{"product_id":"river-of-whiskey-frank-calloway-9798181314641","title":"River of Whiskey: The True Story of Prohibition, the Detroit River Rum-Runners, and the Purple Gang","description":"\u003cb\u003eSeventy-five cars loaded with whiskey crossed the frozen Detroit River in a single morning - in broad daylight, in plain view, and no one stopped them.\u003c\/b\u003eFor thirteen years, the busiest smuggling front on earth was not Chicago and not the Atlantic Rum Row. It was a mile of moving water between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, Michigan - and through it flowed three-quarters of the liquor that kept dry America drinking. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eRiver of Whiskey\u003c\/b\u003e follows a single bottle of Canadian whisky on its journey from a licensed Walkerville distillery to an American glass - and finds, strung along its route, an entire hidden industry: the export docks that papered its departure with customs forms claiming the cargo was bound for Cuba; the rum-runners who carried it across in eleven minutes; the Purple Gang, who seized the wholesale trade at gunpoint and held it for a decade; the police precincts that sold raid schedules like subscriptions; and the millions of ordinary customers whose quarters financed all of it. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDrawing on court records, congressional testimony, coroner's files, and the newspaper archives of two countries, Frank Calloway reconstructs the Prohibition era's greatest supply chain - not as jazz-age nostalgia, but as the true story of what happens when the law withdraws from a market it cannot kill. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eInside: \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- The legal loophole that let Canadian distilleries supply American crime - without breaking a single Canadian law\u003cbr\u003e- The winter ice road: cars, sleds, and skaters hauling whiskey across a frozen international border\u003cbr\u003e- How four brothers from Detroit's east side built the Purple Gang - and the massacre that destroyed it\u003cbr\u003e- The minister with a revolver who committed the corridor's first killing - and walked free\u003cbr\u003e- Roy Olmstead, the Seattle cop turned bootlegger whose case rewrote the Fourth Amendment\u003cbr\u003e- The radio broadcaster murdered hours after voters recalled Detroit's mayor\u003cbr\u003e- Rocco Perri, Canada's \"king of the bootleggers,\" who stepped out for a walk in 1944 and was never seen again \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eEvery scene is documented. No dialogue is invented. Where the record is silent, the book says so - and where the legend has outrun the truth, you'll learn the difference. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eFor readers of Daniel Okrent's \u003ci\u003eLast Call\u003c\/i\u003e, Erik Larson, and anyone who suspects the real story of Prohibition was never about the drinking - it was about the money.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Frank Calloway\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798181314641\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Independently Published\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/12\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 210\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.63lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.44d","brand":"Frank Calloway","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48852988887295,"sku":"9798181314641","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/river-of-whiskey-frank-calloway-9798181314641","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}