The Hidden Treasure of Dutch Schultz

The Claim

There are several million dollars’ worth of treasure hidden in New York by a dead mob boss.

The claim itself sounds like something out of a movie, but there seems to be enough reason to believe it, as hundreds of independent treasure hunters have gone searching for it over the years, but as of yet, no one has found anything.

Dutch Schultz was a Jewish-American mob boss operating out of New York during the 1920s who led his own family of organised crime, and gained a huge amount of money in the process.

Schultz ran the area of the Bronx and made plenty of cash from his businesses, which were mainly bootlegging during prohibition. He had other things on the side, such as the occasional gambling den or protection racket, but the majority of his wealth is believed to have come from booze.

The story of this mob boss is quite typical, and generally, people in this game don’t live for very long. He angered the council of bosses when he was refused permission to kill a prosecutor who was trying to nail him for tax evasion, and tried to have him killed anyway, but this was only one of the sparks to ignite the downfall of this mobster.

After a few confrontations, the council of bosses decided to have him killed to stop him from trying to kill another high-ranking law official. They organised a hit, and Schultz was shot at his headquarters along with his accountant and 2 bodyguards, who all died at the scene. Schultz himself died later in the hospital, surrounded by police.

So, where does the tale of treasure come from?

Any talk of treasure didn’t arise until after his death, due to the huge amount of unaccounted-for wealth. Most estimates put his wealth at around 7 million dollars, which is a massive amount of money to have in the 1920s. Converted into today’s money, it is just under 80 million.

His wife and the rival mobsters were unable to find his stash, as it appears that no bank was used to hide it.

It’s believed that he knew someone was trying to kill him, and since he was being investigated for tax evasion at the time, casually popping $7 million in the bank wasn’t an option. The reason people believe he buried the money is mainly because no one has found it yet, and also, burying and hiding things was a common part of mob life at the time.

The treasure is thought to contain numerous $100 bills alongside diamonds and various items of jewellery, an amount that, if someone found it at the time, would be near impossible to wash into legally spendable money without getting caught.