Kavieff Paul R. The Purple Gang: Organized Crime in Detroit 1910-1945

New York: Barricade Books, 2000. — 214 p.The Purple Gang was a loosely organized confederation of mobsters who dominated the Detroit underworld and whose tentacles reached across the country. Beginning in the Prohibition Era, the Purple Gang prevailed in distilling alcohol and running liquor from Canada, kidnapping, and labor racketeering. This is the hitherto untold story of the rise and fall of one of American's most notorious criminal groups. In an era resembling the Wild West when post World War I America groped for identity, chaos was the rule. And in Detroit's underworld, the Purple Gangsters were the rulers.Contents:Acknowledgments
Preface
1: Origins of the Purple Gang 1902-1919
2: Birth of the Oakland Sugar House Gang 1922-1926
3: Murder of Johnny Reid 1920-1926
4: Milaflores Apartment Massacre 1927
5: Murder of Vivian Welch 1928
6: Cleaners and Dyers War 1925-1928
7: St Valentine's Day Massacre 1928-1930
8: Bloody July 1930
9: Collingwood Manor Massacre-the era of decline 1931
10: Self-destruction 1932-1935
11: Brothers Fleisher 1934-1940
12: Harry Millman last of the Purple Gang cowboys 1931-1937
13: Murder of Warren Hooper 1945
14: Prison years 1930-1965
Bibliography
Index