The Motor City boasts a long and sordid history of scoundrels, cheats, and ne'er-do-wells. The wheeling and dealing prowess of founding father Antoine Cadillac is the stuff of legend. Fur trader and charlatan Joseph Campau grew so corrupt and rambunctious that he was eventually excommunicated by Detroit's beloved Father Gabriel Richard. The slovenly and eccentric Augustus Brevoort Woodward, well known as a judge but better known as a drunkard, renamed himself, reshaped the city streets and then named them after himself, creating a legion of enemies along the way. Local historian and creator of the Prohibition Detroit blog Mickey Lyons presents the stories of the colorful characters who shaped the city we know today.

The Motor City boasts a long and sordid history of scoundrels, cheats, and ne'er-do-wells. The wheeling and dealing prowess of founding father Antoine Cadillac is the stuff of legend. Fur trader and charlatan Joseph Campau grew so corrupt and rambunctious that he was eventually excommunicated by Detroit's beloved Father Gabriel Richard. The slovenly and eccentric Augustus Brevoort Woodward, well known as a judge but better known as a drunkard, renamed himself, reshaped the city streets and then named them after himself, creating a legion of enemies along the way. Local historian and creator of the Prohibition Detroit blog Mickey Lyons presents the stories of the colorful characters who shaped the city we know today.