Detroit Partnership

The Detroit Partnership (also known as the Detroit crime family, the Detroit Combination, the Detroit Mafia, the Zerilli crime family (Italian pronunciation: [dzeˈrilli]), and the Tocco–Zerilli crime family) is an Italian American Mafia crime family based in Detroit, Michigan. The family mainly operates in Detroit and the Greater Detroit area, as well as in other locations including Windsor, Ontario; Toledo, Ohio; and Las Vegas.

Italian organized crime in Detroit originated in Black Hand extortion rings, which preyed upon the southern Italian and Sicilian immigrant communities in the city. After a series of gang wars between various Mafia factions for control of Italian lottery and extortion rackets during the early 20th century, a period of stability followed under the control of Salvatore Catalanotte. During the Prohibition era, a gang of Detroit mafiosi known as the River Gang smuggled Canadian beer and liquor into the United States from Ontario and controlled most of the bootlegging market in Southeast Michigan. The Detroit Mafia also formed close links with Toledo, a major hub for bootlegged whiskey. Following another period of internecine warfare in the Detroit Mafia known as the Crosstown Mob Wars in 1930 and 1931, the modern Detroit Partnership was formed, led by Angelo Meli, Joseph Zerilli, William "Black Bill" Tocco, John Priziola and Peter Licavoli.

The Partnership consolidated power in the Detroit–Windsor region throughout the 1940s and 1950s. During Zerilli's reign as boss of the crime family, which lasted until his death in 1977, the Partnership maintained substantial influence over Detroit's labor unions, cartage and waste removal industries, and other legitimate businesses. The organization's membership peaked at approximately 100 "made men" in the 1960s. Utilizing its close links with the Sicilian Mafia, the Partnership became a major distributor of heroin in North America after World War II. During the 1960s and 1970s, the Detroit family infiltrated the casino industry in Nevada, "skimming" profits from The Frontier and the Aladdin in Las Vegas, and the Edgewater in Laughlin. Other pivotal operations of the organization included loansharking and illegal gambling, including horse race betting and sports betting, over which it held tight control throughout the Detroit–Pontiac corridor. After decades of avoiding major prosecutions by law enforcement, in part due to its secretive nature, the Partnership was weakened when the organization's leaders were indicted under the RICO Act as part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)'s Operation Gametax in 1996. Despite numerous convictions which resulted from the Gametax investigation, the Detroit family continues to operate in the 21st century. As of 2011, the Partnership consists of an estimated 40 or 50 "made" members.

As a result of an edict issued in 1931 by William Tocco and Joseph Zerilli, that members of the organization must marry the daughters, sisters, nieces or cousins of other members, in a measure to ensure loyalty, the Detroit Partnership has been affected significantly less by defections, law enforcement infiltration and infighting than other Mafia families in the United States. Only one "made" member of the Partnership has ever testified against the organization. The crime reporter Scott Burnstein has called the Detroit family "the picture of success, stability, functionality and diversification".