The Purple Gang
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| Founded | 1910's |
|---|---|
| In | Hastings Street, Detroit, Michigan, United States |
| Years active | 1910s - 1932 |
| Territory | Detroit |
| Criminal activities | Murder, extortion, theft, armed robbery, gambling, hijackings, jewelry thefts, bootlegging |
| Allies | The Capone mob, Fred “Killer” Burke |
| Rivals | Rival gangs, Fred “Killer” Burke after 1927 |
The Purple Gang was a mob of bootleggers and hijackers in the 1920s. Under the leadership of Abe Bernstein, the gang operated out of Detroit, Michigan, in the United States, which was a major port for running cached alcohol products across during Prohibition, since it is on the border with Canada.
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[edit] History
The Purple Gang consisted of young Jewish immigrants, Alan, and other immigrants who engaged in theft and armed robbery along Detroit's notorious Hastings Street. They operated between Detroit and Chicago, and would meet behind the Bohm Theatre or in secret places in houses of Albion, a small town halfway between the two points. The gang supposedly received their name during a conversation between two Detroit market owners, each of them gang victims. One owner made the comment: "They're rotten, purple like the color of bad meat."
"The Purples were really a very loose confederation of mostly, but not exclusively, Jewish gangsters. The gang started as a group of juvenile delinquents on the lower east side of Detroit, a group of about 16 or 17 children from the same neighborhood. Mostly they were involved in the usual petty crime of juveniles... rolling drunks and stealing from hucksters", according to Paul Kavieff.[1]
Bootlegging netted the Purple gang millions of dollars, but the mob was also involved in extortion, hijacking, and jewelry thefts. After the repeal of Prohibition in the 1930s, the Purple Gang members joined the growing national crime syndicate that was replacing the old school mafia leadership, fondly known as the Mustache Petes.
The Purple Gang also attempted to run gambling rings in Detroit, especially among the African American population. Run by Julius Horowitz, the son of the sugar supplier to the breweries, and a one-legged black gangster wanted in the South for murder, the operation was successful until the gamblers learned that the Purple Gang had been using loaded dice and other tricks to keep it profitable. A small riot followed from which Horowitz escaped but the black gangster was believed killed.
The Purple Gang was exceptionally violent, constantly at war with other gangs and with each other. Newspapers would often carry stories of gang murders on both sides of their conflicts, which were constant during the gang's existence. Too many openly violent crimes caused a string of convictions of Purple Gang members, while the intra-gang violence between different gang members damaged the gang's organization and its abilities to control its turf.
The Purple Gang were considered suspects in the case of the Lindbergh baby. The Purple Gang also used big grass lots all over Michigan for planting drugs which they planned on selling in Detroit. One of these grass lots is in Bay City right behind what used to be East Side School, which is now the Wenona Center. The Purple Gang also owned several cottages on White Goose road in Cheboygan, as well as a (now sunken) boathouse on Burt lake.
[edit] References
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This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (October 2009) |
[edit] Book
- Paul R. Kavieff (2005). The Purple Gang: Organized Crime in Detroit 1910-1945. ISBN 1-56980-281-5.
[edit] External links
- The Death of Vivian Welsh from The Malefactor's Register
- The Cleaners and Dyers War from The Malefactor's Register
