She was not afraid to get rough, though, and the Great Depression afforded her ample opportunity . When the economy tanked and white mobsters’ profits began to plunge, they began edging in on Harlem. None were more ruthless in this land grab than gun-toting thug Dutch Schultz. He began making phone calls threatening her, kidnapping and murdering her men, buying off select police, and even at one point got her arrested. St. Clair’s revenge was swift and brutal. When Schultz sent an underling to intimidate her, she pushed the underling into a closet, locked him in, and called in four massive bodyguards to “take care of him.” She attacked and destroyed the storefronts of the businesses that ran Schultz’s betting operations. She tipped the police off to Schultz’s operations – which led to them raiding his clearing house, arresting 14 employees, and seizing around $2 million. She then bragged about it in the press. When Schultz was finally taken out (shot in the stomach while on the toilet) she dropped everything and rushed a telegram to his hospital deathbed. It simply said, “So You Sow — So Shall Ye Reap.” She signed it “Madam Queen of Policy.”Cold. Blooded. #hustle #community #newyork #harlem #madamequeenie #stephaniestclair #greatdepression #mobster #dutch #schultz #gangster
