The Purple Gang: Organized Crime in Detroit, 1910-1945 by Paul R. Kavieff Read Free Book Online

Wright, all local gangsters.
    Both
Reisfield and Harrison were killed instantly. Frank Wright was still
barely alive when police arrived. Wright and the two bodies were
taken to the hospital, where attendants would comment that the bodies
had so many bullet holes in them it was impossible to distinguish
wounds.
    The
machine gun incident was without precedent. It predated the days when
machine guns were almost a symbol of the underworld, the gangster's
weapon of choice. It had not been illegal to own a machine gun in
Michigan until the Massacre, but legislation was soon passed making
ownership a crime.
    Soon
after the murder of Johnny Reid, it was rumored that one of the
Milaflore victims, Frank Wright, had been hired to kill Johnny Reid.
Whether or not Wright's contractor was Mike Dipisa is open to
speculation. Typically a hired gunmen was used in order to come in
for one day, complete his contract, and leave the state to keep local
police from solving the murder.
    Wright
had arrived in Detroit from Chicago in October of 1926, and, after
killing Johnny Reid, stayed on. This was his first mistake. He made
his services available to local gambling houses as a guard and
gunman, where he met befriended fellow victims Isaac
    Reisfield
and William Harrison, that was their first
mistake.
    Frank
was shaking down local gamblers for protection money. He probably
preyed on gamblers protected by Purple Gangsters. This indiscretion
as well as the murder of Johnny Reid, would easily have brought on
the massacre.
    The
Purples devised a scheme to lure Frankie Wright to his death.
Reisfield and Harrison merely went along to Milaflores that morning,
and were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Purples knew
Wright's recently kidnapped business associate Meyer Bloomfield, was
also a close friend and figured he'd be willing to meet with the
kidnappers.
    With
his last breath, Frank Wright told everything. On the morning of
March 28th, he received a phone call in his room at the Book Cadillac
Hotel. His friend was being held in room 308 of the Milaflores
Apartments and if he came to this address he could negotiate for his
release.
    Reisfield
and Harrison heard Wright take the call and suspected a trap. They
drove to Milaflores armed. When they arrived Wright rapped on the
door to no answer.
    As
the three men turned to leave, the fire door at the end of the
hallway burst open and erupted with gunfire. The ambush happened so
fast that none of the men had a chance to pull their pistols.
    Detroit
homicide investigators would later trace Apartment 308 in the
Milaflores complex to a Purple gangster. The crime scene unit found
an arsenal of 12 pistols, dumdum bullets, three shotguns and
blackjacks. Items found in apartment 308 made it look like any number
of people used the place.
    When
shown a wanted poster found in the the rooms, the landlady identified
Salvatore Mirogliotta as a man who frequently visited. She told
police that Mirogliotta went by the name of Sam Miller, better known
to police as Joe "Honey" Miller, a notorious gunman. It was
obvious that the place was a base of operations.
    But
if this group had actually kidnapped Bloomfield, why would they have
lured Wright and his associates to the front door of their own
hideout for a murder?
    The
first break in the investigation was soon to come. At 2:00 a.m. on
March 29th, police arrested two men.
An automatic pistol and a revolver with extra ammunition for both
were found in their vehicle. They gave
their names as Harry Levine and Robert Burke.
    Harry
Levine turned out to be Purple Abe Axler. The other man was Thomas
Camp, but it was the alias he'd first given that would make him
infamous: Fred "Killer" Burke was the close friend and
associate of the deceased Johnny Reid.
    The
massacre was the first time a machine gun had been used in such a
depraved manner, and Fred "Killer" Burke's specialty was
machine gun work. These events drew a direct connection between the
Purple Gang, Fred "Killer"