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This file concerns the Purple Gang, the Detroit organized crime group also known as the Sugar House Gang. The FBI material seen here is a headquarters subject file with cross-references, internal correspondence, and newspaper clippings rather than a single criminal prosecution file. The records include a September 1933 Bureau note denying that FBI agents had made reported arrests of Purple Gang members at the Shoreham Hotel and suggesting inquiries to narcotics and prohibition authorities. They also include Detroit Times clippings from November 1933 on the killings of Abe Axler and Eddie Fletcher, with background on the gang's bootlegging, protection rackets, kidnappings, public enemy arrests, and the Collingwood massacre. A 1934 cover-sheet item refers to Naval Intelligence information about alleged Purple Gang members in Honolulu and a claimed plot involving the Panama Canal.

FBI file number: 62-HQ-29632 | Documents span: 1933-1934 | Released in 4 parts
Names in this file: J. Edgar Hoover, Abe Axler, Eddie Fletcher, Abe Bernstein, Ray Bernstein, Harry Keywell, Irving Milberg, Fred Burke, Joseph Lebovitz, Meyer Bloomfield
Subjects: organized crime, Detroit, bootlegging, gangland murders, protection rackets, Naval Intelligence