casino robbery michigan upper peninsula movie

Some of these visitors are a prominent part of American crime lore, starting with Capone.

“Other times, they saw opportunities for furthering their own interests in gambling, bootlegging and even kidnapping, bank robbery and murder,” he wrote.Ĭhicago-area mobsters during and after Prohibition generally preferred the Lake Michigan shoreline, while those based in Detroit often opted for the lakes and forests of the sparsely populated northeast Lower Peninsula, Knapp said. Sometimes they, too, simply sought rest and relaxation at a cabin, a gangster-friendly retreat or a resort hotel,” wrote Knapp, a retired University of California-Berkley professor of ancient history, who grew up in Mount Pleasant and spends part of the year at his great-grandfather’s old farmhouse near Clare. “Gangsters just joined the millions of others who came north. From crime boss and occasional visitor “Scarface” Al Capone to the Upper Peninsula’s own Public Enemy #1, John “Red” Hamilton, Up North has historic ties to organized crime and the baddies who used the area as a playground far from their normal haunts in Chicago, Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland and elsewhere.

Casino robbery michigan upper peninsula movie