purple gang?

mptilkins

mptilkins

Jr. Member
Apr 4, 2007
44
1
michigan
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lonestar
There are a ton of stories about these guys...some true some probally not. Look at your brothers abstract. See if there is a name of Banghart on it.Somewhere and I cant remember right now I heard of a man named Banghart who had purchased a farm for the Purple Gangs hideout .Not sure where this was but I think it was about 2-3 hours from Chicago.....which could put it into Michigan.
 

There was a fellow named Harry Bennett who was an executive at Ford Motor Co. back in the 1930's & 40's who was known for his violent union busting tactics and he liked to socialize with local mobsters including members of the Purple gang. He had a place with a guarded and gated entrance on Poplar Rd. in the Clare area. The estate was patroled by armed guards and it was known that a lot of high stakes gambling took place and moonshine whiskey flowed like water. This guy was a despised individual and had several homes in Michigan. All of them had secret passages or tunnels in case he needed to make a quick escape.
 

Ive heard alot of stories over the years and read stories about the Purple Gang used to hang out in Clare and Capone been there too . There is a resturant in Clare called the Doherty Hotel used to go eat there when I was younger lived in Coleman Michigan hear stories about the Purple Gang used to hang out there and Capone been there . I got a job when I was like 17 and been down in the Basement od the Doherty and seen a couple of circled hole in the sub floors above like it was used to be used for quike escapes let me tell ya after seeing those doug out floors my imagination really went wild thinking about Purple gang scrabling down in the basement when the heat came.

I do remember reading in some book that the Purple Gang and Capones Gang settled on bootlegging area of I 27 everyinthing east of old 27 was the Purple Gangs teritory and everything west of I 27 was Capones Territoty . Capone was to scared of losing to many men against the Purple Gang in taking control of Michigan and also slowing down profits of most of the Booze comming out of Canada via Detroit - Windsor. So these 2 groups came too agreement .

As far as Bennett Fords right hand man I have some copied interview that Bennet gave in the Detroit news and never mentioned Clare Michigan nor have Ive heard over the years of Bennet hunting up in clare like the Purple gang did this id really Interesting that Bennet was up there too.
 

My Mum has told me stories of Purple gang activity on the north side of Houghton lake off of Doyle Trail.Ive been to the site and have found a few items of the era.Her father and his brother were both prosecuting attorneys in the area at the time, so i consider her a pretty reliable source of information.There was also a "hideout" north of Roscommon off of Chase Bridge road...way back in the sticks on the Ausable River.This place was referred to as "The Castle".There are still foundations there.Havent hunted there although I plan to one of these days.....joe
 

thanks for all the info. really appreciate it! been trying to look on the net for stories of the purple gang but cant find any about Clare Michigan!
 

I had to way in on this also, being from the midwest, the mob and prohibition have been an interesting subject for me as well. Yes of course Capone was in league with the Purple gang... they supplied the Canadien whiskey to the Outfit to distribute in Chicago and parts beyond, they were most certainly allies. To the Th'er who disclosed that info on the Purple Gang hideout, thats big, good job. These are the types of places that large amounts of money were hidden, a hideout, a farm, theres not to many places to hide bootlegging cash in the city and any money on the books (banks) could be seized by the Fed. as big an operator as the Purple Gang was I'm sure that key members of the gang have stashes buried all around Detroit and rural Michigan. I only live about 4 hours from Detroit so I'm liable to hall off in that direction on a summer weekend and search lower Michigan. I do have the book Blood, Sugar and Corn, and if you want a good website to surf, the author ( Rick Porrello) has Americanmafia.com, wich has a ton of great info from some of the best crime writers in the country. check it out.
 

There is a safe in the bottom of Union Lake that they supposedly dumped. That was according to my Divemaster, back in 1975. I eyeballed it, and it looked to be the right vintage, but who knows.
There is a house on Lapeer Rd, in Davison (first place to the west of Williams Gunsight)
that also had a tunnel running next door. Local "word" is that is was a speakeasy (with hookers) that the Purple gang frequented.
Joe, you and I are with 15 minutes of each other. Let's sit down with a coffee and talk.
Bill
 

ladies and gents i would like to disclose that i have been researching the purple gang myself... and the book that was read saying I-27 was wrong,... It was U.S - 131... anything west of Big Al controlled, anything east of it was Purple gang Turf.. Big Al thought it he would be better off buying his hooch from PG, instead of fighting them for it and the turf... if that farm is just west of Lansing you might have a good chance at finding something if your patient. and grid it out correctly.. How big is the acreage? on it mike... get back with it... I'm retired, due to Multiple Sclerosis but you only live once in this lifetime...hit me up... i have a T2 teknetics and its great, it does have an Emi problem( around high voltage areas, and what detectors doesn't!!) but I can work around it...what say you...jeff
 

well here are some pics of what i found in the back yard of the abandoned house and the feilds. lots of garbage,toys,and clad not in pics. Plan to go back the weakend after the fourth.
 

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my brother owns 80 acres and his father inlaw owns the rest of the land i think it's 120 acres not sure though! Great hunting land for bow season though!
 

WELL HAVE A HAPPY 4TH TILKENS, AND YEAH 200 ACRES DOES MAKE SOME SWEET BOWHUNTING HERE IN MICHIGAN...IS THE AREA FLATTEN LAND WITH PATCHY WOODS.... OR DOES YOUR BROTHER FARM THE LAND RIGHT ALONG WITH HIS IN-LAWS? CORN OR SOY FIELDS... STRICTLY HUNT FOR MEAT ON THE TABLE...WELL IF U GO THIS WEEKEND COMING UP GOOD LUCK, AND HOW LONG AGO WAS THE HOUSE ABANDON? JEFF
 

I read this huge articale about the purple gang i read some did bootlegging on the detroit river since alcohol was legal in canada it also said that it may have caused the st. valtine murders from the purple gang and capone. i have to look up names i do have locations from the detroit river but, if i went there i probalbly get robbed.. I also read that capone had a cave along lake michigan near michigan city and would use to store booze in and had to cave it due to cops. said to be worth about 1 mil today. mine s
 

Just wanted to add there is a few people still around that can help people about this gang it was on t.v. LOL
 

I know of a house that was a Purple Gang speakeasy and also was part of the underground railroad. One of my old bosses bought this property a few years ago, and invited me to hunt his property, well after I found 15 silver dollars there, he wouldn't let me hunt it anymore, and I had to give him all the dollars. There is a stone quarry behind the house and there is very shallow stones all over under the lawn at 6 inches, so nothing sinks deeper than 6 or 7 inches. This stone house had, had brick work put up all around outside of the house to modernize it that it was built prior to 1876. It had false ceilings on main level of about 12 foot up. Because the 6 fireplaces that heated the place had a hard time keeping up. When my old boss was removing some of the old ceilings, he found a 4 foot crawl space between the 1st. and 2nd. floors, there was an old bundle of wires that ran the length of it and some wires branched off into other rooms and the old Michigan basement. He figured it was an early warning system. In the basement, on one of the large rocks used for the foundation he found chiseled into it the date 1876, could have been done by one of the slaves. I detected where an old silo used to be and found lots of pieces of ankle shackles with broken chains, and yes, there used to be a tunnel running from the house to that silo. I found out why I could not detect there anymore, My old boss bought a cheap machine and the neibors said he was out there night and day digging stuff up! ??? The neighbors said that shortly after his digging, he moved to where they don't know and have never heard from him again. So now I don't know who owns the property, but I am going to go there and knock on the door...SOON. The house sits about 200 ft. off of 8mile rd. near Griswold St. Not far from Northville Downs. The house and buildings sit on about 1 1/2 acres. Also, I heard from one of the neighbors that my old boss was asking them if they knew how to take a fireplace apart without destroying it? I think he may have moved to Hawaii
 

Although this link has been dead for a while, I was googling Purple Gang and came across the topic. I grew up in Troy Mi and my sister's close friend (can't recall her name) lived in a home that was owned by the Purple Gang. Last evening the History Channel did an excellent blurb on the gang, prohibition and bootlegging. I also found an interesting article on a link http://www.hourdetroit.com/Hour-Detroit/September-2008/Purple-Reign/

The thing I do recall about the house is it was somewhere near Adams Road and Sixteen Mile Road (Big Beaver) in Birmingham MI. I thought it was across the street from Adam's Castle (west of Adams) but when I looked online...I couldn't find it. There were all kinds of tunnels through the place which we were told was so they could outrun the police.

I just thought I would share that information...
 

I'm a couple of years late to your original post.
But FYI, a home/house that Harry Bennett (Ford MoCo) owned is on the Lost Lake Boy Scout Ranch.
I have been in that house and on the property surrounding it (NOT with a metal detector though)there are tunnels and other oddities. Interesting. Supposedly it's haunted.
Sometimes the older Scouts are allowed to sleep in the house.
The Purple Gang from Detroit owned some property near Clare, I believe.
I did some reseach at the local library on that gang. The info is available, with pictures, in at least one of the books.
BTW, good luck.
 

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