◆ SpookStack

Beat Ne ea eee id Neem beet aes ae ne atc ee AEE A Sa a eta ee eae ne Bad a een peas 2 re “gerthoiner, during our conversation with him, alse 4 said be never heard of the Purple Gang until about the time the Lind~ va ae: bergh child was kidnaped. He insisted this was the truth even though he was raised in Northern Michigan. He mentioned that his brother, ert, had been kidnaped in 1926, the kidnaper being * LJ « He said that $50,000 was patd for Mert's release. E ate thet so far as he knows the term(*Purple Gang" resulted from a taxi- Poy cab warfare that took plece in Detroit, Michigan, when opposing cab ae companies were wrecking each other's automobiles; that one of the cab lines was known as the Purple Line, it apparently Heing victor~ ious in this equabble, and that thereafter a sort of ayth sprang up about the protection that the Purple Cab Line had adopted for its carg and the men who had maintained this protection, of course, were referred to as the Purple Gang. He claims, however, that none of the members of his family ever had any connection with such a gang, hor with the taxicab business He readily admitted that he and his brothers, Al and Mert had been engaged in thé ganbling business all their lives... I thought that you might be interested in knowing of the above, particularly as to what one gefibier thinks of the possie bilities of the gambling profession operating in Los Angeles under the new administration; and I also thought you might like to know about the Wertheimers of Detroit, about whom I know you have heard. Very truly yours, OW a/ £f. ..L2. g H. HANSON ve JHH: HG pecial Agent in Charge. ‘A } 4 i q 4 t 4 . 4 ; t