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Detroit's Purple Gang...
Detroit's Purple Gang...
Item # 710093
March 29, 1927
THE DETROIT FREE PRESS, March 29, 1927
* The Purple Gang - Jewish gangsters - Jews
* Criminal mob of bootleggers - hijackers
* Milaflores Massacre - shootings - murders
* 1st use of "Tommy gun" in Detroit underworld
The top of the front page has a one column heading: "WAR DECLARED BY GAMBLERS, ASSERTS POLICE" with subheads. (see images) Great to have in this Detroit publication, very rare as such.
Complete with 28 pages, light toning and a little wear at the margins, generally in good condition.
wikipedia notes: A Detroit Mob War began between the Italian, Irish, and Jewish bootleggers over territory. The Purples fought a vicious turf war with the Licavoli Squad led by the brothers Tommy and Pete Licavoli. In March 1927, three men were killed. The deceased men had been brought into Detroit as hired assassins for the Purple Gang and the motive for the murder was believed to be retaliation for a "double cross". The homicides took place in an apartment leased by Purple Gang members Eddie Fletcher and Abe Axler (and reportedly Fred Burke, an associate of the Purples originally connected to the Egan's Rats gang of St. Louis), which made them prime suspects in the slaying. The three suspects (Fletcher, Axler, and Burke) were questioned, as were the other Purples and associates. No one was ever convicted of the murders. These murders were reportedly the first use of a submachine gun in a Detroit underworld slaying.
Category: The 20th Century
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