City of Crime
The rise of Detroit was first recognized in as early as the 1800's. The rise of crime in Detroit first started in 1833, with the race riots. The riot had started because of a couple that had ecaped slavery from a plantation in Kentucky in 1831. They were known as Thorton and Lucie Blackburn, They had ended up in Detroit where they stayed and became a part of the community. The former master eventually found them and attempted to have them sent back to Kentucky. The community that the Blackburns bonded so closely with refused to let this happen. Lucie left the jail undetected because Mrs. French, a neighbor who visited her in jail and traded clothes and her spot with Lucie. Lucie fled across the river to Amherstburg. One day before Thorton Blackburn was supposed to be sent back to slavery, a group of his African American neighbors stood outside the jail and protested. As he was being taken from the jail, the crowd took action. Mrs. Lightfoot, his friend's wife, gave him a pistol as he passed. He threatened his capturers with this and was able to flee to Canada as well. The people that actively helped the Blackburns escape fled to Canada as well. This event was well publicized because in the confusion, the sherrif was fatally shot. This enraged the Caucasian cpmmunity and they took to the streets to burn down all of the buildings in the African American community. They set fire to homes with inhabitants in them and would throw stones at them as they tried to escape from the house. Women and children were attacked, and a few elderly people got trapped in the fire. The people had nowhere to go besides the church because every other building was burned down.
Since the 1833 riot, one of the most notirious displays on crime was the early gangsters of detroit. The crime started in the 1920's during prohibition. With Canada being so close by, it served the perfect outlet for illegal liquor sales. The leading gang in all the liquor sales is the Purple Gang. The Purple Gang was composed of primarily Jewish men. It started off as the Sugar House Boys, a bunch of petty theives, until they turned into the Purple Gang. The Purple Gang specialized in shakind down businesses and gambling rings and they owned most of Detroit. They ran the entire alcohol smuggling business and would eliminate anyone else who tried, even Al Capone had to get his liquor through the Purple Gang. They were so famous for kidnapping and ransom that the FBI suspected them to be behind the Lindburgh baby kidnapping. The Purple Gang is most notorious for the St. Valentines day massacre. The leader of the Purple Gang had called Bugs Moran, a chicago gangster in a turf war with Capone, and told him that a highjacked case of booze was headed his way. This was set up as an attempt to kill Bugs Moran. The purples, dressed as cops, waited at the site of the set up. When they thought they saw Bugs, they chased them into a parking complex and gunned down seven members of the gang. None of those men were Bugs Moran.
"Detroit's First Race Riot & Toronto's First Cab Company." Black History: Special Delivery. N.p., 01 Feb. 2016. Web. 15 Dec. 2016.
Burnstein, Scott M. Motor City Mafia: A Century of Organized Crime in Detroit. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub., 2006. Print.
Buccellato, James. "Early Organized Crime in Detroit: Vice, Corruption and the Rise of the Mafia." Early Organized Crime in Detroit: Vice, Corruption and the Rise of the Mafia by James Buccellato | The History Press Books. Arcadia, n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2016.
Burnstein, Scott M. Motor City Mafia: A Century of Organized Crime in Detroit. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub., 2006. Print.
Buccellato, James. "Early Organized Crime in Detroit: Vice, Corruption and the Rise of the Mafia." Early Organized Crime in Detroit: Vice, Corruption and the Rise of the Mafia by James Buccellato | The History Press Books. Arcadia, n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2016.