Purple Reign is Over

Twenty-four year old Irving Shapiro was a feared member of Detroit's Purple gang and had the distinction of being the first of that particular gang to go for a one-way ride. Shapiro was adept at shaking down speakeasies, contractors and kidnapping. There were no shortage of enemies that would have liked to seen the man dead. It's possible that his own gang had him taken out.

Three days before Shapiro was erased, four member of the gang Abe Axler, Eddie Flectcher, Irving Millberg and Harry Sutton were sent to Leavenworth for bootlegging. There may have been some power moves by the remaining gang who decided that Shapiro had to go. Purple Gang historian Paul Kavieff states that Shapiro kidnapped a contractor and wanted to get $25,000 in ransom but his confederates settled for $4,000. Apparently Shapiro wasn't happy and told his gang mates that they would be kicking in the difference for his share or else. 

Well aware of their cronies ferocity, the remaining Purple Gang members picked up Shapiro in large grey touring sedan, he was in the front passenger seat. At about 3 o'clock in the morning, someone in the back seat placed a .32 at the left base of his skull and fired. The bull passed through his head and out his left cheek. Two more shots were fired to similar effect. The car pulled over and Shapiro was jettisoned.

 

Irving Shapiro

Two Purples Expire

November 26, 1933 - Detroit

Eddie Fletcher and Abe Axler died as they lived; Together. Known as the "Siamese Twins" of Detroit's notorious Purple Gang, both Axler and Fletcher grew up together in Brooklyn, New York. Just as Al Capone went west at the dawn of Prohibition to strike it rich, so to did Axler and Fletcher. The latter two ended up in the Motor City in the mid 1920s and became top torpedoes for the organization.

By 1933 the Purple gang was in disarray. Main gang members and former leaders were either dead or in prison. The Siamese Twins reportedly tried to go straight themselves but were unable to make a living. Designated Public Enemies 1 & 2, by Detroit law enforcement, they were also picked up on sight. It was mentioned that Axler had a bookmaking operation working out of a Detroit barber shop. There was also a report that the men were trying to muscle in on the dope racket.

Whatever the reason, the men were taken for a ride in Axler's own Chrysler sedan. They were last seen leaving a beer garden in Pontiac, Michigan. They climbed into Axler's car after midnight and drove off. Somewhere along the lines they ended up in the back seat. Fletcher on the left, Axler in the middle and another guy on the right. Someone else was driving. It appears that Axler saw what was about to happened and grasped his partner's hand. Police believe Fletcher got it first, a fusillade from a .38 from the front driver's seat. He was hit twice in the chest, once in the right arm and once in the forehead. Axler took five shots from a .45 to the ride side of the head. Unrecognizable, he slouched into his dead friend. The car was abandoned on deserted patch of road off of Telegraph Road near Bloomfield Hills.

A couple of days after the murder the Detroit Free Press stated that the Licavoli crime family had made an attempt on them a few weeks before the murder. Axler and Fletcher may have known they were on the spot because they had been spending time outside of Detroit.

L. Eddie Fletcher R. Abe Axler