Arthur Flegenheimer aka Dutch Schultz
Infamous 1930s crime lord Dutch Schultz is buried beneath a bench-like monument --which bears his birth name, Arthur Flegenheimer—in Hawthorne, New York’s Gate of Heaven Cemetery. Schultz, who was murdered in 1935 by rival gangsters, was a convert to Catholicism. As Schultz lay dying from gunshot wounds in a New Jersey hospital, he was baptized by Father Cornelius McInerney, a Catholic priest who had befriended the gangster while he was serving prison time. That Schultz’s body was taken to Coughlin’s Undertaking parlor in Manhattan remained a closely guarded secret. The morning of his funeral, a throng of people gathered outside the funeral home, along with reporters, to witness Schultz’s body being carried out in its casket. Unbeknown to them, his wood casket had been whisked away in the early morning hours for a leisurely ride to the cemetery. At the graveside --near that of former cohort Larry Fay, also gunned down-- Father McInerney performed a short Catholic service for the five ...