up with the way to use the fifth amendment for the underworld, although a Welshman, he had a lot of influence in the outfit, as a matter of fact, Sidney korshak who had tremendous power in Hollywood answered to Humphreys, as did lew wasserman another very powerful figure in Hollywood. the outfit controlled most of holywood through the motion picture unions. a very astute gentleman.

He was a powerhouse. One of the few non-Italians to have a direct line with a boss of any family, especially as late as the 1960's. He often had audience with Accardo, Ricca, Giancana, and other higher ups. His political connections were extremely valuable. Only other guy I can think of (at least around the same time period) that had this type of clout with the Italians was Maishe Rockman.

in the book {"the super mob"} a book about korshak, it makes no bones about who was korshaks boss, murray Humphreys.

One of the most interesting players in the Outfit. Humphreys didn't hesitate to voice his opinion to Ricca, Accardo or Giancana. A low-profile guy who had personality plus and was a master at his work.

I have an article about his life and death. I'll try and locate and come back in a few minutes and edit. Here it is.

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1965/11/24/page/1/article/mobs-murray-humphreys-dies

A powerhouse for sure, most powerful non-Italian has to be Lansky though.

It seems he also did hits personally unlike Jake Guzik.
http://www.lacndb.com/php/Info.php?name=Klondike%20O-Donnell
He and Klondike O'Donnell killed Jack White in 1934.

I read also that he invented the term "Money Laundering" and he was also one of the first gangsters to hide behind the 5th Amendment and taught other outfit members how to use the law..

That's my understanding. Gus Russo devotes a great deal of his book (The Outfit) to Humphreys. There's also an extensive FBI file on "The Hump."

Here's the FBI file on M. Humphreys:


http://vault.fbi.gov/murray-humphreys

maybe not, murray Humphreys was indeed a power unlike a lot of made guys, may have had more political connections than lansky, and his springing ricca and company from prison was an amazing coup. lansky handled a lot of money for the families, but, Humphreys tenacles were far reaching.

From my reading on the outfit and just minor knowledge compared to ny the camel def seemed like a smooth operator and a major player. But unfortunately the Feds drove him absolutely bonkers torwards the end and he had a heart attack right after a court appearance after the Feds ransacked his house earlier in the day. The outfit def had some major non Italian decision makers w str8 access to the boss. Def unlike ny in a good way

In the Outfit Russo makes it out as if he was the single most influential figure throughout the Golden Era. Who knows. Russo had an audience with Humps widow, and books need heros, so hard to say how true it was.

there is a book about murray humphreys called prince of crime its a good read you get it on amazon

Thanks for that, ill have to check it out..

your welcome