CRIME CRAWL · PURPLE GANG FILE 02
MILAFLORES
MASSACRE
A 1927 triple murder that brought machine-gun violence into Detroit's gangland record—and remained officially unsolved.
106 E. ALEXANDRINE
OFFICIALLY UNSOLVED
WHAT THE RECORD ESTABLISHES
Three men entered. None survived.
Frankie Wright, Joseph Reisfeld—using the name Joe Bloom in Detroit—and Abe Grossman, also identified under Cohen aliases, arrived at the Milaflores Apartments during the early morning of March 28, 1927. Historical reporting places the meeting at Apartment 308.
Gunmen opened fire in the corridor. Bloom and Cohen died at the scene. Wright was taken to Detroit Receiving Hospital and died later. The attack became associated with the first documented use of a Thompson submachine gun in Michigan.
Police arrested several suspected Purple Gang figures and associates, but investigators could not establish a case that produced convictions. No witness or informant supplied the evidence needed to resolve the killings.
THE BUILDING AROUND THE CRIME
An elegant address with a violent legacy.
Completed in 1923, the four-story Milaflores contained thirty-one apartments and was designed in an Italian Renaissance style. Its lobby included ornamental plaster, paneled walls, a fireplace and a marble fountain. The building stood on East Alexandrine between Woodward Avenue and John R Street. It was demolished in 1964 during redevelopment connected to the Detroit Medical Center area.