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Book Exposes Unseen World of Local Mafia By Jennie Miller - 12/14/2006 C&G Newspapers More Info on This Book: Motor City Mafia: A Century of Organized Crime in Detroit
But now there’s some new material. West Bloomfield native Scott Burnstein, 29, has published his first book, “Motor City Mafia: A Century of Organized Crime in Detroit.” “When I wrote this book, I was thinking, ‘What would I want to read?’” Burnstein said last week, amid a busy schedule chock-full of book signings at Borders stores in Troy, Rochester Hills, Grosse Pointe, Utica, Detroit, Flint and East Lansing. The graduate of Roeper School, Indiana University and John Marshall Law School in Chicago dove into the research, spending hours engrossed in the pages of historical archives at Wayne State University and local newspapers. He tracked down retired FBI agents who worked the cases, interviewing them and gathering never-before-seen photographs that are among the 200 in the book. Of all Burnstein’s research, the most interesting to him, like the general public, is the information he gleaned regarding Jimmy Hoffa. “I was able to talk to federal law enforcement who were on the case when it happened,” he said, adding that he was in the midst of his research last summer when the FBI spent weeks digging at a farm in Milford on a tip that the mobster’s body was buried there. “Motor City Mafia” reveals new information and pictures related to the Jimmy Hoffa disappearance and murder; includes crime scene photos taken from various local murders; and captures never-before-seen mug shots of many notorious Detroit-area criminals of the past and present. It also unveils FBI surveillance photographs of numerous local wise guys, mobsters and crime syndicate leaders; and even contains photographs and stories involving alleged affairs between the Mafia and Detroit sports legends Isiah Thomas, Alex Karras, Tommy Hearns and Denny McClain. But it’s not just the sensationalist stories that interest Burnstein. “People are interested in gangsters because of the blood and guts, but the part that interests me is the nuts and bolts [of the organization], how the power flows vertically and horizontally up the ladder, and the politics about how something like this is run,” he said. “These guys are really the crème de la crème of gangsters in the city of Detroit. They’re college educated, all incessantly trying to avoid the spotlight, where in other cities they like being portrayed as wise guys. These guys are business-like, with a corporate-like structure in terms of the underworld savvy. There’s not a lot of people who can top these guys.” The response to “Motor City Mafia” has so far been positive, he said, although with relatives of those mentioned in the book living nearby, he might get a little bit of flak. “I want to make it clear that I’m not passing judgment; I’m not trying to get people in trouble with law enforcement, nor am I trying to pump these guys up,” Burnstein explained. “This city has a rich tradition of underworld activity, and people are fascinated by that. It’s such a unique part of our society, but until now, there’s been nothing to read about it. This is for history’s sake.” “Motor City Mafia” is available at local bookstores, independent retailers and online retailers, or through Arcadia Publishing at (888)-313-2665 or www.arcadiapublishing.com. Buy It Now: Motor City Mafia: A Century of Organized Crime in Detroit $21.99 Picturing the Detroit Mafia By Bill McGraw - 02/04/2007 Detroit Free Press
Then there is Arcadia’s “Motor City Mafia,” Scott Burnstein’s history of organized crime in Detroit. It is filled with images of bodies lying in their own blood, mug shots, FBI surveillance photos, Mafia weddings and wise guys with nicknames like Cockeyed Sam, Sammy B, Swinging Sammy, Jimmy Q., Pat the Pimp, Joe the Barber, Tony Pro, Tony Z, Joey Jack, Billy Jack, Frank the Irishman, Sally Buggs, Joe the Whip, Papa John and Black Jack. And Black Bill, Little Vince, Tommy Gun, Jackie G, Louie the Bulldog, Hollywood Ronnie, Pete the Baker, Tony Pal, Frankie the Bomb, Fat Jackie, Taco, Buster, Skippy, Bernie the Hammer, Pete the Greek, Bobby the Tiger, Tony the Fixer, Fat Jerry, Bobby the Teacher, Freddie the Saint, Superfly, Chicago Tony, Little Caesar, The Peacemaker, Young Mikey, Sammy Lou, Mike the Enforcer, Joe Uno and Pat the Cat, among others. While “Motor City Mafia” is an unlikely part of the series, it’s proven to be a popular one in metro Detroit. It’s now running through its third printing, and Burnstein, 30, of West Bloomfield, has been asked to do numerous book signings. “I’m not trying to put these guys in jail,” Burnstein says. “I’m not passing judgment on what they’ve done. Historically, it’s important to the city. It needs to be put in some sort of record.” Assembling the photos from local archives, his own collection and retired FBI agents, Burnstein starts his tale at the turn of the 20th Century, when Detroit’s teeming ethnic neighborhoods spawned mobsters who struggled for control of businesses both legal and illegal. One photo of a police lineup from the Prohibition era shows members of the Italian River Gang, the Jewish Purple Gang and independent Polish gangsters. Burnstein writes that the ruthless Purple Gang ruled city street from about 1925 to 1933. Authorities say they were responsible for more than 500 local murders. He chronicles the 1931 rubout – by his own men -- of gangland boss Chester (Big Chet) La Mare, which led to the formation of the modern-day Mafia crime family. The first leader was Bill Tocco, who chose as his underboss best friend and brother-in-law Joe Zerilli, who assumed control of the local mob five years later and ran it into the 1970s, “building the crime family into a juggernaut of vice and corruption and a model of underworld stability and efficiency,” according to Burnstein. Zerilli anointed Jack Tocco as his successor, and Tocco continues as boss today. Burnstein says the metro-area Mafia of the early 21st Century is a cohesive outfit staffed by people who are mostly relatives, which adds to the cohesiveness. Regenerating after federal prosecutions of the 1990s, local mobsters remain active in the traditional Detroit mob pursuits as bookmaking, extortion and loan sharking, Burnstein contends. Growing up in West Bloomfield, Burnstein became interested in crime after developing an obsession as a child with one of the crimes of the century – the assassination of John F. Kennedy. He graduated from Indiana University and got a law degree from John Marshall Law School in Chicago. He decided several years ago that he wanted to become a writer. “By the end of law school I was telling everybody that law school was a mistake, and if I ever had to practice law I would have to shoot myself,” he says. Signing books at local stores, Burnstein has met some of the younger relatives of the mobsters featured in the book, and he has even come face-to-face with a couple of low-ranking Mafia members. They’ve been generally positive, he said. One told him: “We got a kick out of it.” One night, at the Border’s in Birmingham, an older man walked up and showed Burnstein his driver’s license. It was a former underworld character whose street name was “Pat the Pimp,” described in the book as having been killed in a gangland dispute. “I’m not dead,” he told Burnstein. Turns out he had been shot, but didn’t die. Before long, patrons were asking Pat the Pimp to sign their books, right on his photo – an FBI mug shot -- on page 91. Said Burnstein: “I’m not saying it’s the gospel. I’m not saying I know everything. The goal was to be as accurate as possible. I hope it’s the first book of many.” Bang! Bang! Motor City Mafia By Robert del Valle - 03/07/2007 Real Detroit Weekly
Exhibit A in defense of that premise recently arrived in the form of a slim volume entitled Motor City Mafia: A Century of Organized Crime in Detroit. A somewhat unexpected addition to the attractive (and generally rosy) Images of America series from Arcadia Press, Scott M. Burnstein’s work is both a chronological scrapbook and a glimpse into a hidden history that most of us are only dimly aware of. RD: Did you wake up this morning with a horse’s head in your bed? Fortunately for me, it was not a whole head, just the hooves What prompted you to write the book and how long did the research take? I finished law school and decided I wanted to write about crime for a living, rather than becoming an attorney. The idea of being a starving artist and giving back to the community of Detroit something of historical significance, when most of my friends from law school and college were making six figure salaries, is somewhat liberating and exciting to me. … All the research took about a year and a half. RD: Several of the individuals mentioned in the book are still with us. Have you gotten any feedback? Don’t bother to answer if you wrote, “yes,” after question one. Some of the people in the book, and several of their family members, have contacted me and came to my book signings to talk to me about the subject matter. For the most part, it has been very positive. The main thing I want to get across to these people, is that I want to be as accurate as possible, so I can tell the story the way it really was. There is no point of reference on the material, due to the fact that nobody has ever covered this part of Detroit history before, so I am just trying to talk to as many as people as possible, read as much as I can get my hands on and get the story out to the people the right way. RD: How do the “men of respect” today compare with their predecessors? In terms of the mafia and organized crime activities, Detroit is very unique — both yesterday and today. Obviously, the middle of the 20th Century was the heyday for the mob and nothing will ever be as good for them as it was then, but in Detroit, things have remained as a good as anyone could expect. Unlike other regional syndicates around the U.S., who have in recent times crumbled and been brought down from backbiting, treachery and deceit, the Detroit mob has flourished due to its unwavering stability at the top of the organization and its corporate-like structure and fine-tuned efficiency at the bottom. The people that were running the city’s underworld back in the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s, have the same names as the ones that are leading it today. Fathers taught their sons the methods of how to do successful business in the rackets, and the sons learned very well. The fact that there has been very little turnover in leadership over the years and that almost everyone involved are blood relatives with each other, combined with the usage of violence only being dispersed at the most necessary of times, the crime family here is very healthy and shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon. Not a lot of people know they are there, and they like it that way. But make no doubt, they are there and they are thriving. |
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