Mayme Johnson, the widow of infamous Harlem gangster Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson has written a book on her late husband, offering a glimpse into his life story.

Aiming to clear up the many misconceptions of Bumpy, Harlem Godfather: The Rap on my Husband, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson, is a collaborative effort between the 93 year-old Johnson and best selling author, Karen E. Quinones Miller.

The book gives detailed accounts on many of the personal aspects of Johnson including his upbringing in Charleston, S.C., his migration to Harlem as a teenager, his rise to Harlem crime boss, his much hyped gang war with mobster Dutch Schultz and his death in 1968 at the Harlem eatery, Wells Restaurant.

"Most of the information that people think they know about Bumpy is wrong," said Mrs. Johnson via a statement. "That's because he never used to give interviews, so the newspapers and magazine back in the thirties and forties just made up stuff. And later on it got repeated so often people just took it for the truth. I never got upset because I knew that people just didn't know better."

A particular aspect the Mrs. Johnson hopes to clear up is the nature of the relationship between Bumpy Johnson and Frank Lucas, who has long claimed to have been the protégé of Johnson.

While Mrs. Johnson believes some things were misconstrued because people were simply ignorant to the facts, she contends that Lucas deliberately falsified accounts of their dealings together, even concerning Bumpy's death.

"There's a difference between being wrong and lying, and what Frank Lucas did was lie," she said. "I understand it was probably to give himself some street credibility because he snitched and Bumpy never did, but Frank still shouldn't have lied. Frank even went and told those Hollywood people that Bumpy died in his arms. Frank wasn't nowhere around when Bumpy died."

The book also gives accounts of the late gangster's social life, including rubbing elbows with the likes of Billie Holiday, Sugar Ray Robinson, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and Lena Horne, among others.

A preview of the book can be viewed by logging onto harlemgodfather.com

Harlem Godfather: The Rap on my Husband, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson will hit shelves during the first week of March via Oshun Publishing Paperback.