34 going on 110

                 I'm a good pretzeler = I'm a good German ( in his slang)

It seems like only yesterday ( which it was.. literally and figuratively) that two German-Jewish immigrants in their Yorkville tenement apartment welcomed a cute little baby boy named Arthur. Of course, little Arthur was the apple of his mother's eye...could do no wrong. Except the usual slip ups like robbery, homicide with a gun, grand larceny, beer baron, and policy king to name a few of his achievements by the time he reached his final birthday at the age of 34. You may not recognize the name Arthur Flegenheimer, but you would recognize his adopted moniker of Dutch Schultz.

He has also been the cause of excitement, writer's block, bottles of aspirin within easy reach and ridiculous wild goose chases through archives and police stations ( see some of my posts from early last year) as I work on a biography on the man. Pat Downey, a swell fella and awesome crime historian gave me the honor of doing a guest blog for The Dutchman's birthday which you can read here.

Happy Birthday Dutch!