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Llewelyn Morris Humphreys (1899 – November 23, 1965) (also known as The Camel, The Hump and Murray Humphreys), was a Chicago mobster of Welsh descent who was the chief political and labor racketeer in the Chicago Outfit during Prohibition. Considered to be a ruthless but clever man, Humphreys believed in killing only as a last resort as he was known to place great trust in the corruptibility of authority figures; a favorite maxim of his was: "The difference between guilt and innocence in any court is who gets to the judge first with the most".〔Whitton, Evan, ''Serial Liars: How Lawyers Get the Money and Get the Criminals Off''〕 But perhaps the statement that best summed up Humphreys' philosophy of life was: "Any time you become weak, you might as well die".〔Roemer, Jr., William F., ''Roemer: Man Against the Mob''〕 Al Capone said of him, "Anybody can use a gun. 'The Hump' can shoot if he has to, but he likes to negotiate with cash when he can". Humphreys other role in the Chicago Outfit was to do everything in his power ensure its members attracted as little press attention as possible. Whereas some mobsters, such as Sam Giancana and Filippo Sacco, welcomed the limelight most gangsters took their cue from Humphreys, conducting themselves behind the scenes out of public view. He lived most of his life in a nondescript bungalow in South Shore, Chicago. ==Early life== Llewelyn Morris Humphreys was born in the United States, the third of five children. His parents, Bryan Humphreys and Ann Wigley, were from Carno, a small village near Newtown in mid Wales. They had married at the Methodist chapel in Llanidloes, Powys. However as the long depression at the end of the 19th century caused great hardship in many Welsh farming communities, the young couple found it difficult to make a living from their isolated hilltop farm in Carno. The family eventually emigrated to the United States from the village of Llandinam. There was a film documentary made about this man titled "There Was a Crooked Man" in 1986 Directed by Don Llewellyn. The family's fortunes did not improve following arrival in America. Humphreys had to drop out of elementary school, aged seven, to get a job selling newspapers because of their impoverished condition. However, young "Curly" Humphreys (so nicknamed because of his dark curly hair) soon tried his hand at petty theft and became involved with the world of Chicago street gangs. By the time he had turned 13 years old, Humphreys was in the custody of a Chicago judge by the name of Jack Murray, who apparently attempted to interest the young hoodlum in a law career. While not inspiring Curly to follow in his footsteps, Judge Murray's judicial lessons proved of great value to Humphreys later on. It was at this time that Llewelyn Humphreys changed his name to Murray Humphreys. During the next few years, Humphreys appears to have been involved in several jewel thefts and burglaries and by age 16, he was serving a 60-day sentence for petty larceny in Chicago's Bridewell Jail. The original charge had been one of felony burglary (which would have carried a much stiffer sentence) but Humphreys had convinced the prosecutor to change the charge. According to a later acquaintance of Humphreys, the young criminal's private ultimatum to the prosecutor went something like this: "You try to get me indicted for burglary and I will weep in front of the grand jury. They probably won't indict me because I am only 16 years old. But even if you get me to court, the do-gooders will say that because of my extreme youth I ought not to be sent to prison. However, if you reduce the charge to one of petty larceny, I will plead guilty. I will get a light sentence. You will get a conviction that looks good on your record. Everybody will be happy. What's more, you will receive a suitable gift before the case goes to court". Humphreys then continued his life of crime, primarily one of jewel heists and burglaries. Murray left Chicago for his brother's home in Little Axe, Oklahoma in 1921 after some difficulties. Taking a temporary job as a door-to-door salesman, Humphreys met an attractive young college student from Norman, named Mary Brendle. Marriage followed a brief courtship, and after a suitable time had elapsed, Humphreys took his young bride back with him to Chicago. Briefly going legitimate, Humphreys got a job as a short-order cook at a restaurant on Halsted Street, though Murray's "legitimacy" would be short-lived after he met customer Fred Evans. The college-educated Evans was a small-time Chicago gangster in search of a partner who could help him break into the lucrative field of bootleg liquor. Evans found his partner in Humphreys, and the problem of having no product of their own was solved by the decision to hijack others' bootleg. All went smoothly for several years until Murray hijacked some bootleg belonging to the Capone mob. When Humphreys was identified by the truck's driver as the hijacker who had stuck a gun in his face, some Capone men picked Humphreys up and brought him before Capone. Exactly what conversation passed between the two is unknown, but apparently Capone was impressed enough by the smooth-talking young hood to give him a job with the Outfit. As an appreciative Capone was later to say of his chance discovery: "Nobody hustles like the Hump." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Murray Humphreys」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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