Murray Humphreys
American mobster (1899–1965)
Murray Humphreys (born Llewellyn Morris Humphreys; April 20, 1899 – November 23, 1965), also known as The Camel or The Hump, was a Chicago mobster of Welsh descent who was the chief political fixer and labor racketeer, beginning with the Chicago Outfit during Prohibition. Considered to be a ruthless but also well-dressed, socially refined, and clever man, Humphreys believed in killing only as a last resort. He was known to place far greater trust in the bribability of lawmen, seemingly respectable businessmen, labor union leaders, and public officials. A favorite maxim of Humphreys' was: "The difference between guilt and innocence in any court is who gets to the judge first with the most". But perhaps the statement that best summed up Humphreys' philosophy of life was: "Any time you become weak, you might as well die". Al Capone once said of Humphreys, "Anybody can use a gun, but 'The Hump' uses his head. He can shoot if he has to, but he likes to negotiate with cash when he can. I like that in a man."
Humphrey's value to the Chicago Outfit was also due to his abilities as a fixer: to ensure that his fellow mobsters attracted as little publicity as possible. Whereas some senior wiseguys, such as Sam Giancana and Filippo Sacco, welcomed the limelight, others took their cue from Humphreys and conducted themselves behind the scenes and out of public view. He owned a nondescript bungalow in South Shore, Chicago but frequently lived in various high rise towers on the downtown lake front in Chicago, like the apartment he had on the 51st floor of Marina City's east tower.
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This entry incorporates text from “Murray Humphreys” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.