The Purple Gang: Organized Crime in Detroit, 1910-1945 (21 page)

Lou
was the first of the Fleisher brothers to serve time in prison. In
1927 at the age of 22, he was convicted of a truck hijacking and
sentenced to a 10 year term in Federal prison. By the mid-thirties,
Harry Fleisher and his younger brother Sammy were gainfully employed
as partners with several other Purples in a large, profitable,
illegal still. Although national Prohibition ended in 1933, there
continued to be a strong black market in illegally brewed alcohol.

In
April of 1936 Harry and Sam Fleisher, Joseph Stein, Jack Selbin, and
John Gettleson were convicted in Federal court. The charge was
conspiring to violate the Internal Revenue Act by manufacturing
liquor illegally. Six other men involved in the case were acquitted
of the charges. The original indictments were the result of a raid by
Federal agents on a warehouse.

Acting
on an anonymous tip, agents of the Internal Revenue Service found a
complete distillery, whiskey, and alcohol valued at more than
$100,000. Trucks and other equipment used by the Fleishers were
seized. Harry and Sam Fleisher, Jack Selbin, and Joe Stein were all
charged with operating a distillery and not paying Federal taxes.
John Gettleson, who was a Realtor, had leased the warehouse building
for the gang knowing it was to be used for illegal purposes.

On
April 15, 1936 Harry and Sam Fleisher, Joe Stein, and Jack Selbin
were sentenced to eight years in Federal prison and a $20,000 fine
each. During the trial, evidence showed that Sam Fleisher had acted
as business agent for the distillery. It was Sam who made the
necessary arrangements for bringing in the brewing supplies and
shipping out the finished product. Harry and Sam Fleisher, Joe Stein,
and Jack Selbin were eventually transferred to Alcatraz Island
Penitentiary. All four were sent to Alcatraz at the same time from
Leavenworth. They rode in the same car as Alvin Karpis, Public Enemy
Number one on the F.B.I, lists, who would later describe Sam Fleisher
as a killer. The Fleishers, Selbin, and Stein served four and a half
years of their original 8 year term. They were released on June 28,
1940, after receiving time off for good behavior.

Louis
Fleisher was born in Detroit on September 15, 1905. As a youngster he
was a member of the juvenile Purple Gang. He later went to work for
Charlie Leiter and Henry Shorr in the Oakland Sugar House where he
worked as a sharker, hijacker, and auto mechanic. At six feet and 200
pounds, Lou was effective at his chosen profession. As an adult he
often used the alias of "Fleish". He was first arrested at
the age of seventeen, the first of many arrests. Charges included
concealed weapons, armed robbery, breaking and entering, violation of
the State Prohibition law, and murder.

On
July 20th, 1926 Lou Fleisher was arrested in Detroit for the murder
of William Glanzrock, who was found shot twice through the head.
Detectives had received information that Lou Fleisher and Glanzrock
were partners in a bootlegging operation. During an argument over the
proceeds from a liquor deal, Fleisher,
reportedly,
pulled a pistol and killed Glanzrock. Lou was arrested and questioned
but later released due to lack of evidence. It wasn't until one year
later that Fleisher was positively connected to the Glanzrock
killing.

Lou
Fleisher, Sam Drapkin, and another Purple named Edward Factor were
sitting in the car of Jacob "Butch" Kaplan in front of the
Oakland Sugar House. Kaplan had walked up to the car and begun
talking to Fleisher when another vehicle pulled alongside. Shots were
fired. Kaplan died and Fleisher and the others were held as police
witnesses. At Headquarters, Lou Fleisher admitted to killing
Glanzrock a year earlier in self-defense. Police believed the
shooting of Kaplan and Fleisher was an attempt by Glanzrock's friends
to even the score. Kaplan had just been in the wrong place at the
wrong time. Louis Fleisher was charged with manslaughter in the
murder of William Glanzrock. Glanzrock's body was later exhumed for a
coroner's inquest. Fleisher was arraigned for the Glanzrock murder
but released when, again, a coroner's jury could not find enough
evidence to link him to the crime.

On
July 10th, 1927 at 8:30 p.m., Lou Fleisher and four other Purples
hijacked a truck at Flat Rock, Michigan. The vehicle was enroute from
Akron, Ohio, hauling approximately $15,000 worth of auto tires and
other rubber goods. The driver and his helper told local police and
F.B.I, agents that a Studebaker pulled alongside of their truck at a
road stop. Five armed men got out and forced the two truckers to get
into their car at gunpoint. Two of the bandits drove away with the
truck while the three others drove off in the Studebaker with
the
hostages.

One
of the tankers was observant. He noticed that
one
side of the trim on a door panel of the Studebaker was torn in a
peculiar manner. He also noted the mileage on the vehicle's odometer.
He then chewed up a cigar butt he had in his mouth and spit tobacco
juice on the rear window of the car so it might be identified by
police later. The gangsters drove back to Detroit and continued
driving around the city until about 2:30 a.m., when the truck drivers
were left in the street. During the time that they were held hostage,
the two men were able to get a good look at the bandits who'd held
them at gunpoint.

According
to the two teamsters, the gangsters conversed in a foreign language
(probably Yiddish), in addition to speaking perfect English. The
truck drivers even noted that the Studebaker had disk wheels, carried
an extra tire on the back, and that all of the tires were Millers.

On
July 12th, 1927 the stolen truck and trailer were found. Soon
afterwards a Studebaker fitting the description of the one used by
the bandits was found in Detroit. It proved to be a 1927 model
painted green. Closer inspection revealed a torn door pocket on the
right door and tobacco stains on the rear window. A check of State
Motor Vehicle records established that Lou Fleisher was the owner of
the car, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Fleisher
was released to U.S. Marshals to appear before the U.S. Commissioner
on hijacking charges. He pleaded not guilty and was held in lieu of a
$25,000 bond. He denied owning the car or that he was a member of the
Oakland Sugar House gang. Fleisher was put into a police lineup and
positively identified.

Four
hundred tires which had been taken from the truck were found in a
rented garage in Detroit. Fleisher continued to refuse to talk to
Federal agents. The officers received information that Fleisher's
companions the night of the hijacking were Jacob Kaplan and Morris
Sandier, both Purple gangsters. Kaplan was killed several weeks
later. Sandier was never apprehended. Fleisher later told police that
he barely knew the other two men involved but noted New York accents.
Louis Fleisher was the only member of the gang of hijackers brought
to trial. On February 29th, 1928, he changed his plea to guilty and
was sentenced to serve ten years at Leavenworth Penitentiary.

He
was released from Federal prison after serving a minimum term on
November 21th, 1934. He walked out of Federal prison into a different
world. When he got back to Detroit, the Purple Gang was no longer the
dominant force. National Prohibition had been repealed. The old time
bootleggers and rumrunners had gone into legitimate businesses or
gotten into other rackets. Drug peddling, gambling, prostitution, and
labor racketeering had become the predominant sources of income for
the underworld.

After
Harry and Sam Fleisher were indicted for Federal liquor violations in
1935, the three Fleisher brothers moved to Jackson, Michigan,
presumably to help their father in his scrap metal business. In the
fall of 1935, Lou Fleisher and Sam "Fatty" Bernstein moved
to Albion, Michigan, where they opened the Riverside Iron and Metal
Company. Their connection to the scrap yard was used as proof they
had legitimate employment for the pending Federal trial in the spring
of 1936.

Lou
Fleisher used the junkyard as a cover for a safecracking operation.
He worked with Chester Tutha, leader of a Hamtramck mob known as the
"Lizard
Gang."
For more than nine months, this gang operated throughout central
Michigan committing burglaries and safe thefts which baffled local
and State police. The gang used a supercharged 1935 model Graham
Paige sedan. Lou Fleisher converted the stolen vehicle into an
armored car into which safes could be rolled and hauled off to be
opened later. The interior of the car was lined with sheet steel and
the side windows were made of bulletproof glass.

The
rear window of the armored Graham Paige sedan was removable. It could
be taken out and replaced by a steel plate with gun ports in it. The
center door post of the vehicle and back seat had been carefully
removed to allow large safes to be easily pushed into the car. A
small ramp could be pulled out from under the floor of the car to
allow safes to be quickly wheeled on with a small hand truck. The
rear tires of the car were protected from bullets by steel guards
which extended almost to the ground.

The
gang pulled off a burglary or a safe robbery on the average of
several times a week until the night of May 11th, 1936. On that night
the Isabell Seed Company in Jackson, Michigan, was broken into and
the night clerk at the hotel next door saw the men moving the safe
out of the building and into the Graham Paige sedan. When he walked
out to investigate Lou Fleisher walked up to him and leveled a sawed
off shotgun. Fleisher ordered the man to get off the street. Battle
Creek police eventually chased the Graham Paige sedan but lost it.

On
May 30th, 1936 the Riverside Packing Company of Jackson had a safe
blown and $1,500 taken. The same sedan was seen. On May 31, 1936 a
Michigan resident reported a Graham Paige sedan parked in a remote
location on the Kalamazoo River. It was obvious that someone was
trying to hide it. The garage was directly across from Lou Fleisher's
junkyard. The car appeared to have several bullet holes in it. Police
went to the garage and investigated.

Through
a window they could see a partially hidden Graham Paige sedan with
bullet holes on the left side. Inside the vehicle was a small hand
truck. Officers from the State Police and Jackson police department
broke the lock and entered the garage. They found the car had two
sets of plates. Several shotguns, rifles, and revolvers were found
inside. Flashlights and burglar tools were also found. A raiding
party was then organized and sent to Lou Fleisher's home.

A
thorough search produced a nickel plated .45 caliber pistol hidden in
a drawer. They also found a receipt for the rental of the garage
where the car was found. Lou Fleisher and Sam Bernstein, along with
their wives, were arrested and brought to Albion for questioning.
They were later turned over to the Jackson police as suspects in the
Riverside Packing Company robbery. The police showed mug shots of Lou
Fleisher, Sam Bernstein, Chester Tutha, John Godlewski, and Robert
Deptla. All were recognized as familiar faces around Albion and
Jackson. Police found nitroglyc-erin, dynamite caps, and fifteen feet
of wire hidden in the car. The wire was the same type used to blow
the safe at the Riverside Packing Company job.

On
June 3rd, 1936, Lou Fleisher and Sam Bernstein were questioned about
more than fifty burglaries in and around the Jackson area. At this
point, police had not decided upon which case to base a prosecution.
On June 5th, 1936 Lou Fleisher was positively identified by the night
clerk who witnessed the safe removal.

Kane
picked Fleisher out of a police lineup as the man who had held a
sawed off shotgun on him, but could not identify Sam Bernstein. Sam
Bernstein was held as a suspect in a $7,000 drug truck hijacking and
taken to Detroit.

Lou
Fleisher spent several nights in jail before making bond on the
charges. Both he and his wife then returned to Detroit. State Police
detectives tried to persuade Lou Fleisher to help them find and
arrest Chester Tutha, John Godlewski, and Robert Deptla in return for
leniency. Fleisher tentatively agreed to the deal, but after several
meetings with Tutha and Godlewski he was not successful.

In
early September 1936 the safe cracking case against Fleisher was
dismissed by the Jackson County Prosecutor due to lack of evidence.
After much coaxing by Corporal Freeman and other members of the State
Police, the Jackson County Prosecutor told Freeman to get warrants
against Fleisher in Albion for possession of unregistered guns,
receiving and aiding in the concealment of a stolen car, and
possession of burglary tools. The prosecutor then explained to
Freeman that if Fleisher agreed to implicate the other members of his
gang, he would give him immunity in the case and try the others for
safe blowing. If Fleisher refused to testify against the others, he
could then be taken to Calhoun County and tried on the warrant
charges against him there.