The Detroit True Crime Chronicles: Tales of Murder and Mayhem in the Motor City Paperback – March 27, 2013

Unlike in hardcore hip-hop circles where to increase record-sales/profits,entertainers from kindly locales like Atlanta and Memphis will claim that they've survived a life RIFE with carnage and unmitigated bloodshed,this informative and thorough book,recounts the tragic TRUTH concerning the knavery which has plagued Detroit since Prohibition and earlier!! And herein Rick Wershe is even referred to by his ACTUAL 1984 street-desination of:"White Rick",instead of the variation on this moniker the Detroit Free Press concocted to cause his exploits to seem more sensational,of:"White BOY Rick"!! As one who'd actually worked in a crack house briefly,on Birwood just south of 8 Mile Road in 1987,I remember the name being noised-about of the teenaged Caucasian kid who was making waves in the citys illicit drug industry way over on the northeast side of Detroit with the:Curry Brothers organization as being simply:White Rick,before Detroit media sought to sensationalize the whole(already tragic)situation by garnering suburban Detroits attention by dubbing young Mr. Wershe as:"White BOY Rick"!! Further south in the Detroit City limits, a GIGANTIC,monolithic,low-rent apartment complex on East Grand Boulevard dubbed simply as:The Boulevard as by my uncle and his close friend,back in the 70s and early 80s,was because of the Chambers Bros. organizations criminal capitalistic endeavors,actually the idea/inspiration behind the massive residential/cocaine complex called:The Carter,in the movie:New Jack City which featured Ice -T,Samuel L. Jackson and Wesley Snipes!! Even more,a list of the rules of conduct taped to the wall for the workers in this cavernous crack-den to read ended up being the inspiration for the Notorious B.I.G.s well-known rap:The Ten Crack Commandments!! That cinematic-nightmare was a REALITY in Detroit at one point!! The bloody WAR between Detroits infamous Young Boys Incorporated drug cartel and their locally-known archenemies in:Pony Down is recounted in bloody detail herein. Even events only residents could've only heard of are included,like when four Detroits youths were paid by a Chaldean gangster to eliminate a rival,with a 20 thousand dollar BONUS included if his rivals HEAD was removed from the body and placed in the intersection of Detroits Chaldean community of Seven Mile Road and John R.!! This bonus was taken and I remember the story being on the 11 oclock Channel 7 Action News as a teen!! The dim,teens however were caught,after they went directly out after being paid for the grisly hit,to a local shopping mall called:Northland Center and spent over $30,00.00 in strictly CASH on SNEAKERS,tee shirts and baseball caps!! The Police were called after vendors were understandibly unsettled by 14 and 16 year-old kids spending over 30 GRAND in Greenbacks on sneakers and BALL caps!! After these kids folded under pressure by police interrogation tactics about were they got SO much money FROM,they quickly came clean about the Chaldean mercenary job,and wound up doing life for their efficiency as trouble-shooters for Iraqi-American drug kingpins!! All things being equal,if you grew up through the 70s and 80s in Detroit,you ARE a survivor of the FIRST magnitude!! A lot of rappers claim their home-town is deadly.but F.B.I staistics prove that is not true;if life in urban America was a game of Tag,Atlanta would be----------------GLUE!! This informative, thorough booktaughtme that though overshadowed by their New York City counterparts,it was the Detroit mafioso,consisting of the Giacalones, Toccos and Zerillis who supplied the New York crime families with the heroin that they doled out to the rest of the major cities in the nation,since Detroit has a considerable number of Sicilians,who through direct family-ties in Italy, Sicily,and Austria who can travel often between southeast Michigan and Europe with copious amounts of high-grade heroin without raising much suspicion of DEA agents under the premise of"family visits." I even learned history about a former 1990s employer;Adamo Construction Company,as two brother bearing this name arrived in the United States in the early 1900s,making their living via underworld rackets. Mayor Youngs niece Cathy is accurately summarized herein,complete with her narcotics addiction,which at one point in the 80s caused an unwritten edict among the citys drug houses that if Cathy Curry shows up at the door,that she is to be sold NOTHING,since the mayor and other ranking Detroit officials were endeavoring to"clean her up"by any means necessary. As a result of reading this comprehensive work,I've become extra-mindful of the contents of my"carry-ons"at the airport,since in the 70s the Portifino family would "line the pockets"of baggage handlers(in excess of $20,000 dollars)to slip packets of cocaine or heroin in your bags,to minimize the risk their designated narcotics smugglers would face,while you stood before Customs agents saying:"But REALLY officer,I don't know HOW that stuff got into my bags!!" This is a spectacular comprehensive manual of iniquity in the Motor City spanning multiple eras!!

Very interesting and well-documented. I had seen Scott on a bunch of different documentaries, and I even started going to his gangsterreport.com because it's just so interesting! As far as research in the goings-on with the mafia or drug kingpins of yesterday or today, Scott is really one of a kind. This book is almost overwhelming with names and dates, and I found I had to go much slower than I normally would, but is so incredibly interesting that it makes for very enjoyable reading.I really enjoyed the in-depth looks into the Purple Gang from the 1930's and 40's. The research is so well done that you feel Scott was able to interview the members personally (which isn't too far fetched, as some of his relatives were the main players). I also really enjoyed the look into Henry Marzette's exploits and him doing a 180 by becoming Detroit's first and largest drug kingpin after being a decorated Detroit cop!My suggestion to anyone who is interested in what may very well be the Detroit Bible of Crime through the 20th Century would be to not hesitate picking this book up. I'm about to read this again. I've had the chance to read a few other books related to topics covered here since reading Detroit True Crime Chronicles, and I'm actually as excited to re-read it to brush up on dates and events.This type of book could only come from an investigative journalist and one who has a knack for story-telling. It should be a staple of your true-crime library!

If your a Detroit mafia, Partnership, Zerilli-Tocco crime family, what-ever you wanna call it fan or historian you wanna purchase this book. The most powerful of the American Cosa Nostra crime families such as the Five Families of New York and that of the Chicago Outfit have been the main subject and centerpiece of American mafia history from the beginning of the organization's recorded history, but this book takes you away from those groups. Most of the American mafia related books written over the decades have been about N.Y. and Chicago, that's a fact. The New York & Chicago mafia's influence was cemented nationwide. This was done mainly through each crime family's influence over gambling, union and labor rackets and through local law enforcement and political contacts throughout their chosen base of operations, their cities. New York and Chicago had the added influence of controlling the majority of the American mafia's nationwide gambling and union rackets. New York held the most influence over nationwide narcotics operations and they held majority influence over the American mafia's Commission. But, what excapes most mob watchers and mafia buffs is that while New York ruled over the east coast and Chicago the mid-west, both carrying influence on the west coast and both being allied with the more independent southern crime families (N.O.-Marcello, Tampa-Trafficante), there were other very powerful, well connected and wealthy crime familes outside New York and Chicago.The Buffalo crime family was one of the 7 charter crime families placed on the Commission in 1931 and for good reason. They had over 100 "made men", strong blood and marriage ties to the Bonanno and Profaci families of New York, direct connections to the Italian and Canadian mafia and were influential within the American Cosa Nostra's gambling, union and narcotics rackets. Guess what...so was Detroit. Outside of New York's better known Bonanno and Profaci crime families and Buffalo's Magaddino crime family, the Detroit Zerilli-Tocco crime family or Partnership was one of the most influential crime families outside of New York and Chicago and held even more blood and marriage ties between their "made" and blood family members than any other American Cosa Nostra crime family.This is why books about the Detroit mafia and information concerning the organization's members, operations, blood and family ties are important. Outside of New York, it was the Buffalo and Detroit Partnership that held the most influence within the American mafia's nationwide narcotics operations. Then came theTampa, New Orleans and Kansas City crime families, all with nationwide narcotics connections and interests. Except, outside New York, only Buffalo and Detroit had Canadian satellite groups (N.Y.-Montreal, Buffalo-Toronto, Detroit- Windsor), while also maintaining direct blood or family ties to the biggest and most influential of the N.Y. drug barons such as Carmine Galante, John Ormento, Frank Scalise and Frank Livorsi. Detroit had important satellite groups in Windsor, Ontario (the Catalanotte-Minaudo-Cicchini-Cimino group) and on the west coast (the San Diego Mirabile crew-faction) that oversaw the San Diego-L.A.-Mexico operations. They were also part of the Cuban connection that maintainef gambling, business and narcotics interests on the island until 1959. Later on by the 1970s under the next regime (the Tocco regime) their Sicilian Cosa Nostra allies (the Badalamenti-Palazzolo-Vitale-Randazzo-Alfano clan) was firmly entrenched in the mid-west, eventually known as the Pizza Connection.More important for Detroit, their most influential and important group was the Detroit based Partinico faction led by Partnership members John Priziola, Frank Coppolla and Raffaele Quasarano, who oversaw all of the Partnership's narcotics operations I just mentioned. These leaders held direct links to New York, Canada and Sicilian crime families and links to Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamsters that they took advantage of. All mentioned by Burnstein in the book.The Detroit Partnership and it's members were one of the most influential, well organized American mafia crime families. All the top leaders and members were strongly linked through blood and marriage, not only through Cosa Nostra membership and business ties, just as the true Italian mafia clans are. The Detroit Partnership had large, enormous business interests not just within the traditional mob mainstays of gambling, loansharking, extortion and narcotics. The Partnership's top members were successful businessmen that took their illegal earnings and parlayed their influence within the unions to invest in everything from construction companies, racetracks, hotel and linen supplies launderies, food and beverage supplies, restaurants, bars, cafes, etc. Outside New York and Chicago many believe Detroit was the most successful, wealthy and best run crime family. Some believe it was the best where blood, family, criminal and business ties were concerned.The Detroit Partnership was a well led, structured and oiled crime machine within the American mafia, who's deep history, members and interests have been overlooked in the past, but Scott Burnstein's works lessen that fact. There are only a few authors dedicated to writing books about the most important American mafia crime families outside New York and Chicago such as Detroit, Buffalo, New England (Providence, R.I. & Boston, Mass.), New Orleans, Tampa and Kansas City. Scott Burnstein is one of those authors and because his works are well researched and well written it's important to mob watchers and fans of true crime books. It's also it's important because good work becomes research material for other writers and historians.All this is why Scott Burnstein's work on the Detroit mafia is important. Burnstein writes about some of the most important Detroit mafia leaders and members, but also about less known members with great stories or that have been involved in interesting Detroit underworld events. Some of Burnstein's stories are accounts of incidents surrounding Detroit mafia history that were not well know outside law enforcement. From the rackets to hits and other intrigues, Burnstein names names, places and times.With books of this type that do not center on just one subject such as a well known individual or on a specific crime or event, the work tends to jump around without finishing the story. Sometimes the story is too short or it details information already written about frequently. Here, the author does a good job of detailing the important facts of each short story as to make it a quick, but satisfying read. Being about Detroit, Burnstein also writes about drug lords and street gangs that have had an impact on the streets of Detroit. This was an added bonus that made the book even more interesting.This is a must have book for Detroit mafia fans.