Book Description

The Prohibition Era allowed the sinister practices of the black market to gain a foothold in American commerce. When legal trade was no longer allowed to supply American consumers with the alcohol so desperately desired, the consumer turned to those who could supply that booty. And so in Detroit, a city perfectly positioned to receive contraband from neighboring Canada, a group of young men grew in power and profile to become one of the nation's most notorious gangs of organized crime. The Purple Gang, as they came to be called, quickly rose to power and wealth. Alcohol, gambling, drugs, and extortion were only some of the methods they used to make money in a hurry. Most of the men were the offspring of recent immigrants: Eastern European Jews who were hard-working and honest. But the desire for riches and a fast, easy way of life inspired ruthless and devious tactics to gain power and control of illicit ventures at a pivotal time in U.S. history. Nothing was beyond the young gang members. They extended their criminal reach to include kidnapping, arson, and racketeering. For twenty years they ruled Detroit's underworld with a vengeance. They fed off other criminal associations like ravenous parasites. When bootleggers smuggled liquor from Canada, The Purple Gang did not stop short of hijacking the contraband for their own profit. When necessary, they collaborated with other infamous crime groups like Al Capone's in Chicago and New York's Arnold Rothstein and Lucky Luciano. When they neared the end of their dynasty, the gang was so ruthless as to start murdering its own members. Among the legendary leaders of The Purple Gang were Abe Axler, the four Bernstein Brothers Abe, Joe, Ray, and Isadore, and the bloodthirsty thug Harry Millman. When the Gang put a contract out on Millman's life they imported killers from Murder Inc. Law enforcement was powerless against the high-profile tactics of the gang. The "Purples" were fearless, and with strongarm tactics and bribery stretching from the local to the federal level, they were truly untouchable. Here is the untold story of one of America's most powerful and infamous groups of thugs and mobsters. During the chaos of the Prohibition Era these men rose to the highest ranks of organized crime and then shattered it all with bloodthirsty greediness and murderous betrayal. The book is grapically illustrated with 32 pages of photographs depicting the gangsters from their life on the streets to their bloody demise. - Jacket flap.