Nov. 19, 2020

Kosher Nostra: The Purple Gang and Prohibition-Era Detroit

Gregory Fournier, author of The Purple Gang: Detroit’s Kosher Nostra, joins the podcast to explore the rise and fall of one of America’s most notorious Prohibition-era crime syndicates.

During the 1920s and 1930s, Detroit’s Purple Gang—led by the Bernstein brothers—sat atop Michigan’s criminal underworld, controlling bootlegging, rackets, and labor intimidation while doing business with figures like Al Capone. Though later eclipsed by the Mafia in Detroit, the Purple Gang left an outsized mark on American crime history and popular culture, appearing in books, films, and even Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock.”

This episode traces the gang’s meteoric ascent, their operations throughout northern Michigan—including hideouts in Lupton, Clare, and Roscommon—and their ultimate collapse under the weight of internal violence and unchecked ambition. It is a concise historical examination of power, mythmaking, and self-destruction in America’s criminal past.

-------

Visit author Gregory Fournier's website and find all of his true crime books.
Order The Elusive Purple Gang by author Gregory Fournier. #purplegang #jailhouserock #alcapone

👉Subscribe to The Mitten Channel

Join us for the full experience. Subscribe to The Mitten Channel on Substack to receive our latest narrative essays, audio stories, and deep-dive reporting directly in your inbox.

Explore Our Series:

Radio Free Flint: Narrative storytelling and community perspectives on industrial resilience.
The Mitten Works: Essential history and analysis of labor and economic policy.
Flint Justice: Critical insights into the legal and institutional challenges facing our state.

Visit our Mitten Channel website for our complete library of podcasts, videos, and articles.

Visit our website at www.radiofreeflint.media to subscribe to our free newsletter to receive our latest episodes.

Transcript

WEBVTT

00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:32.240
The Purple Gang, also known as the Sugarhouse Gang, was a criminal mob of bootleggers and hijackers with predominantly Jewish members.

00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:42.079
They operated in Detroit, Michigan during the 1920s, that was of the Prohibition era, and came to be Detroit's dominant criminal gang.

00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:50.640
Excessive violence and infighting caused the gang to destroy itself in the 1930s, all this according to Wikipedia.

00:00:50.960 --> 00:01:02.560
In popular culture, although heavily fictionalized, the 1935 film Public Hero Number One deals with the hunting down and capturing of the Purple Gang.

00:01:03.359 --> 00:01:07.840
Jill House Rock by Elvis Presley mentions the Purple Gang.

00:01:08.079 --> 00:01:13.920
In the song You Can Hear, the whole rhythm section was the Purple Gang.

00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:22.319
In 1959, the film The Purple Gang was heavily fictionalized, including details of the gang's rise to prominence.

00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:35.840
In 1960, the second season episode of The Untouchables, simply titled The Purple Gang, provides a fictional account of the Purple Gang's kidnapping of a mobster courier.

00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:49.760
It's been rumored that the Purple Gang's illicit profits from the rackets in Detroit were funneled into building two of Las Vegas' casinos at the time, the Satellite and The Frontier.

00:01:50.000 --> 00:02:00.159
Ian Fleming refers to the Purple Gang in his James Bond novels Diamonds Are Forever, Goldfinger, and The Man with the Golden Gun.

00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:07.840
The Purple Gang was also referenced by Ross McDonald in his 1952 novel The Ivory Grin.

00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:21.120
Although he was gunned down in the first scene, Max Allen Collins identified the Roden as a Purple Gang torpedo in his novelization of the 1990 blockbuster film Dick Tracy.

00:02:21.759 --> 00:02:28.639
An episode of Detroit's 187 featured a man whose grandfather was a member of the gang.

00:02:28.800 --> 00:02:33.360
The Purple Gang began to terrorize Detroiters with executions of their enemies.

00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:40.800
Among their victims was the city police officer Vivian Welsh, killed on February 1st, 1927.

00:02:41.039 --> 00:02:46.800
He was later revealed to be a dirty cop who was reputedly trying to extort money from the Purple Gang.

00:02:46.879 --> 00:02:54.240
In 1931, an inter-gang dispute ended in the murder of these three purples by members of their own gang.

00:02:54.479 --> 00:03:05.520
Chicago gangsters who had been imported to Detroit to help out the Purple Gang had violated an underworld code by operating outside the territory allotted to them by the Purple Gang.

00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:17.199
Jaime Paul, Isidore Sutker, also known as Joe Sutger, and Joseph were lured to an apartment on Collingwood Avenue on September 16, 1931.

00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:21.599
They believed they were going for a peace conference with the Purple leaders.

00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:25.599
After a brief discussion, the three men were gunned down.

00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:36.479
Authorities caught up with the gang when they burst into Fletcher's apartment and found the suspects, Abe Axler, Irving Milberg, and Eddie Fletcher.

00:03:36.639 --> 00:03:51.759
From their rise to the top of Detroit's underworld to their ultimate demise, this is an episodic account of the Purple Gang's corrosive pursuit of power and wealth and their inevitable plunge towards self-destruction.

00:03:58.800 --> 00:03:59.039
Mr.

00:03:59.199 --> 00:04:08.719
Fournier is a top award author, and we're going to talk to him about his book, The Elusive Purple Gang, Detroit's Kosher Nostra.

00:04:08.879 --> 00:04:09.039
Mr.

00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:19.120
Fournier's book is an episodic account of the Purple Gang's corrosive pursuit of power and wealth and their inevitable plunge towards self-destruction.

00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:19.600
Mr.

00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:27.519
Fournier is born and raised in Trenton, Michigan, and he's now retired and living in San Diego.

00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:29.439
Good morning, uh Greg.

00:04:29.920 --> 00:04:31.279
Yeah, thanks for having me.

00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:32.720
Oh, it's my pleasure.

00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:38.959
Now, the name of your book, which you wrote about the Purple Gang, is The Elusive Purple Gang.

00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:43.040
And the subtitle is Detroit's Kosher Nostra.

00:04:43.120 --> 00:04:49.439
The keyword is elusive because so much of the historical record is obscured.

00:04:49.920 --> 00:04:57.439
It's mixed up with legend, and uh frankly, a lot of wishful thinking and faulty memories.

00:04:57.759 --> 00:05:06.399
So to uh write the book, I had to wade through hundreds of newspaper articles uh and every book I could find on the subject.

00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:10.160
And remarkably, there aren't uh that many.

00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:16.480
Uh and the the reigning expert uh for the purple gang is Paul Kafayev.

00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:21.279
And he wrote a couple of books and did a uh images of America photo book.

00:05:21.439 --> 00:05:28.879
So he's got three books out on the uh the purple gang, you know, and they're very good and documented uh uh properly.

00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:38.560
So I I wanted to write us a narrative story um and not a documented piece, uh, you know, some popular uh nonfiction.

00:05:38.800 --> 00:05:58.079
The average person could pick up not only uh be uh educated a little bit about about the uh the purple gang, but also to uh get a feel about who these these guys were because they uh that's where I'd like to start right there, who these guys were and how they got started.

00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:12.879
And in doing research for this uh interview, I learned that in uh 1916 there was an act called the Damon Act, which essentially prohibited alcohol prohibition act following year.

00:06:13.279 --> 00:06:32.160
The Purple Gang and the other gangs, uh the mafia gangs, had a two-year head start on prohibition and being right across the river, Detroit River, you can see the distilleries, yeah, it's only a mile, that they were ideally positioned to get on the ground floor for prohibition.

00:06:32.240 --> 00:06:43.279
And uh, you know, once they had that locked up, uh anybody who tried to to poach or you know muscle their way in on territory uh did so at their great peril.

00:06:43.600 --> 00:06:47.120
So the purple gang essentially was a rum-running gang.

00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:50.800
Well, they they uh eventually became that.

00:06:50.959 --> 00:07:09.279
They started out, you know, just street punks, pushcart, uh shoplifters uh in the uh eastern market area, which is where they're from, the Hastings Street area that later became famous for uh jazz uh music and you're talking about the city of Detroit.

00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:10.959
The city of Detroit, yeah.

00:07:11.120 --> 00:07:12.480
And that was when they were young.

00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:26.480
But they uh uh started as muscle men, uh went around and intimidated people to uh join the Cleaners and Dryers Association, uh which they uh run ran.

00:07:26.560 --> 00:07:29.839
Uh Abe Bernstein was one of three people who owned it.

00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:33.519
Uh from there they uh they got their name.

00:07:34.079 --> 00:07:48.800
And once they had the notoriety and they knew how to make some money, they did get into the protection rackets, the snatch racket, uh, which was kidnapping high-rolling uh gamblers and gangsters because it was relatively safe.

00:07:49.120 --> 00:08:03.759
Watch a guy, you'd pick him up, you'd put him in a house for two or three days, tie you know, tie him to a chair, and then uh after a while, you know, whatever the money was, uh the the arrangements would be made and the guy would go home, but he wouldn't go to the police.

00:08:04.240 --> 00:08:16.399
So it it was uh big moneymaker for the uh the purple gang, and of course their big, big moneymaker uh was prohibition, and they were in league with Al Capone.

00:08:16.560 --> 00:08:18.560
Right Capone was not a competitor.

00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:22.959
Now when you call him the kosher the kosher Nostra.

00:08:23.279 --> 00:08:29.040
Nostra, it's a play on words because Yep, because it means nothing if you really break it down.

00:08:29.279 --> 00:08:30.959
Well they're Jewish.

00:08:31.199 --> 00:08:37.440
All of uh ranking members uh were Jewish, and they they worked with anybody.

00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:46.000
They worked with Irish, uh they worked with the Italians, they worked uh the black community, especially in the numbers racket, where they also made a lot of money.

00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:49.120
Uh gambling was a big part of their operation too.

00:08:49.279 --> 00:08:51.679
So they they had two money sources.

00:08:51.840 --> 00:08:59.360
Two of the brothers ran uh the gambling pyre, and two of them uh ran the uh street operations.

00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:01.120
They dropped out of school.

00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:07.600
They were troublemakers, they got put into the ungraded, uh, which was essentially a crime college.

00:09:07.759 --> 00:09:14.720
And so all these uh guys, many of them, not all of them, but many of them quit school before they were eight years old.

00:09:14.799 --> 00:09:16.320
They could make money and they had to.

00:09:16.399 --> 00:09:18.799
They had big families, they were from immigrant families.

00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:24.240
Many of these gangs that start out, they start out as sort of scavenger gangs.

00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:34.720
They do they do crimes of opportunity, they roll somebody on the street or they you know, then they start getting the idea that they can be entrepreneurial.

00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:36.879
And they were businessmen.

00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:41.039
They became uh uh businessmen and they were very successful.

00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:45.519
How did they get this name and who who, if you know, gave it to them?

00:09:45.919 --> 00:10:05.039
Well, the the name has all sorts of stories uh about the derivation, and the one that is about 10 or 12 of them, young 20s, 21, 22, bunch of young guys, and they were the muscle for this cleaners and dyers operation.

00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:10.639
Well, they all got rounded up uh in a pickup police stations, and you know, you get their stories and so on.

00:10:10.720 --> 00:10:14.000
So uh some of the press are there and say, Who are these guys?

00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:24.639
And uh the inspector of the gang and bomb squad, his uh the name was Inspector Garvin, told the press, oh, they're Purple's gang.

00:10:24.879 --> 00:10:33.519
And there was this uh he had hired these guys, he was like their mentor and he gave them jobs and intimidate this person or that person.

00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:36.000
So they were connected with Sammy Purple.

00:10:36.320 --> 00:10:46.879
When Garvin said that, you know, the the newspaper people went home for the first time, they were named the Purple Gang, not Sammy's or Purple's gang.

00:10:47.039 --> 00:10:50.399
So the Purple Gang as a separate entity.

00:10:50.720 --> 00:10:53.600
Not to be cute, but the g the name was very colorful.

00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:57.519
Like I said, it was shorthand in the press and with the police.

00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:13.679
They became, in short order, the marquee gang in in Detroit, and the only Jewish gang that controlled the whole racket, the rackets for a whole city, denote influence.

00:11:14.159 --> 00:11:19.120
I did see some reference that this organization got involved in drugs.

00:11:19.519 --> 00:11:34.240
They do a little bit later on, and uh one of the Bernsteins in particular, Raymond Bernstein, if you'll see pictures of him, he's got dark, dark rings under his eyes, almost in everything you see.

00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:37.679
Although I haven't seen any direct documentation.

00:11:37.840 --> 00:11:42.639
I've been around enough junkies and people to know what the look is.

00:11:42.960 --> 00:11:44.799
You know, he had that that look.

00:11:44.879 --> 00:12:19.759
So I believe he was hooked on it, and his uh brother almost got shot to death by one of their one one of his own people who was a opium dealer and probably dealt with heroin too, but you know, opium uh uh smoking opium was is that well they did, and uh most of them uh two of the brothers got involved uh with the fisticuffs pretty well and uh uh were bullies and beat up uh people, uh Ray Bernstein, um and Joe Bernstein.

00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:30.639
But Joe took a bullet in the gut from a an opium dealer, almost died, so he took a step back from the business, uh the street end of the business.

00:12:30.799 --> 00:12:49.759
Uh but he was the most entrepreneurially, that's a long word, gifted of the brothers, and uh he was the real businessman, and he was involved in some interesting things in uh the Clare Mount Pleasant area, uh oil leases and whatnot.

00:12:49.840 --> 00:12:53.440
This was after the gang imploded in 1933.

00:12:53.679 --> 00:13:00.480
By 1935, they they were gang uh former Purple gang members, but the gang had imploded.

00:13:00.720 --> 00:13:06.000
Yeah, they they engaged in what some historians have referred to as the bootleg wars.

00:13:06.159 --> 00:13:06.320
Yeah.

00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:08.799
That would be Michigan bootleg wars.

00:13:08.879 --> 00:13:11.039
I don't know if that happened nationally, I assume it did.

00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:23.600
Well, there's a there in 1930, I believe it was, maybe 31, when there were two mafia factions, uh they called it the Italian crosstown, I believe was the label.

00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:36.879
Over 30 people, uh mostly uh Italians, but a couple of purple gang people that got shot in that uh uh bloodiest of periods in the whole gangland, uh Detroit gangland era.

00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:40.879
Thirty people died within uh under 10 months.

00:13:41.120 --> 00:13:46.320
The result of that was there was an east side mafia and a west side mafia.

00:13:46.480 --> 00:13:48.960
Well, the east siders were kind of modern.

00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:51.440
They didn't care who they worked with if you could make them money.

00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:54.399
Again, you're referencing Detroit, the city of Detroit.

00:13:54.879 --> 00:13:56.399
East side and the west side of Detroit.

00:13:56.480 --> 00:13:56.639
Okay.

00:13:56.960 --> 00:13:57.440
Yeah, yeah.

00:13:57.519 --> 00:14:03.440
And the west side was uh run by uh uh uh people in uh Wynat, Michigan.

00:14:03.679 --> 00:14:38.720
Gang war took place, and the result is uh what became the modern mafia of Detroit, which was called the and what happened is the the new bloods killed out what they called the the mustache Pete, the old guard, the old Sicilian mafia, consolidated their power, and by that time the Purple Gang had imploded, and Abe Bernstein, the for the gang, cut a great deal, gave most of the rackets to the mafia, his numbers uh racket out of the book Cadillac Hotel.

00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:44.320
He had a an office on the mezzanine, and you know it was an open secret.

00:14:45.120 --> 00:14:47.679
But he had the protection of the mafia.

00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:58.799
Some historians have said as many as 500 people were killed during this bootleg war, which they claim they claim was attributed to the uh purple gang.

00:14:58.960 --> 00:15:02.399
Now, I don't know if that involved fights with the mafia or not.

00:15:02.480 --> 00:15:03.039
I'm not sure.

00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:10.000
But uh, I think uh that that number is inflated, and you know, you worked on the side of the the law.

00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:19.440
The police often will inflate their numbers of arrests or this and that, you know, for the for uh press reasons, it seems.

00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:24.960
The purple gang just in in the that's when they they were in control, yeah.

00:15:25.120 --> 00:15:41.919
Part of the reason that they rose uh so quickly was of course intimidation, but they cut a deal with Al Capone, Canadian whiskey, and in particular a brand that was made in uh Quebec called Old Log Cabin.

00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:46.720
You know, it had I think a hundred-proof, and there were a lot of old log cabin knockoffs.

00:15:46.879 --> 00:15:53.279
He got the good stuff from the Purple Gang uncut, and the Purple Gang cut most of their liquor.

00:15:53.440 --> 00:15:56.080
Quite a few liquor cutting plants in town around.

00:15:56.480 --> 00:15:59.679
Al Capone, of course, was a mobster in Chicago.

00:15:59.919 --> 00:16:00.320
Yes.

00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:12.000
This pipeline between Detroit and Chicago was to funnel what the Purple Gang's regional competitive advantage was, which was access to the Canadian liquor market.

00:16:12.320 --> 00:16:22.000
There were two ends of that unlimited supply from Canada and unlimited demand in the Midwest, Chicago, Kansas City.

00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:25.840
You know, they weren't on the river, they couldn't see the distilleries.

00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:41.440
They had to have a pipeline, and it was Al Capone, uh the Chicago organization, I guess what they called it, uh took all of the purple gang liquor and distributed it through much of the greater Midwest.

00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:43.840
The demand was greater than the supply.

00:16:44.159 --> 00:16:54.000
So Al Capone and the rest of his his henchmen, they were right they were frequent and regular visitors to Michigan and including mid-Michigan.

00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:55.759
Yes, yes.

00:16:56.080 --> 00:16:57.440
Uh uh hideout.

00:16:58.000 --> 00:16:59.279
Tell us about that.

00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:00.559
What do you know about it?

00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:08.960
I don't know the lake, but there is a lake just south of East Lansing, or Lan you know, Lansing, the state capital.

00:17:09.839 --> 00:17:16.319
Apparently uh it was an enclave for Italians in the area.

00:17:16.480 --> 00:17:24.559
And Italians back in those days, uh a lot of uh uh respectable white people did not want to hang out with Italians.

00:17:24.720 --> 00:17:38.240
So uh they had this lake uh area, and Al Capone apparently uh and his gang owned a pretty uh nice stretch of beach property there all under the table, under the radar.

00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:42.559
If he had to get out of town and hide out somewhere, he would go there.

00:17:42.640 --> 00:17:44.240
And and he did that quite often.

00:17:44.400 --> 00:17:51.119
If he was gonna be in Michigan, and he also did some uh independent deals with uh the Canadians.

00:17:51.359 --> 00:17:56.160
So if he had to be in the area, he didn't be want to be right in Detroit.

00:17:56.400 --> 00:17:57.920
Somebody would knock him off.

00:17:58.160 --> 00:18:03.359
He was not Sicilian, he he was not a Sicilian mafia guy.

00:18:03.519 --> 00:18:08.720
Uh so Al Capone was also seen in places like Lupton, Michigan.

00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:19.759
He was uh seen in places like uh the old uh Grousehaven, which many in Michigan would re would know who are campers, the Rifle River Recreation Area.

00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:25.680
What what if any history do you know about the Purple Gang and their activities in um mid-Michigan?

00:18:25.839 --> 00:18:32.160
That would include Clare as well as well as uh Ross Common and Ogomaw counties.

00:18:32.559 --> 00:18:44.720
Mike, uh one armed uh Gelfend had the Graceland Ballroom built in 1933, completed in 1933 in Rose Township on the Rifle River.

00:18:44.960 --> 00:18:51.920
One armed Mike, how he got his name, I I spent a good hour trying to figure that out yesterday.

00:18:52.319 --> 00:18:55.119
Nobody knows, but I'm gonna float a theory.

00:18:55.279 --> 00:19:00.400
Uh he probably lost his arm in World War One uh as a veteran.

00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:10.799
He was uh uh a bootlegger and uh owned uh uh some bars uh you know associated with the Purple Gang.

00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:20.720
And uh so he figured, hey, I'm gonna build this not only Purple Gang, but other gangsters who are on the lamb uh uh from the police.

00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:23.680
And so um they had this uh thing built.

00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:30.160
And what I found out was interesting is that Mike Gelfin's sister acquired the land.

00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:34.640
It doesn't say inherited, but acquired the land quite a few acres.

00:19:34.799 --> 00:19:36.799
It was thirty or forty acres.

00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:42.880
And he paid his sister one dollar for the land.

00:19:43.279 --> 00:19:51.839
Talk about a uh a a real estate bargain, but that's how it came to be Lupton and not West Branch or somewhere else.

00:19:52.240 --> 00:19:59.759
He had uh ready access uh to the land, had uh plans, him and his wife had plans drawn up and they built it.

00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:09.279
Ballroom that was really for uh the locals and and then guests from uh Detroit.

00:20:09.599 --> 00:20:11.359
Interesting, interesting place.

00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:14.559
Apparently a couple shootouts are in there.

00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:24.079
Uh there uh are supposed to be some bullet holes uh yeah in the walls and in the ceilings, uh you know, a lot of it's anecdotal.

00:20:24.240 --> 00:20:33.119
Uh but uh Gelfin got out of the business in 37, only four years was was he uh uh you know an owner of it.

00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:43.839
I found and uh I didn't see the documentation, but apparently uh rumor has it that uh the lumber used to build that place was never paid for.

00:20:44.079 --> 00:20:53.920
A one-armed guy is not as intimidating as maybe a bunch of young purple gang uh guys coming in there because of the lumber business and so on.

00:20:54.240 --> 00:21:00.079
So Graceland Ballroom uh continued on uh long past the 30th.

00:21:00.319 --> 00:21:00.960
Yes, it did.

00:21:01.279 --> 00:21:08.640
37 was when Golfin got out of the business, and uh my uh source says it burned down in 1981.

00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:20.480
So not again, that's not too far from the Rifle River Recreation Area State Park, which is formerly called Grousehaven, which was owned by the Dodge family.

00:21:20.799 --> 00:21:32.079
Some houses that were built by Harry Jewett, who was connected to this family as the founder of Grousehaven hunting camp for these Dodge boys.

00:21:32.319 --> 00:21:35.519
And that would be entirely consistent with what you've described.

00:21:35.680 --> 00:21:40.799
Uh, this one hour Mike who started this hangout where the purple gang was notorious.

00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:44.640
Tell us about this place called the South Branch Ranch.

00:21:45.039 --> 00:21:53.359
Place they had an airport, they uh uh had buildings that were huge, and they could do all kinds of uh they had an Olympic pool.

00:21:53.519 --> 00:22:02.559
Yeah, it was incredible, an incredible, uh uh almost like a sports uh complex uh that you find in a lot of cities today.

00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:20.720
What I learned about this purple game is that they somehow bought this South Branch Ranch, which was actually started and developed by Willie Durant, who those who are listening from Flint will know that's the William Durant that's the guy that started General Motors.

00:22:21.039 --> 00:22:23.359
Durant built this large ranch.

00:22:23.599 --> 00:22:33.119
It was known that the Purple Gang used to hang out there and hide, hide out there, as well as in the modern era, Jimmy Hoffa.

00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:38.960
And the local legend goes it that Jimmy Hoffa may be found out there if you want to dig in enough sand dunes.

00:22:39.119 --> 00:22:45.519
Now, I heard that they would meet and hide out in Albion, Michigan, which is about halfway to Chicago.

00:22:45.839 --> 00:22:48.640
Albion is a whole other uh case.

00:22:49.039 --> 00:22:56.559
There were three uh Fleischer brothers who were all Purple Gang members.

00:22:56.799 --> 00:23:16.240
After the gang imploded, they went out to the w, you know, west side of the state, Albion, had a a number of uh concerns there, but they bought a junkyard on the edge of town, and ostensibly uh they were in the scrap metal business uh reclaiming autos, blah, blah.

00:23:16.319 --> 00:23:32.000
Uh but really the place was their headquarters uh because they had a uh burglary uh crew, and uh they they bought a um a Graham Page automobile.

00:23:32.319 --> 00:23:34.319
Most people never heard of that.

00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:39.039
It was had a wider wheelbase than anything else that was out there.

00:23:39.599 --> 00:23:53.759
It had a V8 engine that was a screaming engine, and what they did is they put uh on one side of it uh double doors that opened out this way, like like uh a van in the back might do with two doors.

00:23:53.920 --> 00:23:55.200
Well, they had it on the side.

00:23:55.359 --> 00:24:29.920
Underneath the chassis, they welded out a ramp that they could roll down, and what they would do is they would steal safes and they go into a business, they you know, rob it, and there were they were very successful throughout uh Jackson and all that whole area, and uh roll get to say uh safe bang, get in and out, take it to this junkyard, and then they get in there with their torches or you know, whatever the they had to open it, and uh you can bet they opened it up.

00:24:30.079 --> 00:24:40.079
Now they got uh into a uh uh an altercation with the police, and there were some bullet holes in the car across the street from the junkyard.

00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:41.039
There's a big barn.

00:24:41.279 --> 00:24:43.359
I don't know if they owned that too.

00:24:43.519 --> 00:24:48.799
Uh they put the car in there, thinking, well, who's gonna come around and see it?

00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:49.680
It's safe.

00:24:49.920 --> 00:24:54.960
Well, a local comes through and then they called the FBI, and then there was a big bust.

00:24:55.039 --> 00:24:58.319
And there's a picture of the car and all the police standing around.

00:24:58.720 --> 00:25:00.480
It's quite an interesting story.

00:25:00.720 --> 00:25:04.640
That was uh three brothers, Harry, Harry Fleischer.

00:25:04.960 --> 00:25:13.039
Well, Harry uh was uh one of the big time purple gang people up in the gang, didn't think much, his younger brothers.

00:25:13.119 --> 00:25:17.279
You know, he's he didn't want them tagging along with him.

00:25:17.359 --> 00:25:18.799
So Harry was the tough guy.

00:25:19.039 --> 00:25:35.680
Later on in that area, uh, between Adrian and and Lansing, uh a few years later, again, the Purple Gang is defunct, but all these guys are former Purple Gang members and gets in the press, the Purple Gang.

00:25:35.759 --> 00:25:39.599
They killed a senator, yeah, and then they ended up going to prison for it.

00:25:39.920 --> 00:25:41.599
A senator, a state senator?

00:25:41.920 --> 00:25:43.440
A state senator, yeah.

00:25:43.599 --> 00:25:55.680
Uh he was uh going to pass some legislation or or uh veto something that the mob gambling people wanted.

00:25:55.920 --> 00:26:01.759
And uh he was the deciding vote, and they just went out and uh and nailed this guy.

00:26:01.839 --> 00:26:03.599
Uh, you know, he's a state senator.

00:26:03.759 --> 00:26:15.839
And when that happened, the whole state, all the police, everybody, they had to get these guys, and they did, and uh, and they did uh a lot of time in Jackson uh and also in Marquette Branch Prison.

00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:17.680
All their rival gangs.

00:26:18.079 --> 00:26:18.960
That's true.

00:26:19.119 --> 00:26:32.480
And there was uh one hothead who felt he got cheated in a deal, and he said, you know, I'm gonna come over here and I'm uh you know, I'm gonna get my money, and uh he he did go over there, wherever that was.

00:26:32.640 --> 00:26:38.079
All he got was uh payment in lead, and then he was dropped off and uh dead in the street.

00:26:38.400 --> 00:26:53.519
No, the the implosion of the purple gang and and that started uh major money makers for the ma for the the purples, so that had to be answered, and uh there were lots lots of uh instances.

00:26:54.079 --> 00:27:02.400
There was retaliation for that death, and I understand that there were three people and all killed in this indoor gang rivalry over territory.

00:27:02.720 --> 00:27:03.920
Oh, yeah, yeah.

00:27:04.079 --> 00:27:12.160
And there were uh Eddie Fletcher, they called him the Siamese twins because they were in a purple game, but they they were always together.

00:27:12.319 --> 00:27:18.240
They ended up uh trying to get a piece of the action after they got out of prison.

00:27:18.480 --> 00:27:20.400
Abe Axler was one of the guys.

00:27:20.640 --> 00:27:23.200
So to wind up here, what do you think their legacy is?

00:27:23.519 --> 00:27:29.599
Uh they don't have much of a legacy, they have a reputation and there's a lot of folklore.

00:27:29.759 --> 00:27:35.359
They were a one-generation gang, so they didn't really have much of a legacy.

00:27:35.519 --> 00:27:37.920
And when they imploded, that was the end.

00:27:38.079 --> 00:27:40.240
It was a one-generational gang.

00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:55.839
History remembers them uh basically as brutal thugs, businessmen who were even were outlaws among their own community and with their families because they're they did the families didn't like it.

00:27:56.000 --> 00:28:10.559
By the time the game gang imploded, the mafia was the big game in town, and all the interest uh went with them, and they did have a multi-generational uh tradition in the Italian gangs.

00:28:10.799 --> 00:28:15.599
Greg Fournier, thank you for being my guest today on uh Radio Free Flint.

Kosher Nostra: The Purple Gang and Prohibition-Era Detroit

Listen On

Featured Episodes

Recent Episodes

Society and Culture: Radio Free Flint Our Podcasts

Society and Culture: Biography and Personal Stories Our Podcasts

Browse episodes by category

Spotlight on Popular Podcast Episodes