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

Burke, the murder of Johnny Reid
and the Milaflores Massacre.
    On
the same day Axler and Burke were arrested Purple Gang associate
Jules Jaffee was picked up in connection with the Milaflores
slayings. The police received an anonymous tip that Jaffee knew
something. Investigators had two days to produce evidence. The judge
could only continue to hold Axler and Burke for trial if something
substantial was produced. When the habeas corpus review came before
him no conviction worthy evidence had surfaced, and the two men were
released. No one was ever brought to trial for the Milaflores
apartment murders; to this day the crime remains officially unsolved.
    The
brutal murders of Wright, Reisfield, and Harrison rocked the Detroit
underworld, marking a turning point in the evolution of the gang. As
early as 1925 the Purples gained notoriety as hijackers, labor
racketeers, and free lance gunmen, but the massacre made them. They
were proven cunning, would obviously do anything to teach a lesson to
whomever betrayed them and had powerful allies.
    The
most notorious Egan's Rats affiliated with the Purples in order of
nerve were Fred Burke, Isadore "Bubs" Londe and Ezra
Milford Jones. Isadore Londe was known for violent and sensational
bank robberies executed in daylight as well as for his frequent use
of submachine guns his killings were simply depraved indifference.
    Ezra
Milford Jones ran many Italian and Sicilian gangsters out of St.
Louis. These Mafioso in turn became powerful Detroit leaders by the
late twenties. Jones carried a grudge, and so when they turned up in
Detroit he began a personal feud with the Italian underworld.
    According
to rumor, he killed 29 Sicilian mobsters. Although Jones was a
physically small, psychotic punk with schoolboy looks, he made up for
his physical stature with ferocity. He would yell "Take it,
Dago!" as he shot his victim down. Although unpredictable and
greatly feared throughout the underworld, he was particularly hated
by the Italians and was eventually murdered by the Mafia.
    Their
dossiers alone were enough for other gangs to submit to the Purples.
Already ranked high on local and Federal Public Enemy lists, Burke
was the icing on the cake.
Within seven years he would help commit:
    *Racketeer
kidnappings in Detroit.
    *The
John Kay Jewelry Robbery
    *The
holdup of the First National Bank of Indiana
    *The
St. Valentine's Day Massacre
    *A
mail truck robbery worth $200,000
    *The
United Railways Robbery
    *The
holdup of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of
Wisconsin
    *The
holdup of the Farmers National Bank of Kentucky
    *
The holdup of the Lincoln National Bank & Trust Company
    The
above list of crimes is by no means complete or even representative
of the many murders, robberies, and kidnappings in which he played a
part. By the time of his final capture and life imprisonment Burke
was considered America's most dangerous man.
    By
the mid-twenties, Egan's Rats and The Purples were consolidating
their brute power. With rats as gunmen, the Purple Gang tolerated no
interlopers—including the police. The murder of Detroit
Patrolman Vivian Welch crossed the shaky line between their criminal
world and the authority outside of it.
    Chapter
5
    The
Murder of Vivian Welch
    "Welch
was strictly on the shakedown. We have found that he made the
rounds of many blind pigs and threatened to have them raided if they
did not pay him . . . from what we have learned he got plenty. But he
finally ran up against the wrong boys."
    Inspector
Fred Frahm, February 4th, 1928
    On
New Year's Day 1928, the future of Detroit Police Officer Vivian
Welch could not have looked brighter. But by the end of January he
would be found unconscious and near death, the victim of a gangland
attack. As a rookie, Welch had become friends with veteran police
officer Max Whisman. The older man introduced Welch around the
department and took him into his confidence: he had developed a
racket. Officer Whisman was shaking down blind pig operators