By Dan Murphy
This time every summer, we like to tell the tale of mobster Dutch Schultz and his connection to Westchester, and Yonkers. Schultz, who was known as “the beer baron” of New York City during the days of prohibition in the 1920s and 30s, worked his way into Yonkers and began secretly brewing real beer, not near beer, during the span when alcohol was illegal.
Schultz was able to purchase the Yonkers Brewery, which at the time was making non-alcoholic beer, also known as ‘neer beer’ in the downtown location of Chicken Island, located next to City Hall. How Schultz was able to ‘buy’ the Yonkers brewery was told in the book, “Dutch Schultz” by Ted Addy.
“Dutch Schultz and the two Weinbergs, Bo and George, drove to Yonkers. Joe the brewer had agreed to an appointment, knowing full well that Schultz was in the beer business, and realized that without the trade of beer runners, his plant would not make a great deal of profit.”
“I don’t want to buy half barrels, I want the whole brewery,” Schultz said pleasantly. “What are you offering,” asked Joe. “We’ll be generous, $32,000 for the works,” said Dutch.
“What? Said Joe in disbelief. ” You have no idea what this brewery is worth.” Upping the offer, Dutch said, “I’ll buy the whole works for $75,000. ‘Editor’s Note: Joe the brewer should have taken the $75k and got out of the business. Instead he said “Go buy yourself a popcorn wagon. I’ll be broke if I sell at these prices,”
“We’ll give you 24 hours to think it over,” said Dutch, who left and instructed his attorney, Dixie Davis (who is rumored to be the author of this book under the psyedonum Ted Addy) to set up a dummy corporation, leaving Schultz entirely out of the matter. Controlling interest was placed in Davis’ name.
Two men took Joe the brewer to the Dutchman’s office in the Bronx. At that meeting, Schultz and his thugs beat up Joe until he agreed to sell the brewery, but for much less that the $75,000 he was offered a few days ago. “My stock is in the safe at the plant.” Joe called his brother at the plant and told him to sign the shares away.
“What about the money, the 32,000,” asked Joe. “There was some expense bringin’ you here pal. You just picked up the tab. Here’s your change.” Schultz tossed Joe a half dollar,” end of book excerpt. So the Yonkers Brewery, according to the book, was stolen by Dutch Shultz for 50 cents.
The more interesting parts of the story, come when Schultz was somehow able to run tubes through the water and sewer lines in Yonkers, so that his beer trucks could pick up the beer at locations away from the brewery and away from the eyes of the public and law enforcement. How Schultz was able to get the tubes installed had to involve someone on the inside of Yonkers government, either from City Hall, or the Police Department, or both.
The biggest figure in Yonkers politics for more than 50 years was Tom Brogan, who served as the Yonkers Democratic Chairman, and served as a “Boss Tweed” figure in the City, controlling every job and anyone who wanted to run for office. In last year’s story, we put two and two together, and speculated that Brogan had to approve any deal to run beer through the pipes of Yonkers. But our speculation was met with a denial by a member of the Brogan family who reads Yonkers Rising.
“I read your article regarding the above with interest as Thomas A. Brogan was my grandfather. I do remember hearing that Pop had,briefly, owned the building which had housed the brewery and sold it soon after. As to the implication that he’d been somehow involved in anything nefarious and/or alcoholic does seem far fetched as he was a lifelong teetotaler and held that belief rather strongly. He did know a good real estate opportunity however. Did your investigation include the ownership of Mr. Schultz’s widow‘s residence on White Plains Rd? I believe that property is now part of Concordia College,” writes the relative of Brogan.
Former Yonkers City Judge Richard Sweeney wrote about Dutch for Yonkers Rising a few years ago. “On Sept. 29, 1930, city workers discovered a series of hoses throughout the sewer system that carried beer from the Yonkers Brewery. Schultz was killed in 1935 by Murder, Inc.,because they were afraid that Schultz was going to have prosecutor Thomas Dewey killed.
Thomas Brogan purchased the Yonkers Brewery in 1936. In 1938, the brewery declared bankruptcy. Frances Flegenheimer, Schultz
widow, sued Brogan to recover the value of cash loans, stock and a mortgage made to the prior owners of the Yonkers Brewery.”
That lawsuit was eventually thrown out of Westchester court because Frances was attempting to secure monies made through an illegal transaction. But that lawsuit, which was covered extensively in the papers, deserves a story of its own.
Another twist to the Dutch Schultz story comes from former FBI Director James Comey, who grew up in Yonkers and whose family members served in the Yonkers Police Department. Comey, in an interview last year with Irish Times, said that his family told a story about how his grandfather William Comey rose to become Yonkers police commissioner and how he battled with bootleggers, who were funneling contraband beer in hoses between Yonkers and the Bronx.
“Even though my grandfather liked beer, he ordered his men to cut the hoses with axes and let the beer run into the sewers” – a move that
prompted death threats and an armed guard on the family home,The moral of the story is, the rule of law and integrity matter more than friendship, your love of beer or anything else. My grandfather is as an early hero of mine because of a commitment to higher values,” said Comey. whose story is disputed by some of our friends in the YPD, who claim that Comey’s grandfather didn’t rise to Chief until the 1940’s, long after the beer stopped flowing underground.
Anyone with information about Dutch, or Brogan, or the Comeys of the Yonkers Police Department, may contact me at dmurphy@
risingmediagroup.com, so that we can tell the entire story.
And if you want to raise a glass and have a beer in Dutch’s name this summer in Yonkers, what better place to do so then at Yonkers Brewing
Co., located in downtown Yonkers, a block or two away from where the Dutchman’s trucks moved the bootleg beer.
