Canada
Legal liquor production and supply existed across the international boundary.
CRIME CRAWL · PATH 01
PROHIBITION
DETROIT
Follow the documented citywide pathway from a legal supply across the border to an illegal market inside Detroit—without pretending that one general route represents a particular shipment or case.
THE HISTORICAL PATH
One river. Two legal worlds.
Michigan prohibited the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcohol before national Prohibition. Across the narrow Detroit River, Canadian liquor remained close enough to reshape Detroit's streets, businesses, criminal networks and enforcement demands.
Detroit River
Boats and other crossings made the narrow waterway a central smuggling geography.
City Routes
Illegal liquor moved from the border into Detroit through changing transportation and distribution networks.
Blind Pigs
Hidden drinking places operated in rooms, businesses and homes throughout the city.
Police & Customs
Raids, seizures and investigations created records across several jurisdictions.
MAP RULE: This is a documented historical pathway, not a street-by-street reconstruction. No dock, house, boat, chase or police action is assigned to it unless a source verifies that exact connection.
THE UNDERWORLD
Opportunity became organization.
Detroit's illegal liquor economy involved far more than a single gang. Smuggling, hijacking, protection, gambling and violence intersected in changing alliances. The Purple Gang became the city's most notorious Prohibition-era organization, but the wider market included many independent participants and competing networks.
THE CITY AROUND THE CRIME
Follow more than the offense.
The route also opens Detroit's geography: the border, river crossings, neighborhoods, taverns and the police department. Crime Crawl holds the event at the center while these connected rooms explain why it could happen here.
SOURCE TRAIL
This foundation uses the Detroit Historical Society's histories of Michigan Prohibition, Detroit blind pigs, rum-running, the Purple Gang and the Collingwood Manor Massacre. The public wording supplies historical context only. It does not disclose a protected investigation or unpublished narrative from The Rookie and the Rackets. PROHIBITION RESEARCH NOTES → · PURPLE GANG RESEARCH NOTES →