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wanted by Detroit police on a charge of assault with intent to kill for an incident involving Nelson Riley, a Detroit policeman who was attacked and beaten on the corner of East Jefferson and Field Avenues on September 7, 1927. His gun and night stick had been taken from him by two men alleged to be Thomas Licavoli and Frank Cammarata.
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    Joseph Tallman was a well-know Jewish bootlegger and rumrunner. Tallman had been involved in the Detroit area liquor rackets since the early years of Prohibition and was known in the Detroit underworld as a “Rum Czar.” He had partnered with several well-known Detroit area rumrunners and gunmen in the rackets. At one time, Tallman had been in business with Mike Dipisa, a notorious Sicilian gangster who was killed while trying to extort money from a downriver blind pig operator. Tallman and Dipisa had been partners in a Clifford Street blind pig known as the Green Front.
    Tallman had also partnered with Joe Moceri in his rum-running business and in several blind pigs. By the mid-’20s, however, Moceri had taken on several new associates as partners, including Pete and Yonnie Licavoli, and Cammarata. Tallman split from Moceri and began operating with an ex-Prohibition agent named Pete Clifford and Sam Rosenberg, a younger brother of Purple Gangster Abe “Buffalo Harry” Rosenberg. Clifford and Tallman were partners in a Third Avenue blind pig.
    The exact reason for the split between Joe Tallman and Joe Moceri is not known. The two men and their business associates continued to work together at various times until the spring of 1927. As late as March 9, 1927, Tallman was arrested in the company of a number of men who were associated with the Licavoli/Moceri River Gang. This group included Charles Moceri, Joe Bommarito, Dominic Badalamenti, and Tony Parisi. The men were arrested at the foot of Walker Street in Detroit for violation of the state liquor law. They were stopped by Detroit police and Customs officers, as they were driving away from the riverfront in several trucks that were found to be loaded with liquor, cordials, and bootlegging supplies. The contraband had just landed from Canada. All of the men were eventually convicted on the charge and given a choice of six months in the Detroit House of Corrections or a $500 fine each. They opted for the fine. The Detroit police confiscated a valuable load that included: 688 quarts of whiskey; 240 quarts of whiskey; 36 pints of wine; 168 quarts of champagne; 176 pints of champagne; 118 pints of brandy; 36 quarts of gin; 180 gallons of whiskey malt; 200 quarts of whiskey; 480 gallons of whiskey; 24 pints of whiskey; 362 quarts of cordials.
    But by early fall of 1927, there were indications that Tallman and Moceri were at odds. The feud was first evidenced when a boat that was owned by Moceri’s River Gang was rammed and sunk by one of Joe Tallman’s boats. The incident occurred in the Detroit River near Peche Island. According to Detroit police officials, Tallman had been operating independently of the River Gang for several months. His boats had been hijacked a number of times during this period. He had supposedly rammed the Moceri boat to prevent another hijacking of one of his loads.
    The hijacking of Tallman’s boats by the River Gang and the boat-ramming incident were only the beginning of the trouble. On October 11, 1927, four truckloads of Tallman’s liquor en route from Port Huron, Michigan, to Detroit were hijacked by members of the River Gang. The trucks were stopped just outside the Detroit city limits on Harper Road. The hijacking had been well planned. Traffic was stopped on Harper Road at the point of sawed-off shotguns and pistols, while all four trucks were commandeered by the River Gang. All of the drivers were taken to Detroit and later released. All of them except for Tallman’s new business associate Sam Rosenberg, that is. The River Gang made off with 100 cases of Tallman’s liquor valued at $25,000.