Abe Axler
Named in 1929 wire reports among four Purple Gang 'ringleaders' convicted in federal court at Detroit, listed in a 1932 Bureau letter among the gang's 'ring leaders', and reported by the Bureau's Detroit office as murdered in November 1933.
- Died
- 1933
- Family
- Purple Gang (Bureau of Investigation letters, 1932 and 1933)
- Role
- among those "known to be ring leaders of the Purple Gang" (Bureau of Investigation, Detroit, 1932)
- Rights
- Biography on this page is limited to what the cited federal records and the filed newspaper pages state.
On the record
- 1929-07 — Milwaukee Leader, 25 July 1929: "Abe Axler, Eddie Fletcher, Harry Sutton and Irving Milberg," called ringleaders of the "purple gang," were sentenced in federal court at Detroit on prohibition charges. The item gives both 22 months and "a year."
- 1932-03-25 — Bureau of Investigation, Detroit: "Abe Axler," Detroit Police No. 29655, is among those "known to be ring leaders of the Purple Gang."
- 1933-11-28 — Bureau of Investigation, Detroit (Wm. Larson): clippings from the Detroit Times of November 27, 1933 "concern the murder of two alleged members of the Detroit Purple Gang, Abe Axler and Eddie Fletcher, who ... are allegedly recognized as Detroit Public Enemies Nos. 1 and 2."
The family and role lines quote the 1932 Bureau letter. The 1933 letter, in the Bureau’s own words, calls him an “alleged” member. The death year is the 1933 letter’s; it gives no date or place, and the enclosed Detroit Times clippings are not reproduced here.
Records
itemDetroit Bureau of Investigation letter on the deaths of Abe Axler and Eddie Fletcher (28 November 1933)Special Agent in Charge Wm. Larson at Detroit sends the Director Detroit Times clippings on 'the murder of two alleged members of the Detroit Purple Gang, Abe Axler and Eddie Fletcher', with their Detroit police numbers.
itemDetroit Bureau of Investigation letter sending Purple Gang photographs to New York (25 March 1932)A three-page Bureau of Investigation letter from Detroit, written during the Lindbergh kidnapping inquiry, lists thirteen Detroit police photographs and states that all the men pictured except Joe Tocco 'are known to be ring leaders of the Purple Gang'.
clippingMilwaukee Leader, 25 July 1929, page 4: Detroit's rum ring now disorganizedA short item from Detroit: the 'purple gang', once Detroit's most powerful bootlegging organization, was 'disorganized' after a federal jury convicted four of its ringleaders, Abe Axler, Eddie Fletcher, Harry Sutton and Irving Milberg, of prohibition violations.