The Purple Gang

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The Purple Gang was a criminal gang during the US alcohol prohibition under the leadership of Abe Bernstein in the 1920s, especially in Detroit , which is now part of the Kosher Nostra .

history

The gang was formed from the union of young Jewish emigrants who criminalized themselves and appeared as thieves and armed robbers and were settled in Hastings Street in Detroit.

But their radius of action soon extended to Chicago . During the alcohol prohibition, the gang was particularly known for kidnapping alcohol transports; So to take over illegal transports of other criminals by force. Under Abe Bernstein, they expanded their operating radius considerably and became one of the most important links in the logistical chain of smuggling alcohol from neighboring Canada , which in particular extended to the Chicago Outfit .

They were known for their ruthless conduct in their criminal activities and are credited with up to 500 murders; however, they were hardly harassed by the police, as their victims were usually other bullies ; u. a. Members of the rival Little Jewish Navy .

Vivian Welsh's murder

Vivian Welsh had developed into a corrupt police officer, only two years in the service and newly married. He was paid $ 10 a week, but worked in a district where the gangsters around him earned many times that amount daily from their illegal businesses. Alcohol prohibition , in particular , offered corrupt police officers the opportunity to earn money by being passive in prosecuting them. Since the Purple Gang played a key role in alcohol smuggling from neighboring Canada, Welsh apparently underestimated the danger when he began to exempt “speakeasies” on his own account who had already paid protection money to the Purple Gang .

On February 1, 1927, Welsh was shot; three days after the policeman was murdered, Abe Bernstein and numerous other members of the Purple Gang were arrested because his brother Raymond's Chevrolet coupe was involved in the crime. Abe was soon released, however; Among other things, bribes that Welsh is said to have extorted from alcohol smugglers and in the “speakeasies” had been reported in the press. From then on, Abe and his brothers were under constant police supervision, and in 1931 his brother Raymond could be charged with the so-called "Collingwood Massacre".

War of the clean men

In the United States in the 1920s, the term industrial action was still to be taken literally. Initially, employers hired hired thugs to keep unions out of their companies and bring scabs into companies; the unions soon opposed it and there was a lot of money to be made from it. That's why criminal gangs had gotten into the business, and the Purple Gang had members who had experienced violence in such business.

Alcohol smuggling, in particular, was concentrated on the east coast of the United States in the 1920s ; the escalation in the laundry and cleaning industry in Detroit initially went unnoticed. As in other industries, the line of conflict ran along the fault line between free and organized workers and companies. A huge market had emerged that went beyond the street laundries and into the clothing industry . A ruinous competition between suppliers for market share had begun, and competitors were also hampered by illegal methods.

The ruinous fight was first brought to an end through the mediation of Ben Abrams , apparently from the circle of the Seven Group from Chicago, in 1924. The distribution of shares in the business was not accepted by everyone in the long run, and Sam Sigman , secretary of the "Perfect Cleaners and Dyers" on Caniff Avenue , wanted to make himself independent. Sigman disappeared immediately after a meeting in which he officially announced his exit and was found dead on West Chicago Boulevard - hit by numerous bullets . Sigman had announced his exit despite numerous threats; he himself had already been kidnapped and dropped on his doorstep under threats. Some of his stores had previously been attacked with stink bombs and some trucks had been set on fire.

After Sigman's assassination, there was silence for about two years until 1926, when the conflict broke out again. Numerous attacks with stink bombs, arson attacks and vandalism (especially on vehicles) were recorded in increasing numbers; nevertheless, the local police officially refused to admit the war in the industry. The conflict was particularly evident after the death of Louis Green , an employee of the “Retail Cleaners and Dyers”. In 1928, Sam Polakoff from the “Union Cleaners and Dyers” was also gunned down, four shops were blown up by dynamite . In addition to numerous kidnappings between the parties involved, the property damage alone amounted to a six-figure amount. The police now felt compelled to take urgent action.

Members of the Purple Gang were also involved in this lucrative field of “labor racketeering” . In March 1928, in connection with the harsher police crackdown, Abe Bernstein and 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 were initially unable to pick up Abe Bernstein because he was at the Atlantic City Conference of the National Crime Syndicate , which was organized by Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano . When he returned he was able to avert a sentence by paying a fine of $ 500.

Spectacular crimes

In particular, the gang is said to have been involved in the Valentine's Day massacre on February 14, 1929. Accordingly, Al Capone would have hired the brothers Phil and George Lewis , as well as Harry Keywell for the bloody act. Both had a waterproof alibi , however . However, today (in addition to the Italian), the gang of the Egan's Rats , which was temporarily associated with the Purple Gang - Fred Burke , J.George Zeigler , August "Gus" Winkeler and Byron "Monty" Bolton - is considered to be involved in the act.

Another (supplementary) thesis is that the victims of the massacre expected a smuggling cargo from Abe Bernstein and the Purple Gang , but that it is said to have been a trap by Al Capone . Fred Burke had worked in a similar way with a submachine gun for the Purple Gang in Detroit as early as 1926 . ( Milaflores massacre ).

In July 1930, 15-year-old Arthur Mixon was murdered. He had accidentally entered a bottling station of the gang, in which the smuggled alcohol was diluted with water. Philip Keywell and Joe Miller became the first convicted gang members for a murder for this murder.

In September 1931, three Chicago bullies - Hymie Paul , Isadore "Joe" Sutker , and Joe Lebowitz - were murdered in a Detroit apartment. For the crime known as the "Collingwood Massacre" Ray Bernstein , Harry Keywell and Irving Milberg were sentenced to life imprisonment.

The gang has also been linked to the Lindbergh kidnapping . Charles Lindbergh's child was kidnapped on March 1, 1932, and found dead on May 12. Because of Lindbergh's fame, the case attracted a lot of attention. For the act, however, Bruno Richard Hauptmann , of German descent, was convicted and executed in 1936.

The end

After the end of the alcohol prohibition, the gang became a member of the National Crime Syndicate and shifted to the organization of illegal gambling; Abe Bernstein became a business partner of Meyer Lansky in its activities in Las Vegas .

However, the gang's high propensity for violence was increasingly directed inwards and undermined its own organization, which is said to have ultimately led to the breakup of the gang.

In 1931 Irving Shapiro was shot together with his brother Meyer Shapiro by Joseph and Louis Amberg in Brooklyn , where there had been conflicts over the rule over the clothing industry in the "garment-destrict" (am. Garment = clothing). In 1933, Abe Axler and Eddie Fletcher were found dead in the back seat of a car outside Detroit. In 1937, gang member Harry Millman was assassinated several times, including one with a car bomb . An attack in a restaurant, presumably carried out by Murder, Inc. , was ultimately successful.

The void was then filled by the La Cosa Nostra ; which became known in Detroit as The Detroit Partnership but also as the Detroit Combination or Tocco-Licavoli-Zerilli family .

Known members

Surname birth death † Root cause Nickname / alias annotation
Axler, Abe 1931 murdered
Axler, Simon Brother of Abe Axler
Amber, Abe around 1892 1968 Amber Brothers
Bernstein, Irving Amber Brothers
Bernstein, Isadore Izzy Amber Brothers
Bernstein, Raymond 1966 natural death Raymond Shapiro Imprisoned 1931–1964; Amber Brothers
Bernstein, William Joseph Bugs Bill / Bill Bursteinowicz Amber Brothers
Fleisher, Harry 1950s natural death Alcatraz inmate No. 320
Fleisher, Sam Alcatraz inmate No. 327
Fletcher, Eddie 1933 murdered
Kaminsky, Abe
Keywell, Harry 1910 1997 natural death Imprisoned 1931–1965
Keywell, Philip imprisoned from 1930
Raider, Morris 12–15 years imprisonment due to murder
Miller, Joe Honey boy
Millman, Harry 1937 murdered
Milberg, Irving 1938 natural death imprisoned from 1931
Selbin, Ziggy 1929 murdered
Shapiro, Irving 1931 murdered Brother of Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro
Tolzdorf, John

Adaptations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Purple Gang: An interview with Paul Kavieff (English)
  2. ↑ "Valentine Killers?" At www.myalcaponemuseum.com (English)
  3. ↑ "The Big Time" ( Memento of the original from May 9, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on www.crimelibrary.com (English) ⇒ "On February 13, 1929, Bernstein called Bugs Moran and told him a hijacked load of booze was on its way to Chicago." @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.crimelibrary.com

literature

  • Paul R. Kavieff: The Purple Gang: Organized Crime in Detroit 1910-1945 . 2005. ISBN 1-56980-281-5
  • Scott M. Burnstein: Motor City Mafia: A Century of Organized Crime in Detroit ; Arcadia Publishing 2006; ISBN 0-7385-4084-6

Web links