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Founded | 1910s |
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Founding location | Detroit / Muskegon, Michigan, U.S. |
Years active | 1910s–1932 |
Territory | Detroit |
Ethnicity | Jewish American |
Activities | Murder, extortion, theft, armed robbery, kidnapping, gambling, bootlegging |
Allies | Chicago Outfit Fred "Killer" Burke |
Rivals | The 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.