Abe Bernstein

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Abe Bernstein (* around 1892; † March 7, 1968 ) was an American mobster in Detroit , who is now part of the Kosher Nostra . He was the leader of the Purple Gang .

family

Abe Bernstein had three brothers:

Life

Early years

Abe and his brothers were offspring of the Bernstein family from New York City. In their teenage years , they came to Detroit , Michigan, and joined a street gang that would become the forerunner of the later Purple Gang. Before Prohibition in the United States through 1920, Abe and his brothers rose to be leading members of the gang. Soon the Purple Gang enjoyed a relevant reputation through various acts of violence ; however, they were hardly harassed by the police, as their victims were usually other bullies ; u. a. Members of the rival Litte Jewish Navy gang.

Alcohol prohibition

During Prohibition from 1920, the Bernsteins were allied with seasoned criminals such as Charles Leiter and Henry Shorr .

Three days after the murder of the police officer Vivian Welsh Abe Bernstein and numerous other members of the were Purple Gang arrested since the Chevrolet - Coupe his brother Raymond was involved in the crime. Abe was soon released, however; u. a. had been reported in the press of bribes Welsh allegedly extorted from alcohol smugglers and into the speakeasy . From then on, Abe and his brothers were under constant police supervision, and a few years later his brother Raymond could be charged in another murder case.

In March 1928, Abe, along with his brothers Raymond and Irving, Irving Milberg , Eddie Fletcher , Joe Miller , Abe Kaminsky, and the brothers Abe and Simon Axler, were charged with demanding protection money from cleaning companies.

The police had initially not been able to pick up Abe Bernstein because he was at the Atlantic City Conference of the National Crime Syndicate , which had been organized by Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano . When he returned he was able to avert a sentence by paying a fine of $ 500.

Valentine's Day massacre

Abe Bernstein and his gang worked as alcohol smugglers, especially as assistants for the Chicago outfit , and an important logistical link in the chain of smuggling Canadian whiskey for Al Capone . Accordingly, it should have been a charge of amber that members (such a thesis) of the North Side Gang would have been waiting for when they were murdered in the Valentine's Day massacre . The alleged main culprit Fred Burke had already worked in Detroit in 1926 for the Purple Gang in a similar way with a submachine gun.

Gambling

Like many other former alcohol smugglers, Bernstein got into gambling after Prohibition ended . He is said to have worked with bullies like Joe Adonis and Meyer Lansky in Miami and was involved in numerous casinos there until his death in 1968.

literature

  • Burnstein, Scott M .: Motor City Mafia: A Century of Organized Crime in Detroit . Arcadia Publishing 2006. ISBN 0-7385-4084-6 .
  • Kavieff, Paul: The Purple Gang: Organized Crime in Detroit 1910–1945 . Barricade Books 2000. ISBN 1-56980-147-9 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "Detroit's Infamous Purple Gang" ( Memento from January 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) by Paul R. Kavieff on info.detnews.com (English)
  2. ↑ {{Web archive | url = http: //info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm? Id = 183 & category = life | wayback = 20080106075838 | text = - | archiv-bot = 2018-08-21 20: 36:18 InternetArchiveBot}} (link not available)
personal data
SURNAME Amber, Abe
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American mobster
DATE OF BIRTH around 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City , New York , United States
DATE OF DEATH March 7, 1968