East Harlem Purple Gang

They allegedly named their group the "Purple Gang" as a tribute to a Prohibition Era gang (Purple Gang) that dominated organized crime activities in Detroit for a time fifty years earlier. Membership in the group was restricted to Italian-Americans who grew up on Pleasant Avenue between 114th and 120th Streets, just east of 1st Avenue, also known as Italian Harlem. In the late 1970s, at the peak of its strength, the Purple Gang had about 30 members according to police reports and 80 associates, with higher numbers placing the gang's membership at over 100 (though this may include associates). By 1977, law enforcement claimed that the Purple Gang had committed at least 17 homicides, some on behalf of "organized crime principals", though dozens of other murders in the 1970s and 1980s have since been attributed to Purple Gang members. During their prime, they were considered the unofficial sixth family. ==History==

The Purple Gang originated in Italian Harlem as an Italian-American youth street gang and were involved in various robberies and assaults before engaging in more organized criminal activity. Many of its founding members were related, some as brothers or cousins. Throughout the 1970s, Italian-American and African-American organized crime groups both controlled narcotics trafficking in Harlem and much of New York City, and the two ethnic crime groups often cooperated or worked closely together in the drug trade business. The Italian-American Purple Gang was especially closely connected with African-American organized crime groups in Harlem. The Purple Gang eventually began supplying heroin to infamous Harlem drug kingpin Leroy Barnes and his organized crime network. After the arrest of Leroy Barnes, who was at the time one of the top heroin dealers in Harlem, the Purple Gang began supplying heroin to his remaining network of African-American dealers in Harlem at $75,000 per kilogram. By 1977, law enforcement claimed that the Purple Gang had committed at least 17 homicides, with many of these murders committed on behalf of "organized crime principals" (i.e., Italian-American Mafia families.) Many of the murders attributed to the Purple Gang were exceedingly grisly, with some involving decapitation, dismemberment, or multiple stab wounds. The gang is also suspected to be involved in a rash of killings during the 1970s of various mobsters and people with organized crime connections, with the murders notably involving .22 caliber firearms. Law enforcement speculated that during the late 1970s, the Purple Gang developed a relationship with Nicaraguan drug dealers, trading firearms for drugs. The firearms were apparently sent to Latin American narcoterrorists through connections in Florida in exchange for smuggled drugs. On November 13, 2013, Michael Meldish, a reported leader of the gang, was killed in Throggs Neck, ordered by Lucchese acting boss Matthew Madonna, and carried out by Christopher Londonio and Terrence Caldwell; the three were sentenced to life in prison for the murder on July 27, 2020. ==Pleasant Avenue==

Pleasant Avenue, a six-block stretch in East Harlem, is one of the incubators of the Italian Mafia in New York City. Anthony 'Fat Tony' Salerno ran the Genovese crime family from Pleasant Avenue. Anthony Loria, Sr., a longtime partner of Vincent Papa who masterminded the "Who Stole The French Connection" corruption scandal, was born and raised on Pleasant Avenue. This scheme involved corrupt NYPD and law officials who allowed the drug lords to steal an estimated 70 million dollars of narcotics from the NYPD property room at 400 Broome Street in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Purple Gang's longtime association with Pleasant Avenue is shown in the 1993 film ''Carlito's Way''. In the film, the titular character (Al Pacino) refers to the gang as "The Pleasant Avenue bunch" when its members come to kill him. ==See also==