A treasure buried in Upstate New York may be worth up to $100 million, according to a new report from the Times Union.
The Albany newspaper says mobster Dutch Schultz, whose real name was Arthur Flegenheimer, allegedly stashed money, gold, jewelry and bonds in a steel box, waterproof safe or a suitcase buried somewhere in the Catskills region in the 1930s. His fortune was estimated between $5 million and $9 million at the time; today it would be worth between $50 million and $100 million.
Sullivan County historian John Conway, who wrote the 2000 book “Dutch Schultz and his Lost Catskills’ Treasure,” told the Times Union that most believe the treasure is hidden in the small town of Phoenicia, located about 60 miles south of Albany.
Schultz died in 1935 after being gunned down in a Newark, New Jersey, tavern. Before succumbing to his wounds, he allegedly talked about the hidden treasure in the hospital.
“Don’t let Satan draw you too fast,” Schultz told police on his deathbed.
Conway told the Times Union that the message is believed to be a coded reference to Phoenicia, which has a large boulder called Devil’s Tombstone and a rock outcropping called the Devil’s Face.
According to the History Channel, Schultz was a notorious bootlegger, bringing liquor from Canada to New York City through the Hudson River during the Prohibition Era. Schultz, once named Public Enemy No. 1 by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, was tried for tax evasion by Thomas E. Dewey, who later became governor of New York, but he avoided conviction (unlike Capone). Legend has it Schultz buried his treasure in case Dewey successfully sent him to jail, but the location’s secret died with Schultz and his trusted bodyguard, Bernard “Lulu” Rosenkrantz, in the shooting at the Palace Chophouse in Newark.
Bruce Alterman, author of the book “Fear in Phoenicia: The Deadly Hunt for Dutch Schultz’s Treasure,” told the Times Union that it’s believed that Rosenkrantz made a treasure map but it’s unclear if the map was ever recovered.
The story has inspired a movie (Dustin Hoffman played Schultz in 1991′s “Billy Bathgate”), books, documentaries, a PBS special, and (of course) countless treasure hunters looking for gold in the Catskills. People still visit Phoenicia today to see if they can find the treasure, but Conway said other rumored spots include an Ulster County campground, Lake George and Yonkers.
It’s also possible the treasure never existed or was already found.
“No one knows for sure,” Conway told the Times Union. “There are so many versions of the legend and story. It’s one of the reasons why people become fascinated by it – they’re challenged to find the right version, and then challenged to find the treasure.”