Austin Drzewiecki

Ms. Brunskole

5 April 2014

Bootlegging with Friends

It was January 29th, 1930. It has been exactly three months(PBS- Great Depression)
since the stock market crashed and the Genesee County area has felt the wrath of it. Multiple
families have moved to larger cities like Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Saginaw(Yahoo- largest
cities of Michigan) to look for low earning jobs, but at least some sort of income. Flint has some
populous to it, but not many jobs available. Not many jobs available anywhere nonetheless.

Chase, where are you going? screeched his mother.

Chase replied with a snide, Im goin to Boggs house

The boys were all meeting up at Boggs house for a quick meeting. The boys were a
group of riffraff friends who had been together since primary school and causing trouble ever
since. They grew up during the roaring twenties and money never was an issue for them. Thier
families made exuberant amounts of money during that time off of penny stocks on wall street,
but the market crashing hit them all very hard. Families were forced to separate, and boys were
sent to urban areas to make money for families back in rural Genesee County(Google-
Genesee County Map). The boys figured that unless something changed very quickly, they
would be forced to move and spend the rest of their lives doing minute tasks making little
money.
Boggs lived a little bit out of the way in Mundy Township which was an hour and a half
walk, which was irritating but no one could do anything about it. Growing up, Boggs went by the
name of Christopher but as the young teenage years came he was transformed into Boggs. A
brute as a large kid, built like a bull and with the temper of one too. He gave another boy Zack, a
concussion during a friendly wrestling match. However with such high aspirations to be
successful, the boys knew they would be in for a treat to with this meeting. As the boys filed in
one by one there was a total of fourteen of them in total.
Charlie, who had the strictest mother out of all of them. He had a knack for getting into
trouble with her, but he always found a way to make it to as many gatherings as he could.
Nathan, lived on a lake and often had the boys over for a good swim. He was a tall
blonde kid who could win the hearts of as many ladies as the group combined.
Buck was always large as a child, but he hit his peak last year of primary school. He was
6 0 and about 220 lbs. He was named Buck after his last name, Buckley, but was also
coincidental because he had buckteeth growing up.
Andrew, who was taller and blonder than Nathan, but was more of a family kid. His core
family values took him away from us at times, but we also looked up to him for it.
Rags, formerly known as Michael switched to Rags in early primary, but he was as much
of a family man as Andrew was, but he also had his other friends that he liked to hang around.
Austin, was a smaller one compared to the rest. He went to a different school after
primary,but remained close friends with all of the boys and participated in most of the
adventures with them.
Craig, was the quietest one out of the entire group, but when he talk they listened. He
was not part of the group until later on, but when he became part of it, it felt like he was always
there.
Kevin and Chris were both twins that were pretty quiet, but also pretty smart. Watching
them argue with each other always made the boys laugh.
Stephan, always was a nice kid. He had a terrible addiction to tobacco, and his teeth
were decaying, but always was sincere and nice to the entire group.
Chase was always the most aggressive, but the most relaxed as well. You could talk him
into anything.
Jared, was always known for getting people riled up. He could say one sentence and
youd want to punch him right in the face, but you would laugh at his antics when it wasnt you.
Christian, was the shortest of the group but you would never know it talking to him. He
could hang with anyone in a wrestling match, and could scrap his way to a victory.
Zack, poor Zack. He was always picked on by the rest of the group, but completely
undeserving of it. However, he did say some idiotic stuff every now and then.

As the boys filed into the house, and were sitting there chatting loudly and carefree,
Boggs walked in and the chatter quieted.

Alright, we need money because we dont want to have to go to the city to work horrible
jobs started Boggs.

No shit. replied Austin with a snide.

Get to the point, Boggs. said Buck

Boggs ignoring Austin said, Okay, we have two options. One, we do nothing and wait
for our parents to force us to go to the city and do hard labor. Or Two we do something about it
to make money on our own.

How the hell can we do that? exclaimed Nathan.

Ever since I found a hookup for alcohol we can start bootlegging it. Boggs said

The cops will surely get us though. said Rags, being the voice of reason.

Boggs reassures, But if we do one large job and get it all at once, we can get in and out
of the business.

Do you have a job? asked Chase

Well, Boggs and I found one. Its an extremely large one too. It could get us somewhere
close to $300,000 piped up Zack.

WHAT THE? $300,000?! yelled Austin.

Yeah, Mel Simon is the supplier for the entire city of Detroit. He has a bootlegging gang
from out west. His boys out west can bring it us here, but we have to take it from m-15 to Dixie
highway all the way down to Pontiac.(Google- Google Maps) Once it gets there Coughlins gang
gives us the money and we are home bound. Boggs explained.
As the boys agreed to do the deal, a few of them tried backing out because it would be
too illegal, but with some encouragement they all agreed in the end. The shipment was being
sent on a Tuesday night, July 25th. The boys were being supplied a shipping truck from
Coughlins gang that was delivered on the Sunday before. The shipment was coming over from
the west side being sent from via train. It had to be picked up by the boys off the train, and
driven all the way down to the dropoff point. The boys were up for the challenge.
On Sunday night they picked up the truck very smoothly. Then on Tuesday night was
where it all went spiraling downhill. They were in the middle of taking the alcohol off of the train
and loading it into the truck, when suddenly out of nowhere three cop cars came roaring into the
train station. The boys panicked and quickly threw the alcohol into the truck, smashing about ten
bottles. The boys ran into the truck one by one, even two by two, trying to get away from the
cops. The cops closed in and the boys stepped on the gas. Fortunately, trains started shifting on
the railways making it difficult for the police to pursue. They got away, but not before the cops
realized that the boys were picking up a very large shipment of booze.

Can you believe that?! exclaimed Chase

That was awesome! yelled Nathan

The boys were ecstatic. They had just avoided the cops, but the worst had yet to come.
They were driving on M-15 (Google- Road Map of Genesee County) south towards Detroit, and
the nerves of carrying around that much illegal substance was finally settling in.

Are we there yet? moaned Chris.

Nathan replied, Almost, just a bit farther.

Zack and Andrew were arguing in the back about the inner politics of the Detroit police.

I have an inside source with the Detroit Police, and they said they were gonna make a
huge bust tonight. said Zack.

Andrew replied, I know a couple guys too, but they said they already caught a large
one

Both of you shut up. said Stephan, with his large dip in.

The boys continued on with little trouble until they got into Pontiac. As they rolled into a
church, called Old Notre Dame, the boys saw about six cars there(Google- Old Catholic
Churches in Michigan) This was an old church Nathan went too. Two of the cars had their
brights on and had four men outside the cars pointing Tommy guns at the other four cars.

What the hell is goin on here? yelled Chase out the passenger window of the truck.

Apparently, someone in Coughlins gang squealed to another man in a rival gang Swiats
gang about the dropoff. Swiats gang ran the streets of Detroit uncontested, until Coughlins
gang came in. The two rivals faced off in the bloodiest gang fight of Detroits history.(PBS-
Detroit Gang History) It didnt matter whoever ruled the city was just as bad as the previous
one. Anyways, apparently Swiat sent his men to take down the handoff and take control of the
booze. Jared, recognizing the decal on the car saw Swiats men. He sped up the truck and
headed straight towards Swiats men.

EVERYONE GET DOWN! yelled Jared as the four men turned and started firing at the
trucks.
Bullets glazed the truck, making it look like a fighter straight out of WWI. The truck
smashed into the men killing them instantly, but there was one problem. A bullet went into the
back of the truck where most of the boys were and one had hit Stephan.

Steve no! cried Buckley.

Steves lifeless body was slumped on the booze and Buck was trying anything he could
to get him back.

Hes gone Buck!
Please Steve no!
SOmebody help!
The cries were unmatched, but off in the distance there were cop sirens closing in. Kevin
and Chris, sobbing, brought Steve into the front of the truck while the rest had a job to do.
Coughlins men started to unpack as well, and Charlie made sure he went over and grabbed the
money out of the gangs car. The cops were about a two miles out, and the situation was getting
worse. Coughlins men were not expecting to actually pay the boys, so they tried to prevent
Charlie from getting into the car. Craig pulled out a gun that his Dad kept in the house,

Everyone stop moving!

One man reached for his gun and Craig didnt hesitate pulling the trigger. Craig always
seemed a little uneasy.

Lets get out of here said Craig.

The boys all piled in and drove off. The cops showed up about 2 minutes after the boys
left and captured Coughlins men. They all testified against Coughlin and he was later arrested
on multiple charges. The boys were home free with $300,000 but they lost a friend. All said and
done, when the boys talked about it for years to come they all agreed every time that they
wouldve traded the money for one more dip with Steve. Their lives changed forever that night,
but they all could at least stay in their homes for a little bit longer.