Browse Exhibits (1 total)

During the American Prohibition, many opportunistic individuals saw their chance to make a great profit through bootlegging, rum-running and other outlawed commodities which the American populous craved (Tyrell, 17-18). In Detroit, the Purple Gang filled this need by smuggling alcohol from Canada through the Detroit River. But as the Purple Gang's notoriety, power and influence in the Detroit underworld grew, so did the tangible effects felt by the citizens of Detroit.