Arthur Flegenheimer, alias Dutch Schultz, was born in New York City on August 6, 1902. He died a notorious gangster, bootlegger and murderer on October 23, 1935 in Newark, New Jersey. Growing up in the Bronx slums Schultz was a juvenile delinquent and was arrested many times for crimes ranging from robbery to felonious assault. In 1919, at age seventeen, he was arrested for burglary and did fifteen months in prison. Following his release he was able to commit enough robberies to buy a partnership in an illicit saloon in 1928. Because this was during the prohibition era and the manufacture and sale of alcohol was illegal, Shultz began bootlegging beer and whiskey from Canada and Europe to his and other establishments. Surrounded by with a gang of gunmen and buying political protection, Schultz was able to gain control over the majority of New York City's illegal alcohol businesses within three years.

Not content with the alcohol business Schultz expanded his operations into the illegal gambling market, first in the numbers racket and then by the 1930s in the slot machine business. These operations reaped millions for his organization. Schultz survived several gang wars with other mobsters including infamous gangster "Legs Diamond" whom Schultz's men eventually killed.

In 1935 New York district attorney Thomas Dewey launched an attack on the state's slot machine business destroying one of Shultz's most lucrative sources of income. During this same time crime leaders were organizing a national syndicate for the criminal underworld. At a syndicate meeting Schultz stated he was going to kill district attorney Dewey. The syndicate members decided this would bring too much attention to their operations and had Shultz killed first.