McClellan Committee: Robert P. Scott on Harry Fletcher and the 'Purple Gang' (August 1958)

In the Hoffa and Teamsters hearings, witness Robert P. Scott said Jimmy Hoffa asked him to seek a retrial for Harry Fletcher, whom the newspapers 'wrote up' as head of the Purple Gang; asked whether the men sentenced were Purple Gang members, Scott answered, 'They were supposed to be.'

Date

1958-08-12

Kind

hearing

Source

Internet Archive, scan of the printed hearings, Part 36

Retrieved

2026-10-12

Docket

Investigation of Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field, Hearings before the Select Committee, Part 36 (August 5-12, 1958)

Rights

A work of the United States Congress, printed by the Government Printing Office. Public domain in the United States. 17 U.S.C. § 105. The scan is of a GPO printing on the Internet Archive.

Part 36 of the McClellan Committee hearings covers sessions of August 5 to 12, 1958 on James R. Hoffa and the Teamsters. On pages 13680 to 13682 witness Robert P. Scott was asked whether Hoffa had spoken to him “about approaching a judge in connection with” Harry Fletcher. Scott answered: “He asked me to intercede and see if I could not get a retrial for him. I think they were sentenced to 20 to 40 years.”

Committee staff member Carmine S. Bellino said: “We understand that Harry Fletcher was the head of the Purple Gang in Detroit.” Asked by the chairman whether he knew that, Scott said: “He had that reputation. All the newspapers wrote him up that way, as the head of the Purple Gang, and he was arrested in Oakland County.” Scott named four of the men sentenced, “Pete Mahoney, Harry Fletcher, and Mike Selig and Candy Davis,” and said they later skipped bond and were caught. Senator Goldwater asked, “These members were members of the Purple Gang that were sentenced?” Scott answered: “They were supposed to be.”

This is reputation testimony and staff information, not a finding. Scott also gave his own account of why the sentence was imposed, involving a judge and a former governor; it is his opinion and this page does not repeat it. The record does not date the Oakland County trial, and no court record of it is filed here. Whether this Harry Fletcher is the “Harry Fleisher” of the federal Purple Gang records is not stated by any record filed, and this archive does not assume it.