Collingwood Manor Apartments

01 / The story of this place

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In the early hours of September 16, 1931, three Chicago gunmen were lured to an apartment at 1740 Collingwood Avenue on the promise of a peace meeting with Detroit's Purple Gang. Instead, gang members Ray Bernstein, Harry Keywell and Irving Milberg shot all three dead inside the apartment, in a killing that became known as the Collingwood Manor Massacre. The case was unusual for its era because Detroit police made an arrest and secured convictions — Bernstein, Keywell and Milberg were all sentenced to life in prison — a rare instance of Prohibition-era gang violence actually reaching a courtroom. Abe Bernstein, the Purple Gang's top boss, was not present that night but was Ray's older brother and the group's longtime leader; the killing badly damaged the gang's standing and hastened its decline. The apartment building itself is gone today, and the address is now a vacant lot.

1. Site of the Collingwood Manor Massacre, September 16, 1931
2. Purple Gang members killed three rival Chicago gunmen here
3. Ray Bernstein, Harry Keywell and Irving Milberg were convicted and sentenced to life
4. A rare case where Prohibition-era gang violence led to convictions
5. The building is gone; the address is now a vacant lot