Hustler
- Malcolm spends the next two years hustling constantly and in frequent trouble with the law. He gets caught with a gun, which ends his railroad hustle. So now he needs a new hustle.
- Malcolm turns to robbery. Sometimes he almost gets caught, but he doesn't actually get sent to prison.
- Malcolm has money again and starts doing the same things he did before. He goes to the movies and visits his family. Reginald's ship comes into New York again, and they hang out with all of the big celebrities backstage.
- After a while Reginald wants his own job, and Malcolm thinks of the perfect one for him. Instead of something dangerous like robbery or selling marijuana, Malcolm gets Reginald a perfectly legal hustle. He sells totally legitimate and cheap clothing to unsuspecting buyers who assume he's selling good quality stolen merchandise.
- But soon, Reginald doesn't even need that job because he finds an older black woman who spends all of her money on him to keep him happy.
- During wartime, racial tensions run high in Harlem. Everything explodes in 1935 when a race riot erupts in the neighborhood. After that, white people leave Harlem, taking their money with them. Things get so bad that even the hustlers have to get jobs and prostitutes turn into house cleaners.
- The only hustle that hasn't declined is the gambling market that was run by white mobsters. So that's where Malcolm gets his new job, which just involves riding the bus to a bridge where a guy waits for him with a bag full of betting slips. Not sketchy at all.
- It's at this job that Malcolm meets West Indian Archie, one of the most dangerous black people in Harlem. He has a photographic memory and is amazing at math, so he's perfect for running a gambling ring. Malcolm thinks that if he weren't black he might have been a mathematician.
- In addition to this, Malcolm gets another job carrying black gigolos to meet their white customers in secret areas. So yeah, he talks about more taboo interracial sex for a while. His customers would request the blackest black people, paying for all kinds of lewd acts. You'll have to use your imagination on this one (or, you know, consult your copy of the book) because we're not going into any more detail here.
- Luckily for Malcolm, he's too light-skinned to become a gigolo, so he's just a chauffeur. Anyway, according to him, all white people are perverts. Way more perverted than black people.
- But enough sex talk. A while later, a tall light-skinned black person robs a bartender in Harlem. Of course, since Malcolm is tall and light-skinned he's one of the first suspects. Investigators kick down the door of his apartment and threaten him with violence. This is about the time that he skips town, a.k.a. he runs away to Michigan. It's a week before he comes back to New York.
- It's time for another new job. This time he works downtown for a Jewish man named Hymie. The two of them get along great, and Malcolm's job is to transport bootlegged liquor to Hymie's clients. He's happy while the job lasts, but one day Hymie disappears. All Malcolm knows is that he was put in the ocean to "sleep with the fishes," so to speak. In case you didn't get it, mobsters killed him.
- The day that Jackie Robinson is signed to the Dodgers, Malcolm wins a big gambling prize. Shortly after, cops come to investigate another crime committed by another tall light-skinned black man. At the time Malcolm doesn't know, but this visit probably saves his life. Things are about to get ugly: It seems that West Indian Archie is looking for him.