Murray Humphreys - Family and Private Life

Family and Private Life

Murray Humphreys:

Humphreys’ first wife Mary Clementine Brendle, known affectionately as “Clemi”, was an Oklahoman with part Cherokee ancestry. Together they had one child, a daughter named Llewella. The family’s Chicago home was on 7710 Bennett Ave. where a plaque hung over the fireplace reading, "Love thy crooked neighbor as you love thy crooked self." In the yard, Humphreys built his daughter an intentionally crooked playhouse.

Their other home was in Norman, Oklahoma. Clemi’s many relatives lived nearby and Humphreys soon endeared himself to his acquired nephews and nieces: "I was a small child, and he was always super nice to me,” recalled Ray Brendle nearly 60 years later. “He made our Christmases. He would play Santa Claus and come down from the second floor dressed as Santa and carrying presents for all us kids. We were all dirt poor, and he was the only one who had money.” Others in Norman were favorably impressed by Humphreys’ habit of handing out silver dollars to strangers who appeared needy. Another nephew once recalled how, "every holiday, uncle Lew would go downtown, fill the station wagon with turkeys and other food, and give it to the underprivileged Indian children." This seemingly philanthropic side of Humphreys was also noted by FBI agents, who discovered that Humphreys “was the one gangster who looked after just-released convicts who needed jobs, and who made certain that the Outfit gave pensions to widows and disabled associates.” An FBI agent trying to understand his growing regard for “The Camel”, guessed that: “it is probably a common pitfall for lawmen to develop affection for those of their adversaries who have more of the good human qualities than their other targets.”

In 1957, after a separation of three years from her husband, Mary Brendle Humphreys filed for divorce. The following year Humphreys married his mistress Jeanne Stacy, but soon re-established friendly relations with Clemi, frequently calling her by phone and making occasional visits to Oklahoma. In 1964, Humphreys took his ex-wife and their daughter on a two month tour of Europe; Britain, France, Greece and Switzerland being among the countries visited.

After his second marriage Humphreys bought a home in Florida under the alias of, "Mr. Lewis Hart," supposedly a retired Texas oilman. Having at this time developed the heart condition that would eventually kill him, Humphreys seemed to have tried retiring himself from the mob, but he was too valuable a man for The Outfit to lose and so his “retirement” never really came into effect.

If there was one very touchy subject for Humphreys, it was his daughter Llewella. Once, when questioned about his then teenage daughter before a senate committee, Humphreys became noticeably angry and snarled back at the offending Senator: “Would you like to have people asking questions about your family?” F.B.I tapes record Humphreys remembering how Estes Kefauver once asked him outright "is your daughter nuts?" Humphreys said he had barely resisted the urge to have Kefauver "powdered". At a young age, Llewella Humphreys was the victim of severe mental troubles. While in school she had shown fine musical talent, giving her father the idea to send her to Europe where she could further her musical studies. But while in Rome Llewella met the Italian actor Rossano Brazzi, and the two became lovers. When Llewella returned to American she gave birth to a son on July 14, 1955, whom she named George Llewellyn Brady. Humphreys sent Llewella and her baby to live in Oklahoma with Llewella’s mother; but, in 1958 Murray Humphreys had his increasingly ill and unstable daughter committed to a Topeka, Kansas, sanitarium, where she remained for the next three years.