The Purple Gang became increasingly involved with murder, sometimes acting independently and sometimes as contract killers for the Mafia, and they became renown for their "enormous capacity for violence."[REF][REF][REF]
Though technically an independent gang that operated largely outside the constraints and structure of the established "Five Families" of the New York Italian-American Mafia, the Purple Gang was closely tied to Italian-American Mafia and would often freelance as "muscle" or hit-men for the larger New York families.