From the Author of Off Color: The Violent History of Detroit's Notorious Purple Gang It was the winter of 1919, and it was the height of a gang war the Motor City hadn't seen before. Detroit's Mafia family had split into two factions, both vying to not only avenge ancient wrongs but also gain control of the city's lucrative illegal alcohol trade at the dawn of Prohibition. In Vìnnitta, author Daniel Waugh offers an in-depth account of the formation of the Detroit Mafia and how they grew from a small band of Sicilian immigrants into one of the most powerful criminal sects. He shares how the mafia infiltrated the Detroit business community and established themselves in illegal rackets ranging from extortion, auto theft, bootlegging, burglary, and construction racketeering. The story is told through the eyes of not only the gangsters themselves, but also those of an undertaker forced to prepare many of his friends for burial after their murders.

Learn the story behind one of Detroit's most infamous mobs with rare photographs documenting their rise and fall. Motor City Mafia: A Century of Organized Crime in Detroit chronicles the storied and hallowed gangland history of the notorious Detroit underworld. Scott M. Burnstein takes the reader inside the belly of the beast, tracking the bloodshed, exploits, and leadership of the southeast Michigan crime syndicate as never before seen in print. Through a stunning array of rare archival photographs and images, Motor City Mafia captures Detroit's most infamous past, from its inception in the early part of the 20th century, through the years when the iconic Purple Gang ruled the city's streets during Prohibition, through the 1930s and the formation of the local Italian mafia, and the Detroit crime family's glory days in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, all the way to the downfall of the area's mob reign in the 1980s and 1990s.

Presents a history of the Detroit mafia from its inception in the early 20th century and the formation of the local Italian mafia to the crime family's glory days to the downfall of their reign in the 1980s and 1990s.

St. Louis was a city under siege during Prohibition. Seven different criminal gangs violently vied for control of the town's illegal enterprises. Although their names (the Green Ones, the Pillow Gang, the Russo Gang, Egan's Rats, the Hogan Gang, the Cuckoo Gang and the Shelton Gang) are familiar to many, their exploits have remained largely undocumented until now. Learn how an awkward gunshot wound gave the Pillow Gang its name, and read why Willie Russo's bizarre midnight interview with a reporter from the St. Louis Star involved an automatic pistol and a floating hunk of cheese. From daring bank robberies to cold-blooded betrayals, The Gangs of St. Louis chronicles a fierce yet juicy slice of the Gateway City's history that rivaled anything seen in New York or Chicago.

Though detectives denied it, the Italian mafia was operating in Detroit as early as 1900, and the city was forever changed. Bootleggers controlled the Detroit River and created a national distribution network for illegal booze during Prohibition. Gangsters, cops and even celebrities fell victim to the violence. Some politicians and prominent businessmen like Henry Ford's right-hand man, Harry Bennett, collaborated closely with the mafia, while others, such as popular radio host Gerald Buckley, fought back and lost their lives. Social scientist and crime writer James A. Buccellato explores Detroit's struggle with gang violence, public corruption and the politics of vice during the tumultuous first half of the twentieth century. Book jacket.

Led by two childhood pals, Thomas "Snake" Kinney and Tom Egan, the Egan's Rats emerged from St. Louis's Irish slums. They learned their trade the old-fashioned way, via robberies, brawls, burglaries, and shootings. When Kinney ran on the Democratic ticket in the third ward, his friends were at the polls to ensure he got enough votes. For nearly ten years the gang cut a large swath in St. Louis, instilling fear wherever it went. With Snake Kinney, a Missouri state senator and Tom Egan, St. Louis's most dangerous gangster, the gang boasted nearly 400 members. Nearly everyone who lived in St. Louis was touched by them in some way or another. Egan's Rats provides a fascinating glimpse into a past that wasn't always idyllic. It was an era in which roving gangs of thugs terrorized voters with impunity, when alcohol was illegal, when a gangster could brag of his power in the newspaper, and when the tendrils of St. Louis crime reached all the way into the White House.