The Detroit True Crime Chronicles

Tales of Murder & Mayhem in the Motor City

De: Scott M. Burnstein

Narrado por: Charles Constant

The Detroit True Crime Chronicles sets forth the rich history of criminal activity in the Motor City. Using information from declassified federal documents and many firsthand accounts, the book focuses on the city's local Mafia, key mobsters, drug kingpins, serial killers, and unsolved crimes.

Included in this comprehensive account of criminal life in Michigan's great border city are the stories of "Ernie the Greek" Kanakis, Henry "Blaze" Marzette, Eddie Jackson, "Baby Ray" Peoples, Demetrius Holloway, Butch Jones, Leroy Buttrum, "Frank Nitti" Usher, "Maserati Rick" Carter, "Rocking Reggie" Brown, "Wonderful Wayne" Davis, Young Boys Inc. (YBI), Murder Row, Best Friends, Pony Down, John Wolfenbarger, "Billy Wadd" Smith, Harry "Taco" Bowman, "Tony Jack" Giacalone, "Frankie the Bomb" Bommarito, "Singing Sam" Cattalanotte, the Purple Gang and the Burnstein Brothers, "Black Bill" Tocco, Joseph "Legs" Laman, Christopher Busch, the Chaldean Mafia, the Chambers brothers, "Joe Uno" and "Tony Z" Zerilli, "Black Jack" Tocco, "Papa John" Priziola, "Machine Gun Pete" Corrado, "Jimmy Q" Quasarano, "Gentleman John" Claxton, Carmine "The Doctor" Lombardozi, Angelo "The Chairman" Meli, "Frankie Three Fingers" Coppola, "Cockeyed Joe" Catalanotte, the Badalamenti Group, Benedetto Evangelista, Bobby "The Animal" La Puma, and, of course, Jimmy Hoffa.

©2013 Scott M. Burnstein (P)2021 Tantor

Good listen

Having exhausted pretty much all the NY, Philly, Boston ,Chicago, even Cleveland , true mob stories I was on the hunt for somewhere else . Well did I find a good one in Detroit . I had heard about the Purple Gang when in reading up on Capone & Chicago but only slightly mentioned . Here Burnstein goes into great detail & doesn't stop there . All the ethnic groups get a good telling & of course Hoffa is not left out . Fascinating stuff . There's a lot of names & nick names some may find to much but if you like stories about gangsters this can't be beat .

History nicely explained

As a Michigander, the mispronunciation of many words was a little disturbing , but other than that pretty good review of the history of southeast Michigan

Varied stories

Check out this author’s podcast - The Original Gangsters if you’re into organized crime. It’s probably the best OC podcast out there.

Great info

Very in-depth writing on a vast number of organizations. Kind of ended abruptly, but other than that a very good book.

Well written. Well read. A total history with all factions included. No wasted words.

A total history with everyone included. Including mobsters, black gangs, bikers, and general criminals. Excellent book!