The Purple Gang

The Purple Gang
Founded1910s
Founding locationDetroit / Muskegon, Michigan, U.S.
Years active1910s–1932
TerritoryDetroit
EthnicityJewish American
ActivitiesMurder, extortion, theft, armed robbery, kidnapping, gambling, bootlegging
AlliesChicago Outfit
Fred "Killer" Burke
RivalsThe Detroit Partnership
Fred "Killer" Burke after 1927

The Purple Gang, also known as the Sugar House Gang, was a criminal mob of bootleggers and hijackers composed predominantly of Jewish gangsters. They operated in Detroit, Michigan, during the 1920s of the Prohibition era and came to be Detroit's dominant criminal gang. Excessive violence and infighting caused the gang to destroy itself in the 1930s.