THE DETROIT TRUE CRIME CHRONICLES BY SCOTT M BURNSTEIN

Since we have been in lockdown for the past 3 months, I have been catching up on the stack of books that fans and readers have sent me over the past years. I just finished this cool book by Detroit Crime History Kingpin Scott M. Burnstein. 5 STARS

Scott M. Burnstein is an attorney, journalist, and organized crime historian. He is the author of Motor City Mafia: A Century of Organized Crime in Detroit and Family Affair: Greed, Treachery, and Betrayal in the Chicago Mafia. He is the co-author (with Phil Leonetti) of Mafia Prince: Inside America s Most Violent Mafia Family and the Bloody Fall of La Cosa Nostra.

Scott, as you can see, wears a ton of hats, author, tv personality, newspaper reporter, documentary film collaborator, and true crime historian. I trust his information explicitly and believe me he knows all...

This book filled in a ton of blanks I had about crimes in Detroit. Check it out and follow Scott online too.

The Detroit True Crime Chronicles is a REAL Detroit kind of publication. It chronicles the rich history of criminal organizations and their activity in the Motor City.

Scott is amazing as a researcher and his book's focus is on the city's local Mafia, key mobsters, drug kingpins, serial killers, and unsolved crimes. Readers who crave Detroit crime history (like me) will be taken inside the city for dramatic tales of intrigue, betrayal, and murder.

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.

No other American city can boast such a cavalcade of remarkable criminal characters. Scott Burnstein has brought them all together in one unforgettable book.

The Detroit True Crime Chronicles: 

Tales of Murder and Mayhem in the Motor City

GANGSTERS UP NORTH: A NEW BOOK BY ROBERT KNAPP

Gangsters Up North—a new book by Robert Knapp

Northern Michigan has for decades drawn millions each year to its beautiful lakes and rivers. Gangsters Up North adds a new and exciting dimension to the colorful lore of those lands. What were gangsters doing in Michigan’s vacationlands during the Prohibition years?

Like many ordinary folks of the time, they often traveled Up North for rest and relaxation—and for more nefarious activities. Al Capone, the Purple Gang, Fred “Killer” Burke, other Public Enemies, and many other hoodlums found their way north in fact or in fiction.

They became heavily involved in the gambling and bootlegging that was pervasive in up-scale resorts in Charlevoix, Little Traverse Bay, and Mackinac Island.

They kidnapped and murdered. But most usually, they just hung out with everyone else. Gangsters were front-page stories in those years, their leaders were household names, their faces easily recognizable. Up North, people far and wide claimed to recognize those faces in their various backyards.

They said they saw Big Al Capone in this hotel or at that lake or in that cabin. Rumors of John Dillinger coming to town threw citizens into a frenzy of fear. Black Cadillacs pulling up to a rural place had to hold Mafiosi.

Gangsters Up North Mobsters, Mafia, and Racketeers in Michigan's Vacationlands

So imaginary sightings interwove with actual criminal activity throughout the tip of the mitt and Upper Peninsula. Gangsters Up North draws on newspaper accounts, numerous interviews, rare images, and much-unpublished material to paint the real picture of mobsters and their associates in Michigan’s northland.

Robert Knapp unweaves the tangle of tales and truth. Gangsters come to life Up North.

Gangsters Up North appeals to the wide audience of vacationers, local historians, and anyone intrigued by gangsters. It will be available at presentations and sold in local stores. 

Author Robert Knapp was born and raised in the central Michigan area. During a thirty-year career at the University of California, Berkeley, he published extensively on topics in ancient history including, most recently, Invisible Romans and Dawn of Christianity.  
In retirement, his interests turned also to the local history of Clare, Michigan, where he is restoring the log home built by his pioneering great-grandfather. 
His previous books include Small-town Citizen Minion of the Mob—Sam Garfield’s Two Lives—The Purple Gang Meyer Lansky and Life in Clare Michigan (2018), Mystery Man—Gangsters, Oil, and Murder in Michigan (2014) and Clare, 1865-1940 (Arcadia Images of America series) (2012).

KIMMER'S INVITATION TO MOB MOVIE CON AND CHATTING WITH GUNNER DETROIT

This event looks like big fun for all of us Mob Movie addicts! I received a lovely email the other inviting me to come to the Mob Movie con as I am a True Crime blogger/writer. I love my email!

Hello Kim, my name is Gunner Alan Lindbloom (Tocco) and I think we have spoken before. Maybe. I’m reaching out because I’ve been invited to co-host the first-ever Mob Movie Con, as host in charge of writers. I have assembled the greatest panel of true crime and mafia writers the world has ever seen, for a series of interactive fan discussions. 

Since I know you’re a true crime person, and an expert on my family, I thought I’d invited you to attend the event. Very big deal. Huge actors. The biggest in the business. Over 150 media outlets. And if you have anything you’d like to exhibit, I can help with that.

The invitation came from Gunner Lindbloom aka Gunner Detroit who has such an interesting life story so far they need a reality show about this guy! Heads up ID Network and Reelz. After I read his email I wanted to know more about his story so I contacted him.

MobMovieCon is from the creators of SopranosCon, fans can come and celebrate the mob movie genre like never before. They will also be hosting the first-ever Mob Movie Awards. Tons of our very favorite mob movie cast and crew will be on hand to meet and greet with attendees at Harrah's Casino in Atlantic City April 18-19. They are looking for volunteers so if you'd like to join the fun click here. GET TICKETS

Back to Gunner Detroit: He is originally from Grosse Pointe and his mom was Grace Tocco (rip) of the famed Tocco family in Detroit. Gunner grew up connected. He ended up in the Michigan Prison system for 13 years. He did not waste away while incarcerated, he began writing novels.

From GunnerDetroit.com

Gunner was once described by the FBI as “an enforcer for elements of the Detroit Mafia.” Eventually, He ended up in prison for 13-50 years. But something magical happened in those cold dark prison cells. He discovered a love for writing. During his time he wrote nine complete novels.

The day after he was released, he married his best friend, soulmate, and very talented Maria. A few months later, Gunner published his TO BE A KING novels, Volume 1 & Volume 2. Within days Volume #1 cracked the top #50 in its genre. Both volumes currently have 5-star reviews across the board.

Shortly after releasing his books, he then created an Our Thing Hoodie for himself and that inspired his own clothing/accessories line  “OUR THING” Apparel. Very cool stuff on that site..Detroiters will love his items!

Gunner is also featured on National Crime Syndicate

It was great chatting yesterday and I know Gunner will achieve great things in the future!

Follow Gunner Detroit:

Website: GunnerDetroit.com
Facebook: Author Gunner Alan Lindbloom
Instagram: Author Gunner Alan Lindbloom
National Crime Syndicate: Interview with Gunner Detroit

NEW DETROIT CRIME FAMILY BOOK: TO BE A KING BY GA LINDBLOOM

April 15

Enter the dangerous and Machiavellian world of La Cosa Nostra in G.A. Lindbloom's new Mafia novel about a Detroit crime family.

The highly anticipated new novel TO BE A KING by author Gunner Alan Lindbloom will publish to ebook, Kindle and print on April 15, 2017.

Omnio "King" Falcone is the grandson of Don "The Butcher" Falcone, the feared and powerful boss of Detroit’s reclusive Mafia faction, known simply as the “Syndicate.” As the last Falcone, King is the heir-apparent to his grandfather's throne.

Except there is one problem. A big one. He is a “difetto,” not of pure Sicilian blood. As a result, he has been ostracized by much of the Syndicate. Even worse, the Commission, a secret pantheon of Mafia bosses from all over the country, has named his Machiavellian uncle the new Boss.

But King is a brilliant tactician. Even with the odds stacked against him, he rises through the Syndicate ranks. Many of the Family capos have grown to respect and fear him, for he commands a faithful crew of ambitious young wiseguys who have sworn their lives to him.

PRE-ORDER YOUR COPIES BELOW

To Be A King: Volume 1

To Be A King: Volume 2

After years of methodical planning and forming strategic alliances, King is on the brink of finally being accepted by the Commission when a beautiful young Mafia princess arrives into town from Sicily. Smitten, he decides he must have her as his own.

Unfortunately, his arch nemesis— his nefarious cousin Anthony—has already laid claim to her. A war for her affection ensues. When the smoke clears, King is left serving a life sentence in federal prison, while Anthony is elevated to Syndicate underboss, ranked second only to his father, the Syndicate's new "Capo di tutti Cappi," Boss of all Bosses.

Don Falcone, however, does not intend to dishonor his ancestors by allowing the last Falcone to die in prison. He has kept a favor on the books for over fifty years, and when he finally calls it in, King emerges from prison a free man.

READ A SNEAK PREVIEW HERE

And not only does King intend to take his rightful place at the head of his grandfather's crime family, he also intends to seat himself at the head of the entire Syndicate. But first he must dethrone his uncle and usurp his treacherous cousin.

Can King Falcone execute a coup d'etat and seize control of the Syndicate? Or will he incite an all-out Motor City mob war? Can he overcome his own mixed blood and earn the right to his grandfather's throne, or will he be banished from the Family? To find out, read on and learn what it takes… To Be A King

THE ST VALENTINE'S DAY MASSACRE OF 1929!

Classic Gangster Society

Gang warfare ruled the streets of Chicago during the late 1920s, as chief gangster Al Capone sought to consolidate control by eliminating his rivals in the illegal trades of bootlegging, gambling and prostitution.

This rash of gang violence reached its bloody climax in a garage on the city’s North Side on February 14, 1929, when seven men associated with the Irish gangster George “Bugs” Moran, one of Capone’s longtime enemies, were shot to death by several men dressed as policemen.

The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, as it was known, was never officially linked to Capone, but he was generally considered to have been responsible for the murders.

1929 St. Valentine day massacre facts:
The only survivor was German Shepherd called Highball.
150 shots were fired at the North Side gangsters.
Al Capone was in Miami at the time of the killings.
Gangster Frank Gusenberg was still barely alive when police turned up. They asked him who shot him, he answered: "Nobody." He died few hours later.

The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre is the name given to the February 14, 1929 murder of seven men of the North Side Irish gang during the Prohibition Era.[1] It resulted from the struggle – between the Irish American gang and the South Side Italian gang led by Al Capone – to take control of organized crime in Chicago.

HARRY BENNETT PHOTOS SENT TO ME AS A GIFT PART 2

Harry Bennett and bodyguard enjoy the circus

Bennett and his longtime driver/ bodyguard Frank Witmire enjoy a circus performance in Detroit, c. 1940. Few pastimes gave Bennett more pleasure than the spectacle and thrill of the circus. Bennett befriended wild animal tamers Clyde Beatty and Allen King.

It was from Beatty that Bennett received several sets of lion cubs which he raised during the mid-1930s. Once they grew to half size at five-six months old he traded them for cubs.

The cats provided a handy prop for Bennett's risky practical jokes. He often flipped off the lights at parties and quietly unchained a lion that brushed against people's legs, triggering panicked screams. He also locked unsuspecting guests in the darkened tunnel that contained the lion's cages.

He peered through peep holes to watch the terrified reactions when the guest reached the cages, unaware that bars protected them from the lions. However, the danger the lions posed outweighed the fun and Bennett gave up the hobby after several escapes and the injury of a guest.

 HB and Max Baer

Heavyweight boxing champ Max Baer and the diminutive Bennett (5' 6") at company headquarters in Dearborn, Jan. 1935.  Bennett hosted other ring champions for lunch in his opulent dining room at the Ford Administration building, including Jack Dempsey, Max Schmeling and Primo Carnera.  An avid sports fan, Bennett found work for such legendary athletes as Jim Thorpe, Jessie Owens, Kid McCoy, Mickey Cochrane and Eddie Cicotte.

Harry Bennett hands Truant to Navy

In 1941, at a ceremony on the quay at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station near Chicago, Bennett, representing the Ford Motor Co., conveys legal title to the yacht Truant, owned by Henry Ford, to the U.S. Navy for training purposes. 

Bennett sold his own yacht to the Coast Guard a year later for wartime patrol duty.

HB on Castle Porch

Harry Bennett, 36, strikes a genial pose in front of the castle's glass-enclosed front door in 1928.  A year later, at the close of a kidnapping case Bennett helped to solve, one of the fugitive kidnappers fired a shotgun blast at Bennett through the plate-glass door as he read a newspaper.  

The clean entrance and exit wound required hospitalization.  Afterwards, Henry Ford assigned a bodyguard to protect Bennett.  Ford also paid to bullet-proof the glass in Bennett's door and install an escape hatch to the Huron River.

Wine Cellar to Castle Tunnel

All seven Bennett homes were constructed with party rooms equipped with bars. Several homes contained wine cellars, like this one. The wine cellars were accessible by trick doors. Additional hidden doors inside led to tunnels. The below-ground cellars, featuring marble shelves, provided ideal refrigeration for wine storage.

Bennett Tunnel

Workmen using pick and shovel burrowed the tunnels beneath Bennett's homes. The floors, walls and arched ceilings are concrete. The tunnels measure approximately 30 inches wide and just under six feet high, and were outfitted with overhead lights. Their distances varied depending on the end point. Some ran 20 to 30 feet, while others extended hundreds of yards; one stretched more than three-quarters of a mile.

The tunnels ran beneath flat terrain, descended hillsides via staircases, and often branched off in different directions. One tunnel dipped beneath a creek and remained watertight for decades.  The mansions of both Henry and Edsel Ford contained subterranean pathways too. Theirs predated Bennett's tunneling.

Bookcase door to tunnel (shown closed & open)

In five of his seven homes, Bennett installed a variety of secret doors that opened to secret passageways and tunnels. Some portals were as simple as hinged storage shelves; others were quite sophisticated, involving hidden buttons and moveable towel racks. Pictured here is a hidden door to a tunnel disguised by floor-to-ceiling shelves.

HB tightrope walk

With a helping hand from Esther, his third wife, Bennett steadies himself as he walks a rope to the deck of his yacht during a party at his East Tawas cabin, c. 1937. Before World War I, Bennett served a four year hitch stoking the coal-fired engines of three U.S. dreadnaughts. Bennett held the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the naval reserve intelligence division for 17 years beginning in 1936.

 HB swims with daughter at Pagoda

A windswept, tattooed Bennett wades with his youngest daughter in the flooded yard of his Pagoda boathouse on Grosse Ile, c. 1941. The unpredictable level of the Detroit River's Trenton Channel periodically flowed into the ground floor of Bennett's summer home, where he moored his yacht in one of two sea-going slips enclosed by roll-up garage doors.

HB with Tris Speaker-Ty Cobb

Retired baseball greats Tris Speaker (left) and Ty Cobb flank Bennett at a Ford-sponsored baseball game in August 1945, one month before Henry Ford II replaced his grandfather as company presidency and pushed Bennett into retirement.  Bennett and Cobb remained friends for years.

HB on horseback after retirement

Bennett rides his pinto horse on the desert floor of his 80 acre ranch near the San Jacinto National Park at Desert Hot Springs, California. In 1946, the Bennetts relocated to the West Coast following Bennett's retirement. The family escaped the sweltering summers by spending June, July and August at their Lost Lake retreat in Michigan for the next ten years.

 In retirement Bennett filled his days by painting oils of the mountain scenery surrounding him, performing home improvement projects, and entertaining out-of-town guests. His family took an active part in community events. 

They frequently dined in Palm Springs, often in the company of Hollywood screen stars. In 1968, at the age of 76, Bennett and his wife moved to Las Vegas. Bennett died in 1979 at a Los Gatos, Calif., convalescent home.

 READ ALL MY STORIES ON HARRY BENNETT HERE

40 YEARS AGO JULY 31 1975 JIMMY HOFFA DISAPPEARED

Photo of Jimmy Hoffa taken just six days before his disappearance. Tony Spina, Detroit Free Press

The disappearance of Teamster Union legend Jimmy Hoffa has never stopped being under scrutiny..So many versions of what might have happened. Today the Detroit Free Press ran a really comprehensive...I thought I would share this with my readers.

By John Wisely, Detroit Free Press

The main suspects:

■ Anthony (Tony Jack) Giacalone, a Detroit Mafia captain with whom Hoffa was scheduled to meet the day he disappeared.

■ Vito (Billy Jack) Giacalone, Anthony’s brother and also a Mafia captain.

■ Anthony (Tony Pro) Provenzano, a New Jersey mobster and Teamster official with whom Hoffa thought he was meeting.

■ Salvatore (Sally Bugs) Briguglio, a Provenzano henchman suspected by investigators of being the trigger man in Hoffa”s killing.

■ Gabriel Briguglio, Salvatore’s brother.

 Machus Red Fox

Hoffa’s family told investigators that Hoffa had scheduled a 2 p.m. meeting July 30, 1975, with Anthony Giacalone and Provenzano at the Machus Red Fox restaurant on Telegraph Road just south of Maple Road in Bloomfield Township, in a building that now houses Andiamo Italia West.

Time line of the Hoffa investigation

“The only thing we know for certain are the notes that he left of who he was meeting, when he was meeting them,” Crancer said. “He left it in writing. He left the time and the initials of the people. 

Then if he went and kept that meeting, which I’m sure he did, then those had to be the people responsible. That’s the only thing I can say. They made the appointment.”

 Read Full Story Here

40 years later, Jimmy Hoffa mystery endures

DETROIT MAFIA HOME FOR SALE WITH INSIDE PHOTO TOUR

CLICK PHOTO TO START SLIDE SHOW

701 Middlesex Rd. in Grosse Pointe Park is a 7,481 sq. foot Georgian colonial that will be sold in an auction on Saturday, June 20. Built in 1951, it was the home of a man thought to be the Italian mafia's enforcer. It is believed that tunnels run from underneath the house to the home across the street, that of former Detroit mafia boss Anthony Joseph Zerilli.

The five-bedroom, six-and-a-half-bathroom house hits the auction block at noon June 20 through Beth Rose Real Estate and Auctions.

Middlesex Road, setting of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel Middlesex, had plenty of Mafia ties once upon a time, and the two-story mansion sitting on a double lot in Grosse Pointe Park is no exception.

The house allegedly belonged to a Mafia enforcer at one time, and was situated across the boulevard from a mob boss.Read Full Story Here

WINDSOR BOOTLEGGER HARRY LOW'S MANSION HAS BEEN RESTORED!

Low-Martin Home photo: Better Made Cabinets

THE WINDSOR STAR: A Prohibition-era bootlegger’s mansion that heritage buffs feared would be demolished has regained its Roaring Twenties dazzle thanks to the owner of Better Made  kitchen cabinet company, Vern Myslichuk

The Low-Martin home was built in 1928 by rum-runner Harry Low and was later owned by federal cabinet minister Paul Martin Sr. It sat empty and deteriorating for many years but owner Vern Myclichuk has spent the past two years renovating the structure.

The home has hosted a wide range of visitors over the years, including Pierre Trudeau and Chicago mob boss Al Capone.

Rear 1922 Photo

The owner of the home, Vern Myclichuk, owner of BetterMade Cabinets, is opening the doors for the public to see the completed renovation.

Rum Running History Windsor/Detroit: The many islands of the Detroit River made smuggling between Windsor and Detroit difficult to detect during Prohibition.

Come take a spectacular tour of the Low-Martin Mansion! A book release on this home will take place the weekend of Art in the Park (June 6th/7th).

HERE ARE INTERIOR PHOTOS

Low/Martin Mansion Open House/Book Release

2021 Ontario St. Windsor Ontario.

June 6th and 7th 2015

$10.00 Entrance to the house

Kids 11-17 years of age $5.00.

Saturday: 10am-6pm

Sunday: 10am-3pm

BetterMade Cabinets. 519 739 3330