When witnesses in Detroit refused to testify against members of the Purple Gang, the criminal organization appeared untouchable. For years, the group operated with what seemed like absolute immunity from police interference, controlling the city’s vice, gambling, liquor, and drug trades. But by the 1930s, the gang’s own arrogance, internal resentments, and bloody infighting began to tear it apart from within. The Purple Gang was largely made up of American-born children of Jewish immigrants who had arrived in Detroit during the great wave of migration from Russia and Poland between 1881 and 1914.
Many of the core members had attended the Bishop School in Detroit, where they were assigned to a division for problem children. The gang was led by four brothers from New York City—Abe, Joe, Raymond, and Izzy Bernstein—who had relocated to Detroit and rose through the ranks under the guidance of more experienced neighborhood criminals like Charles Leiter and Henry Shore. The group quickly advanced from petty theft and extortion to armed robbery and truck hijacking. They became known for their brutality and often brought in outside muscle from other cities.
Several theories exist about how the gang got its name, with some claiming it came from a member who was a boxer wearing purple shorts, while others say local shopkeepers gave them the nickname. Regardless, they built a reputation as hijackers who preyed on the alcohol cargos of more established criminal organizations. The gang’s most lucrative enterprise involved smuggling Canadian whiskey into the United States. Al Capone, the Chicago gangster, chose not to expand his operations into Detroit and instead formed a business arrangement with the Purple Gang to avoid a bloody conflict.
For several years, the gang successfully supplied Canadian whiskey to Capone’s organization. They also engaged in other illegal activities, including kidnapping rival gang members for ransom, and the FBI even suspected them of involvement in the Lindbergh baby kidnapping. By the late 1920s, the Purple Gang ruled the Detroit underworld with complete control over the city’s vice, gambling, liquor, and drug trades. They also ran the neighborhood wire service that informed local bookmakers about horse races.
Their influence expanded beyond Detroit, and in his later years, Abe Bernstein co-owned several casinos in Miami, Florida, with friends Meyer Lansky and Joe Adonis. The gang also took over prize fight movies, forced theaters to overcharge for showings, defrauded insurance companies, and hired themselves out as hitmen. The gang’s power grew during the Cleaners and Dyers War, a violent conflict over territory in Detroit’s laundry industry. They were employed to intimidate independent non-union workers and maintain order among union members.
Harry Rossman, the president and owner of Famous Cleaners and Dyers in Detroit, rose to prominence as the main witness who testified against the gang during this occasionally violent conflict. According to Rossman’s testimony, the Purple Gang demanded one thousand dollars per week from his company and others in the neighborhood for protection against violence. In 1927, nine Purple Gang members were detained after being accused of plotting to extort money from Detroit wholesale cleaners and dyers. They were later cleared of all charges after a trial that lasted from 1928 to 1929.
The territorial conflict between Italian, Irish, and Jewish bootleggers quickly turned into a full-scale Detroit mob war. The Licavoli Valley Squad, led by the brothers Tommy and Piggly Licavoli, engaged in a vicious turf war with the Purples. March 1927 saw the deaths of three men who had been brought to Detroit as hired assassins for the Purple Gang. The killings were thought to have been committed in retaliation for a double cross.
Eddie Fletcher and Abe Axler, members of the Purple Gang, were the primary suspects because the assassins were found dead in an apartment they had rented. The victims were killed in apartment 308 of the Mila Flores Apartments. The suspects were interrogated along with other gang members and associates, but no one was ever convicted of the crimes. The Purple Gang was also thought to have been involved in the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre in Chicago.
A hijacked load of alcohol was reportedly traveling to Chicago on February 13, 1929, when Abe Bernstein allegedly called Bugs Moran to inform him of the situation. Moran, who was engaged in a turf war with Capone, had only recently started to trust Bernstein, who had previously served as Capone’s principal Canadian liquor supplier. The following day, seven men were killed when four men, two of whom were wearing police uniforms, entered a garage on North Clark Street and opened fire with Thompson submachine guns. The gang’s internal conflicts eventually led to murder.
In 1931, an intragang dispute ended in the deaths of three Purples killed by Chicago gangsters who had been imported to Detroit to help out. The three men had broken an underworld rule by working outside the area designated for them by the Purple Gang leadership. On September 16, 1931, Joseph Lebowitz, Herman Paul, and Isidore Sutker were persuaded to enter an apartment on Collingwood Avenue, believing they were attending a peace summit with the Purple leaders. After a brief conversation, they were shot dead in what became known as the Collingwood Manor Massacre.
Police caught the gang when they barged into Fletcher’s apartment and discovered the suspects playing cards. Three high-ranking Purples—Irving Milberg, Harry Kiewel, and Raymond Bernstein—were found guilty of first-degree murder and received life sentences. Another suspect, Harry Fleischer, evaded capture until 1932 but was never found guilty in connection with the massacre. Over time, the Purple Gang allegedly grew sloppier and more brazen.
They were well known to the general public, dressed garishly, and frequented the city’s nightclubs. Their romantic aura set them apart from other Detroit gangs because they resided in posh homes, but resentments, egos, and disputes among members led to their downfall. Police eventually took action as gang members started leaving too much physical proof of their crimes. Joe Bernstein and Abe Bernstein both received lengthy prison sentences after previously avoiding significant jail time through coercion and corrupt officials.
Philip Keywell had already been found guilty of murder. Abe Axler and Eddie Fletcher, two aggressive senior members, were shot dead as different waves of bloodier infighting followed. Henry Shore, a former partial boss, was also eliminated. Some gang members fled Detroit, while others were killed by fellow gang members or rival gangsters, and several more ended up in prison.
Eventually, a rival Sicilian gang decided to take out the Purples because they were tired of fighting with them. Detroit’s modern-day Mafia stepped in and filled the void as the Purple Gang ultimately self-destructed.