The Elusive Purple Gang
Detroit's Kosher Nostra
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The Elusive Purple Gang
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Narrated by:
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Rich Miller
About this listen
The Elusive Purple Gang: Detroit's Kosher Nostra is a concise history of one of America's most notorious Prohibition gangs. The Burnstein brothers and their associates were the only Jewish gang in the United States to dominate the rackets of a major American city. From their meteoric rise to the top of Detroit's underworld to their ultimate demise, this is an episodic account of the Purple Gang's corrosive pursuit of power and wealth and their inevitable plunge toward self-destruction.
About the author:
Literary Classics gold medal award-winning author Gregory A. Fournier received his bachelor and master's degrees in language arts from Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti. A writer of creative nonfiction, The Elusive Purple Gang is Fournier's latest book. His other titles are Zug Island, Terror In Ypsilanti, and The Richard Streicher Jr. Murder.
Fournier writes short history posts for his blog, and he has appeared on the Investigation Discovery Channel as a guest expert on John Norman Collins for the series A Crime to Remember in an episode entitled "A New Kind of Monster".
©2019 Gregory A. Fournier (P)2020 Gregory A. FournierListeners also enjoyed...
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-
Story4 out of 5 stars 99
As head of the Bonanno clan, Joey Massino was the last don, and ran his world with an iron hand - until he got hit with a murder rap, and turned on his own people. Here, for the first time, is his shocking true story - a glimpse inside the world of organized crime that we may never see again.
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1 out of 5 stars
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the 6th family
- By chris torkelson on 05-16-20
By: Simon Crittle
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The Bourbon King
- The Life and Crimes of George Remus, Prohibition's Evil Genius
- By: Bob Batchelor
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 42
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 39
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 38
October 2019 marks the 100th anniversary of the Volstead Act, which put the enforcement teeth into Prohibition. But the law didn't stop George Remus from cornering the boozy, illegal liquor marketplace and amassing a fortune that eclipsed $200 million (the equivalent of $4.75 billion today). As eminent documentarian Ken Burns proclaimed, "Remus was to bootlegging what Rockefeller was to oil." Author Bob Batchelor has unearthed a treasure trove of untapped historical archives to cover the life, times, and crimes of the man who ran the largest bootlegging operation in America.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Disappointing
- By Amazon Customer on 06-02-20
By: Bob Batchelor
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Undisclosed Files of the Police
- Cases from the Archives of the NYPD from 1831 to the Present
- By: Bernard Whalen, Philip Messing, Robert Mladinich
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 121
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 109
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Story4 out of 5 stars 110
More than 175 years of true crimes culled from the city's police blotter, told through an insightful text by two NYPD officers and a NYC crime reporter. From atrocities that occurred before the establishment of New York's police force in 1845 through the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 2001 to the present day, this audio is an insider's look at more than 80 real-life crimes that shocked the nation, from arson to gangland murders, robberies, serial killers, bombings, and kidnappings.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good History of Crime in NYC
- By Bob Shinders on 03-10-17
By: Bernard Whalen, and others
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The Mob and the City
- The Hidden History of How the Mafia Captured New York
- By: C. Alexander Hortis
- Narrated by: LJ Ganser
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 523
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 459
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 456
Forget what you think you know about the Mafia. After reading this book, even life-long mob aficionados will have a new perspective on organized crime. Informative, authoritative, and eye-opening, this is the first full-length book devoted exclusively to uncovering the hidden history of how the Mafia came to dominate organized crime in New York City during the 1930s through 1950s.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Hard one to rate....
- By Jeffery D. Giuliani on 09-24-20
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The Dillinger Days
- By: John Toland
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 549
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 504
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 504
For 13 violent months in the 1930s, John Dillinger and his gang swept through the Midwest. The criminals of the Depression robbed almost at will, as the Indiana State Police had only 41 members, including clerks and typists. Dillinger's daring escapes at Crown Point jail or through the withering machine gun fire of FBI agents at Little Bohemia Lodge, along with his countless bank robberies, excited the imagination of a despondent country.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Must have been written by Hoover
- By Jimmy Oneal on 09-03-20
By: John Toland
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The Year of Dangerous Days
- Riots, Refugees, and Cocaine in Miami 1980
- By: Nicholas Griffin
- Narrated by: Pete Simonelli
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 130
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 111
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Story5 out of 5 stars 112
In the tradition of The Wire, the “utterly absorbing” (The New York Times) story of the cinematic transformation of Miami, one of America’s bustling cities - rife with a drug epidemic, a burgeoning refugee crisis, and police brutality - from journalist and award-winning author Nicholas Griffin.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Forty Years Ago or Yesterday?
- By Anka on 07-20-20
By: Nicholas Griffin
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Paddy Whacked
- The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster
- By: T. J. English
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 21 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 589
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 521
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 520
In Paddy Whacked, best-selling author and organized crime expert T. J. English brings to life nearly two centuries of Irish American gangsterism, which spawned such unforgettable characters as Mike "King Mike" McDonald, Chicago's subterranean godfather; Big Bill Dwyer, New York's most notorious rumrunner during Prohibition; Mickey Featherstone, troubled Vietnam vet turned Westies gang leader; and James "Whitey" Bulger, the ruthless and seemingly untouchable Southie legend.
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4 out of 5 stars
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First Half - 4 Stars - Second Half - 2 Stars
- By Lulu on 08-29-16
By: T. J. English
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Crime Beat
- A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers
- By: Michael Connelly
- Narrated by: Len Cariou, Nancy McKeon, Carl Franklin
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Abridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 178
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 134
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 135
Before he became a novelist, Michael Connelly was a crime reporter, covering the detectives who worked the homicide beat in Florida and Los Angeles. In vivid, hard-hitting articles, Connelly leads the reader past the yellow police tape as he follows the investigators, the victims, their families and friends, and, of course, the killers, to tell the real stories of murder and its aftermath.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Disappointment
- By Traci on 11-07-11
By: Michael Connelly
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Mafia Summit
- J. Edgar Hoover, the Kennedy Brothers, and the Meeting That Unmasked the Mob
- By: Gil Reavill
- Narrated by: Keith Szarabajka
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 291
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 247
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 246
In a small village in New York, mob bosses from all over the country - Vito Genovese, Carlo Gambino, Joe Bonanno, Joe Profaci, Cuba boss Santo Trafficante, Jr., and Paul Castellano - were nabbed by Sergeant Edgar D. Croswell as they gathered to sort out a bloody war of succession. For years FBI director J. Edgar Hoover had adamantly denied the existence of the Mafia, but Robert Kennedy immediately recognized the shattering importance of the Apalachin summit....
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4 out of 5 stars
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Something I Didn't Know
- By Kevin on 03-29-13
By: Gil Reavill
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Get Capone
- The Secret Plot That Captured America's Most Wanted Gangster
- By: Jonathan Eig
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 177
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 83
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Story4 out of 5 stars 85
Acclaimed journalist and bestselling author Jonathan Eig blows the lid off the Al Capone story. Based on never-before-seen government documents and newly discovered letters written by Al Capone himself, Get Capone presents America's greatest gangster as you’ve never seen him before.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Get this book
- By Jonathan on 05-13-10
By: Jonathan Eig
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The Savage City
- By: T. J. English
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 83
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 64
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 65
In the early 1960s, uncertainty and menace gripped New York, crystallizing in a poisonous divide between a deeply corrupt, cynical, and racist police force, and an African American community buffeted by economic distress, brutality, and narcotics. On August 28, 1963 - the day Martin Luther King Jr. declared "I have a dream" on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial - two young white women were murdered in their Manhattan apartment. Dubbed the Career Girls Murders case, the crime sent ripples of fear throughout the city, as police scrambled fruitlessly for months to find the killer.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I Highly Recommend This Book!
- By R on 05-15-13
By: T. J. English
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Race Against Time
- By: Jerry Mitchell
- Narrated by: Jerry Mitchell
- Length: 13 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 187
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 165
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Story5 out of 5 stars 164
In Race Against Time, Mitchell takes listeners on the twisting, pulse-racing road that led to the reopening of four of the most infamous killings from the days of the Civil Rights Movement, decades after the fact. His work played a central role in bringing killers to justice for the assassination of Medgar Evers, the firebombing of Vernon Dahmer, the 16th Street Church bombing in Birmingham, and the Mississippi Burning case. Mitchell reveals how he unearthed secret documents and found long-lost suspects and witnesses, building up evidence strong enough to take on the Klan.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Absolutely horrible reading
- By Grace O'Malley on 03-14-20
By: Jerry Mitchell
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American Mafia
- A History of Its Rise to Power
- By: Thomas Reppetto
- Narrated by: Paul Costanzo
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 32
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 29
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 29
Organized crime - the Italian American kind - has long been a source of popular entertainment and legend. Now Thomas Reppetto provides a balanced history of the Mafia's rise - from the 1880s to the post-World War II era - that is as exciting as it is authoritative. Structuring his narrative around a series of case histories featuring such infamous characters as Lucky Luciano and Al Capone, Reppetto draws on a lifetime of field experience and access to unseen documents to show us a locally grown Mafia.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Mob at its best
- By Thomas on 02-14-23
By: Thomas Reppetto
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Boston Mob
- The Rise and Fall of the New England Mob and Its Most Notorious Killer
- By: Marc Songini
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 72
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 61
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Story4 out of 5 stars 60
The New England Mafia was a hugely powerful organization that survived by using violence to ruthlessly crush anyone that threatened it, or its lucrative gambling, loansharking, bootlegging, and other enterprises. From information based on newly declassified documents and the use of underworld sources, Boston Mob spans the gutters and alleyways of East Boston, Providence, and Charlestown to the halls of Congress in Washington, D.C., and Boston's Beacon Hill. Its players include governors and mayors, and the Mafia Commission of New York City.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Entertaining
- By joeyg1963 on 12-07-19
By: Marc Songini
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The Kosher Capones
- A History of Chicago’s Jewish Gangsters
- By: Joe Kraus
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 130
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 117
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Story4 out of 5 stars 116
The Kosher Capones tells the fascinating story of Chicago’s Jewish gangsters from Prohibition into the 1980s. Author Joe Kraus traces these gangsters through the lives, criminal careers, and conflicts of Benjamin “Zukie the Bookie” Zuckerman, last of the independent West Side Jewish bosses, and Lenny Patrick, eventual head of the Syndicate’s “Jewish wing.”
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2 out of 5 stars
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Kind of scattered
- By joey carbo on 10-04-21
By: Joe Kraus
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Animal
- The Bloody Rise and Fall of the Mob's Most Feared Assassin
- By: Casey Sherman
- Narrated by: Jim Goad
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 166
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 141
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 137
Joe Barboza knew that there were two requirements for getting inducted into the Mafia. You had to be Sicilian. And you had to commit a contract killing. The New Bedford-born mobster was a proud Portuguese, not Sicilian, but his dream to be part of La Cosa Nostra proved so strong that he thought he could create a loophole. Barboza’s legacy, buried for years thanks to the murders or deaths of its participants, is finally coming to light and being told in its unvarnished brutality by one of America’s most respected true crime writers.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Well done. 5 stars.
- By robert price on 03-03-19
By: Casey Sherman
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The Assassination of Fred Hampton
- How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther
- By: Jeffrey Haas
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 793
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 699
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Story5 out of 5 stars 694
Uncovering a cold-blooded execution at the hands of a conspiring police force, this engaging account relentlessly pursues the murderers of Black Panther Fred Hampton. Documenting the entire 14-year process of bringing the killers to justice, this chronicle also depicts the 18-month court trial in detail. Revealing Hampton himself in a new light, this examination presents him as a dynamic community leader whose dedication to his people and to the truth inspired the young lawyers of the People's Law Office.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Terrible narrator for a great story!!!
- By D. Rolland on 11-06-20
By: Jeffrey Haas
What listeners say about The Elusive Purple Gang
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Reader
- 02-22-20
No new details
Filled with stories such as the Collingwood massacre that we already know about. Would have been better if they dug more into the background of the Bernstein family.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- CN327
- 04-05-21
I can’t believe this was released.
The mispronunciations were AWFUL. Thought the story could have been built better as well. I enjoyed the information but I felt it was presented poorly.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- fred
- 04-06-20
3733franklin@gmail.com
it was good thanks bring back what happen bearing my grandfather time were I was born at
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- John Wood
- 01-13-22
Pretty Good, GREAT if you’re a Detroiter
Story a bit too shallow for my liking (but so were the Purples). Great stories, with more of a history than I’ve been able to find elsewhere. Decent, fluid narration. Even pronounced some of the odder names correctly. I wished for more meat, more depth, about the Gang. I’ll just have to look further.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- marc edge
- 03-19-24
Who knew?
Who knew that there was such an active bootlegging and crime organization in Detroit at this time. Have studies a lot of history Read a great deal but had never heard of the Purple Gang. Interesting story.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Chris Ahern
- 04-24-22
Excellent Presentation!
Very well written and researched! As one who is interested in Detroit's history and after reading Are there great books by this author, I would highly recommend this book
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