# Detroit Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/regions/detroit/ Detroit in public records: Bureau of Investigation letters on the Purple Gang and the Alcatraz pages of four men from a 1936 Detroit liquor-tax case; 1928-1930 newspaper pages; the Kefauver Committee's Detroit hearing of 1951; McClellan Committee testimony; the FBI's Giacalone file; and the Sixth Circuit opinions on the 1996 indictment. This section holds the Detroit records filed so far. Each statement below comes from the record linked beside it, and descriptions of people as members or leaders of anything are the words of that record, not this archive's. ## Prohibition and the 1920s and 1930s **The Bureau's own letters.** The FBI Vault file "Purple Gang (aka Sugar House Gang)" holds Detroit letters from the 1930s. A Bureau of Investigation letter of 25 March 1932, written during the Lindbergh kidnapping inquiry, sent New York the Detroit police photographs of thirteen men and said that, except for Joe Tocco, "all of the persons whose photographs are transmitted are known to be ring leaders of the Purple Gang"; it added that Harry Keywell, Phillip Keywell, Irving Milberg and Raymond Burnstein were serving life sentences for murder. [1932 letter](/items/fbi-vault-purple-gang-p02-detroit-photographs-letter-1932/), [New York follow-up](/items/fbi-vault-purple-gang-p02-new-york-lindbergh-letter-1932/). A letter of 28 November 1933 reported the murder of "two alleged members of the Detroit Purple Gang, Abe Axler and Eddie Fletcher." [1933 letter](/items/fbi-vault-purple-gang-p01-axler-fletcher-letter-1933/). The Detroit office's 1939 survey said the gang had been "dissolved through the activities of the Detroit Police Department" and called Abe Bernstein its "original head." [1939 letter](/items/fbi-vault-purple-gang-p03-detroit-conditions-letter-1939/). A Miami memorandum of 1948 lists men it was told were then members. [1948 memorandum](/items/fbi-vault-purple-gang-p01-miami-memo-1948/), [the file](/items/fbi-vault-purple-gang/). **Four Alcatraz pages.** Harry Fleisher, Sam Fleisher, Joe Stein and Jack Selbin were sentenced in the Eastern District of Michigan at Detroit for an internal revenue conspiracy dated April 15, 1936 and reached Alcatraz on 6 August 1936. Their notebook pages, with identification photographs, are stored here; the prison committee's "Purple Gang" remarks on them are staff opinion. [Harry Fleisher](/items/nara-236735209-harry-fleisher-alcatraz-1936/), [Sam Fleisher](/items/nara-236735228-sam-fleisher-alcatraz-1936/), [Joe Stein](/items/nara-236735207-joe-stein-alcatraz-1936/), [Jack Selbin](/items/nara-236735226-jack-selbin-alcatraz-1936/). **One photograph.** A New York Times Paris Bureau negative at the National Archives, titled "Detroit police inspecting equipment found in a clandestine underground brewery during the prohibition era," shows uniformed police and other men beside a wooden vat and a pump. The catalog gives no date, address or names, and the page adds none. [Underground brewery](/items/nara-541928-detroit-underground-brewery/). **Newspaper pages, 1928 to 1930.** Twenty-two pages from Chronicling America carry wire reports from Detroit: a syndicated series on racketeering (September 1928); federal prohibition indictments at Inkster (May 1929) and a federal round-up photographed in June 1929; the conviction of Abe Axler, Eddie Fletcher, Harry Sutton and Irving Milberg in July 1929 and the killing of Irving Shapiro the same week; the February 1930 police trial board over altered arrest reports; the July 1930 shootings and the killing of the radio announcer Jerry Buckley in the LaSalle Hotel, which the pages filed here do not connect to any group; and the 1930 life sentence of Philip Keywell. The newspapers' words ("notorious," "reputed leader") are their own. Start with [the Milwaukee Leader of 25 July 1929](/clippings/clip-milwaukee-leader-1929-07-25-p4/) and [the Washington Times of 23 July 1930](/clippings/clip-washington-times-1930-07-23-p1/). ## The Kefauver evidence, 1951 The Senate committee sat in room 734 of the Federal Building, Detroit, on 8 and 9 February 1951. [Part 9: Michigan](/items/kefauver-part-9-michigan-1951/). William Tocco named "Joe Zerrilli" among his partners in the State Products Co. and answered "Yes" when asked whether he had been a bootlegger during Prohibition. [Tocco](/items/kefauver-part-9-william-tocco-testimony-1951/). Peter Licavoli refused to answer most questions and called Sam Zerilli his brother-in-law. [Licavoli](/items/kefauver-part-9-peter-licavoli-testimony-1951/), [Senate Report 121](/items/kefauver-contempt-s-rept-82-121-pete-licavoli/). Carl Renda, questioned about a 1949 dance program, said Tony Zerilli was related to Joe Zerilli and that he believed Jack Tocco was a son of "Black Bill" Tocco. [Renda](/items/kefauver-part-9-renda-testimony-1951/). Angelo Meli, read a list of arrests, said "It must be" correct. [Meli](/items/kefauver-part-9-angelo-meli-testimony-1951/). The committee's contempt reports on two other Detroit witnesses are [Senate Report 122](/items/kefauver-contempt-s-rept-82-122-trilck/) and [Senate Report 126](/items/kefauver-contempt-s-rept-82-126-rubino/). ## The 1950s to the 1980s **Committee testimony.** McClellan Committee investigator George H. Martin said in 1958 that Prohibition-era "Mafia" elements had "supplanted the Purple Gang" and named Detroit men "interrelated through various marriages." [Part 32](/items/mcclellan-part-32-martin-detroit-chart-1958/). Vincent H. Meli testified about his linen business and its loans. [Part 35](/items/mcclellan-part-35-vincent-meli-detroit-linen-1958/). A witness in the Hoffa hearings said Harry Fletcher "had that reputation" as head of the Purple Gang. [Part 36](/items/mcclellan-part-36-scott-purple-gang-1958/). Investigator Pierre Salinger named Anthony Zerilli and Jack Tocco as owners of the Melrose Linen Co. and the Hazel Park Racetrack. [Part 53](/items/mcclellan-part-53-salinger-zerilli-tocco-1959/). In October 1963 Detroit Police Commissioner George C. Edwards presented a chart, "The Mafia Organization in the Detroit Area," to the Senate subcommittee; its labels are the police department's, not findings. [Exhibit 18](/items/valachi-exhibit-18-detroit-chart/), with [Exhibits 24](/items/valachi-exhibit-24-detroit-slayings-chart/), [35](/items/valachi-exhibit-35-detroit-family-relationship/) and [36](/items/valachi-exhibit-36-detroit-businesses/). **The FBI's Giacalone file.** The Detroit office opened an anti-racketeering file on Anthony Joseph Giacalone in December 1957. Its opening report records one conviction, for bribery of a police officer in 1955; a 1962 teletype records him at the Hillcrest Country Club in Mt. Clemens; a 1963 page summarizes a newspaper's account of Commissioner Edwards's testimony. [The file](/items/fbi-vault-anthony-giacalone/), [1958 report](/items/fbi-vault-giacalone-p01-detroit-report-1958/), [1962 teletype](/items/fbi-vault-giacalone-p02-hillcrest-teletype-1962/), [1963 summary](/items/fbi-vault-giacalone-p03-edwards-testimony-summary-1963/). **Federal cases.** The Ninth Circuit in 1974 affirmed the Travel Act convictions of Anthony Joseph Zerilli and Michael Polizzi over hidden interests in the company that operated the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas. [United States v. Polizzi](/items/courtlistener-us-v-polizzi-500-f2d-856/). A 1976 Sixth Circuit opinion prints an FBI affidavit that James R. Hoffa told witnesses he was going to meet Anthony Giacalone and Anthony Provenzano at the Machus Red Fox restaurant on 30 July 1975; the court ruled only on probable cause to search a car. [United States v. Joseph Giacalone](/items/courtlistener-us-v-giacalone-541-f2d-508/). The FBI's history says Canadian authorities arrested Giacalone in 1966 and that Zerilli was sentenced on gambling charges in 1975. [FBI history](/items/fbi-history-detroit-division/). **The 1996 indictment.** On 14 March 1996 a grand jury at Detroit charged Jack W. Tocco and sixteen others in a twenty-five-count indictment that, as the Sixth Circuit recites it, alleged Tocco had been the "Boss of the Detroit Cosa Nostra Family" since about 1979. A jury convicted him in April 1998 on two RICO conspiracies and a Hobbs Act conspiracy. [200 F.3d 401](/items/courtlistener-us-v-tocco-200-f3d-401/), [306 F.3d 279](/items/courtlistener-us-v-tocco-306-f3d-279/). Paul Corrado and Nove Tocco's convictions were vacated for a jury-tampering hearing and later reinstated; Vito Giacalone pleaded guilty to one RICO conspiracy count; and the court directed forfeiture of $1,234,700 each against Jack Tocco and Vito Giacalone. [227 F.3d 528](/items/courtlistener-us-v-corrado-227-f3d-528/), [227 F.3d 543](/items/courtlistener-us-v-corrado-227-f3d-543/), [304 F.3d 593](/items/courtlistener-us-v-corrado-304-f3d-593/). The FBI's history calls the investigation GAMTAX. An earlier strike-force inquiry into Vito Giacalone is described in [United States v. Forman](/items/courtlistener-us-v-forman-71-f3d-1214/) (1995) and its [1999 sequel](/items/courtlistener-us-v-forman-180-f3d-766/). ## People Person pages list only what their records state, and family or role lines appear only where a federal record quoted on the page states them, labelled by kind. [Jack Tocco](/people/jack-tocco/), [Anthony Zerilli](/people/anthony-zerilli/), [Joseph Zerilli](/people/joseph-zerilli/), [William Tocco](/people/william-tocco/), [Peter Licavoli](/people/peter-licavoli/), [Angelo Meli](/people/angelo-meli/), [Anthony Giacalone](/people/anthony-giacalone/), [Vito Giacalone](/people/vito-giacalone/), [Abe Bernstein](/people/abe-bernstein/), [Joe Bernstein](/people/joe-bernstein/), [Raymond Bernstein](/people/raymond-bernstein/), [Harry Fleisher](/people/harry-fleisher/), [Sam Fleisher](/people/sam-fleisher/), [Abe Axler](/people/abe-axler/), [Eddie Fletcher](/people/eddie-fletcher/), [Irving Milberg](/people/irving-milberg/), [Phillip Keywell](/people/phillip-keywell/), [Charles Leiter](/people/charles-leiter/). ## Not filed yet No court record of the Collingwood killings of September 1931 or of the Keywell, Milberg and Bernstein murder trial is filed; the 1931 newspaper pages are post-1930 issues and are held back. No record of the Oakland County trial that Robert Scott described in 1958 has been found. The district court record of the 1996 case (E.D. Mich. No. 96-80201), the outcome of Anthony J. Zerilli's severed case, and any Justice Department release on the 1996 indictment have not been opened. Commissioner Edwards's spoken testimony in the 1963 hearing volume has not been read. The Vault's Hoffa file and much of the Giacalone file remain unread, and no Library of Congress photograph of the Detroit River liquor traffic with a no-known-restrictions mark has been found.