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The Purple Gang: Organized Crime in Detroit 1910-1945
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.
214 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
September 19, 2019
Really interesting information, but the book could have used another review by an editor before publishing.
August 18, 2020
As a Detroit native, this was an interesting subject to me. Unfortunately, this book isn't very well organized and the writing is bland. It's a quick read and will give you an idea of how crazy a place Detroit is, and has always been.
I see that another reviewer recommends Off Color: The Violent History of Detroit's Notorious Purple Gang by Daniel Waugh. I haven't read that book, but I'll be thinking about checking it out.
I see that another reviewer recommends Off Color: The Violent History of Detroit's Notorious Purple Gang by Daniel Waugh. I haven't read that book, but I'll be thinking about checking it out.
July 27, 2008
This is a brief, but excellent snapshot at the notorious Prohibition Era Detroit gang. It is also richly illustrated.
February 5, 2009
This book contains more typographical errors than any book I have ever read. It was shocking in that respect, but not in the expected way.
June 24, 2021
Author Paul R. Kavieff is here to tell you everything you might want to know about the Purple Gang, the ruthless gang that ruled the Detroit underworld from the late 1910s through Prohibition. For instance, did you know the Gang gets a shout-out from Elvis Presley in Leiber & Stoller’s hit Jailhouse Rock (“The whole rhythm section was the Purple Gang, let’s rock…“). More importantly, did you care?
The flyleaf touts Kavieff as a historian, and I assume from his few subsequent works and from some of the photo attributions – “from the author’s collection” – that this era and this milieu are his areas of specialty. As a compendium of his collected research, this book is probably very good. I have to say “probably”, because the bibliography of source material at the end is extensive, but there are no footnotes and no chapter notes, so you’re out of luck if you want to cross-check names, dates, or anything else.
As a casual reader, I can give the author the benefit of the doubt on that issue. Unfortunately, I felt the book had other shortcomings. One, it was hard to keep all the gangsters straight. This was in part because they all grew up in the same time and place, many of them went to the early 20th century equivalent of grade school together, and the gang even included several sets of brothers. It made them seem interchangeable.
Two, there wasn’t a strong, single through-line to follow from the beginning to the end, other than “gangsters, bad”, so overall it felt very disjointed. It could be that the facts didn’t lend themselves to that, or it could be that a stronger writer might have been able to coax one out. Or possibly this ties into my last point.
Most egregiously, I thought the book was poorly organized. Instead of carrying a flowing narrative from the early days to the end of their reign, Kavieff instead breaks the book up into chapters that mostly focus on major crimes committed by “The Purples” (as they were commonly called). These chapters, and the events described therein, occur somewhat in chronological order, but there’s some overlap, there’s much repetition from chapter to chapter, and there’s a lot of counter-intuitive backtracking. Major characters disappear if they weren’t involved in a particular crime, while new players are introduced in later chapters even if they had backstory that could have been relevant earlier on. To me, this choice made The Purple Gang read more like a series of interesting and only tangentially-related articles, rather than a cohesive book.
I give the author mad props for bringing what seems like a passion project to fruition and getting it published. I’d give this two-and-a-half stars if I could, but I must round down to the obligatory even number required by Goodreads. Maybe I would have liked it more, had I not read it at the tail-end of a twelve month span in which I also finished Say Nothing and The Ghosts of Eden Park, both of which were excellent true crime books.
The flyleaf touts Kavieff as a historian, and I assume from his few subsequent works and from some of the photo attributions – “from the author’s collection” – that this era and this milieu are his areas of specialty. As a compendium of his collected research, this book is probably very good. I have to say “probably”, because the bibliography of source material at the end is extensive, but there are no footnotes and no chapter notes, so you’re out of luck if you want to cross-check names, dates, or anything else.
As a casual reader, I can give the author the benefit of the doubt on that issue. Unfortunately, I felt the book had other shortcomings. One, it was hard to keep all the gangsters straight. This was in part because they all grew up in the same time and place, many of them went to the early 20th century equivalent of grade school together, and the gang even included several sets of brothers. It made them seem interchangeable.
Two, there wasn’t a strong, single through-line to follow from the beginning to the end, other than “gangsters, bad”, so overall it felt very disjointed. It could be that the facts didn’t lend themselves to that, or it could be that a stronger writer might have been able to coax one out. Or possibly this ties into my last point.
Most egregiously, I thought the book was poorly organized. Instead of carrying a flowing narrative from the early days to the end of their reign, Kavieff instead breaks the book up into chapters that mostly focus on major crimes committed by “The Purples” (as they were commonly called). These chapters, and the events described therein, occur somewhat in chronological order, but there’s some overlap, there’s much repetition from chapter to chapter, and there’s a lot of counter-intuitive backtracking. Major characters disappear if they weren’t involved in a particular crime, while new players are introduced in later chapters even if they had backstory that could have been relevant earlier on. To me, this choice made The Purple Gang read more like a series of interesting and only tangentially-related articles, rather than a cohesive book.
I give the author mad props for bringing what seems like a passion project to fruition and getting it published. I’d give this two-and-a-half stars if I could, but I must round down to the obligatory even number required by Goodreads. Maybe I would have liked it more, had I not read it at the tail-end of a twelve month span in which I also finished Say Nothing and The Ghosts of Eden Park, both of which were excellent true crime books.
December 12, 2020
I understand the difficulty of writing a book based on sources that are intended to keep quiet. That being said, you can't claim to have "the history of the Purple Gang" that has the downfall beginning 40% in. You can tell this was written by someone who has a lot of knowledge and interest in the mob but isn't necessarily a writer. That, plus the grammatical mistakes scattered around don't help this 205 page read become easier.
April 8, 2023
An interesting overview of a segment of organized crime in primarily Detroit.
This was an easy read, although a bit wordy in places as well as repetitive paragraphs. Verbage is augmented by added photograph section to put faces to names.
I found this a not only interesting and informative book. Many familiar Detroit names.
Agree with previous reviews. Readers from Detroit may notice minor errors. An example is Clare Michigan spelled Claire.
I do recommend this read.
This was an easy read, although a bit wordy in places as well as repetitive paragraphs. Verbage is augmented by added photograph section to put faces to names.
I found this a not only interesting and informative book. Many familiar Detroit names.
Agree with previous reviews. Readers from Detroit may notice minor errors. An example is Clare Michigan spelled Claire.
I do recommend this read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 28, 2023
Good book to wet your beak on purple gang in Detroit. I found myself doing a lot of additional research while reading and after finishing the book, but I think that’s the beauty of a single book. There is always another story.
Met the author, Paul, picking up dinner a few months ago. It was awesome to discuss my learnings from the book and connect some personal research to it, and he was just as interested in listening.
Met the author, Paul, picking up dinner a few months ago. It was awesome to discuss my learnings from the book and connect some personal research to it, and he was just as interested in listening.
April 5, 2018
A lot of names to try to keep up with but nicely done. Presents the story of the Purple Gang that rules Detroit in the 1920s and 1930s. Covers from early days and how they got started until their ultimate demise as the eventually were killed, jailed, or went into hiding. Interesting read for a glimpse of how the mob operated in Detroit.
March 1, 2025
I really enjoyed learning about the gang culture in Detroit. As someone from New York I know a lot about the Italians and prohibition in that area. It’s always good to learn more about the same period in a diff area of the world.
April 2, 2025
Very informational, but at the same time slightly hard to follow because of the time jumps. One chapter you are reading about events that happened in 1940 and the next chapter will be something in the 1920's.
Well researched and written in a style easy to comprehend.
Well researched and written in a style easy to comprehend.
May 13, 2019
Just a terrible book. I think it could’ve been a lot better if someone else has written it.
February 19, 2020
A good introduction to the purple gang, but the research is lacking. For more information about the purples and it’s members, check out “Off Color” by Daniel Waugh.
November 10, 2020
Very interesting read.
May 4, 2021
As others have noted, this is not a well-written book, but serves at least as a decent pop-historical account of some interesting events in Detroit's past.
November 6, 2023
Eye opening
Read
May 4, 2025Finished 8-28-24
May 28, 2012
I had high hopes for this book. This is not only an era and I group I needed to research, but there's a bit of a family connection to the Purples. So I picked this up eagerly, excited to find out more. Then I set it down and had to remind myself to pick it up again.
I wasn't a failure of the writing, but of the organization of the material. Had it been written chronologically, watching the boys go from reform school friends to full-on killers could have been a riveting tale. Instead, he uses a different major crime as the catalyst for each chapter. This leads to a lot of repetition. And I kept losing track of the actual gang members.
This is more of an overview than an in-depth study. If that's all you need, then this is your book.
I wasn't a failure of the writing, but of the organization of the material. Had it been written chronologically, watching the boys go from reform school friends to full-on killers could have been a riveting tale. Instead, he uses a different major crime as the catalyst for each chapter. This leads to a lot of repetition. And I kept losing track of the actual gang members.
This is more of an overview than an in-depth study. If that's all you need, then this is your book.
August 6, 2016
I really enjoyed this book, mainly because I had previously thought of Chicago and New York as the centers of organized crime, but Detroit was quite nasty also. The Purple Gang was different in that instead of adhering to a Sicilian code, these gang members were mostly Eastern European offspring with a specialty for bootlegging Canadian whiskey during the Prohibition Era.
The gang eventually self-destructed, wiping each other out as the more powerful Mafia took a wider hold across the country. The history, however, is fascinating. These were some very bad dudes who would probably scare gangs of the current century. The pictures are outstanding, showing the aftermath of contract hits and also prison mug shots.
Book Season = Autumn (the season to be very scared)
The gang eventually self-destructed, wiping each other out as the more powerful Mafia took a wider hold across the country. The history, however, is fascinating. These were some very bad dudes who would probably scare gangs of the current century. The pictures are outstanding, showing the aftermath of contract hits and also prison mug shots.
Book Season = Autumn (the season to be very scared)
July 19, 2013
I've been fascinated with organized crime, primarily during the prohibition era, and primarily with Chicago. I was interested to learn about the role of the Purple Gang in this era and its connections to Chicago organized crime. This book provided a lot of information that was new to me. I did find it somewhat difficult to read in the way that there were so many loosely knit characters, but that was the nature of the gang itself. Anyway, if you're an organized crime buff, this should definitely be on your reading list.
June 9, 2013
I'm a Detroit native and current Hamtramck resident. My great-grandfather was in the Purple Gang; my family won't tell me any more than that. So although the subject matter is fascinating to me, I had to deduct at least one star because this book is so poorly edited.
September 13, 2012
Very interesting story, but this book is poorly written.
April 4, 2013
Interesting from a historical perspective, especially if the reader is from the Detroit area.
January 25, 2014
bugger all spelling errors and a very well written and in depth book. thoroughly enjoyed this great read.
January 3, 2020
Terrible and not well written. This book is great for research on the Purple Gang, but not a book I’d tell anyone to read. Very long winded with poor editing and repeated information.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews