Bootlegging

During the Twenties prohibition was passed, this caused the crime rate to skyrocket. The passage of the 18th amendment prohibited the sale and purchase of alcohol. So a lot of people started smuggling alcohol into the United States becoming criminals, if they were good at it they would most likely become part of a gang of bootleggers. George“Machine Gun Kelly”Barnes was a well-known gangster, bootlegger and businessman in the twenties. He was most famous for his kidnapping of Charles F. Urschel. Machine Gun Kelly made a big impact on popular culture by being such a notorious gangster.

Al Capone had a multitude of rivaling gangs and their leaders who fought to control the title as Chicago’s top crime boss. Capone had only one competition, George “Bugs” Moran and his gang. In order to remove his opposition, Capone ordered his gunmen to raze Moran’s business and his associates. On February 14, 1929, Capone’s men, disguised as police officers trespassed into a garage where Moran’s business took place. Seven of Moran’s men were present in

During the period of prohibition, from 1920 to 1933, the sale, manufacture and transportation of alcohol was made illegal, through the Volstead act of 1919, leading to the first and only time an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was repealed. Throughout this time in American history gangsters were common and were constantly increasing in every city but one in particular stood out from all the others making a significant impact on American history. Scarface, Alphonse Capone or more commonly known as Al Capone; who was the most infamous gangster, taking advantage of the era of Prohibition, ran an organized crime association in Chicago during the 1920s. He was responsible for over 500 murders; he had 700 men under his control and earned $60 million a year for bootlegging. Capone, who was glamorised in media and shown as charitable to the helpless was also controlling and violent and became an iconic figure of the successful American gangster who insisted he was just ‘supplying the public demand’.

By 1925 there were at least 3200 speakeasies and stores who sold liquor in order to get some extra income in New York. The smuggling of alcohol was a very good business that involved money. Some of the direct distilling and home brewing were secretly installed in garages, tenements, and warehouses. With the fear of being hijacked, the bootleggers hired gunmen to protect the goods; so illegal gun market was a side effect of the Prohibition that brought big amounts of money. The illegal alcohol and gun market brought gangs to everywhere, these gangs fought constantly to maintain the territory and respect. Chicago and New York where the cities where the Mafia gain more power, gang wars and assassination became an everyday thing. On May 11th, Jim Colosimo was the first of the Chicago mafia bosses to be assassinated.

Al Capone, who was born in New York in 1899, was one of the most prominent gangsters in America in the 1920s. He was the son of Italian immigrants, and after leaving school at a young age, became a small-time criminal. Known as ‘Scarface,’ he had links to the leader of the Five Points Gang, Johnny Torrio, and moved to Chicago in 1920, where he gradually rose through the ranks as a partner in saloons, gambling and brothels. They moved their operations to Illinois after an offer to work with Jim Colosimo, a central figure in Chicago’s brothel business. Gang rivalry heated up after a dispute between Torrio and Colosimo over whether to begin in the bootlegging business, and in 1920, Colosimo was murdered allegedly by Al Capone. After this, Torrio’s criminal empire expanded massively throughout Chicago, before leaving in 1925 and handing over operations to Capone. After taking over, Capone expanded operations even further, and was able to control Chicago’s Mayor, ‘Big Bill’ Thompson and fix his elections. A local newspaper from the time reported

The 1920s was a “time of great criminal activity, with prohibition laws in America and the world in an economic depression” (Nash, 1). Organized criminals such as American mobsters thrived during this time. Al Capone, Bonnie and Clyde, and John Dillinger were the most well-known of the gangsters at the time, many of the common people looked to these criminals as “heroes”. There were a tremendous amount of people who turned to criminal activity; mostly because jobs were scarce and

Bootlegging, the distribution and dealing of an illegal substance, was becoming increasingly popular with liquor outlawed. Bootleggers would go to great extents to bring in liquor to their customers, prymarily speakeasy owners, as well as making sure they did not lose their customers to the other vaious gangs in the area. To ensure this threats were made to owners, gang wars began, and many murders occurred. (“Prohibition”) Those who became successful bootleggers became emmensly rich and powerful resulting in the expansion and flourishing of organized crime. Most organized crime leaders, gangsters, were wealthy and lived, at least on the outside, a sophisticated and exuberant life. In fact durning the Prohibition Era many people idolized bootlegging and gangs because it was a fast way to get rich and powerful.This would lead to an increase in the population of gangs. These gangs could be extremely dangerous and would kill many, ultimately causing an increase in homicide rates by 13% ("Organized Crime and Prohibition”). The reasoning behind the homicide rates going up is simple; as different mobs became more powerful in their areas and their range of illegal activities expanded they got more attention and this attention caused for rivalrys between different mobs and a higher police involvement in attempting to end the

In recognition of the failure of prohibition, many people even sympathized with murderous organized criminals. For instance, Al Capone had been fairly popular with the working class and was often cheered in public. After all, he supplied what many of the people wanted. However, that popularity dropped significantly after the much publicized “Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre,” a turf war with his rival Bugs Moran. That event became a tipping point in history and from that point forward the media labeled Capone as “Public Enemy Number One.” Consequently, the bloodshed from that day became a symbol and garnered tremendous popular support for ending

The huge public demand for alcohol led to a soaring business for bootleggers. When prohibition began, people immediately wanted a way to drink. Hence, the extremely profitable bootlegging business was born. Before Prohibition gangs existed, but had little influence. Now, they had gained tremendous power almost overnight. Bootlegging was easy - New York City gangs paid hundreds of poor immigrants to maintain stills in their apartments. Common citizens, once law abiding, now became criminals by making their own alcohol. However, this posed risks for those who made their own. "The

The American Mafia rose to power during the prohibition. They gained most of their power by entering the bootlegging business, and ended up becoming a huge

The origin of this source comes from an American writer, Karen Blumenthal, so she was affected or she may have known someone who was affected by Prohibition.The purpose of this book is to inform others about the numerous ways alcohol was smuggled during Prohibition. The value of this source is that she also has written about other topics in the 1920’s such as the stock market crash in 1929, so she has knowledge about the time period. The content of this book was very valuable, as it talked about the the unintended consequences of Prohibition. Prohibition wanted to ban alcohol, but instead lead to the rise of gangs in America illegally smuggling the alcohol. The value of this book is that it is written by an expert, so the information in it well credible and trusted. However, a limitation is that the writen in 2011, so it isn’t a primary source. I learned from this source that illegally smuggling alcohol, or bootlegging was

¬¬¬During the Roaring Twenties, there were many lawbreakers who increased the rate of organized crime. Unlike bootleggers, these lawbreakers stole alcoholic beverages from locked up warehouses, to resell to their customers. “Hijacking was another way of getting the liquor. Early in the Prohibition Era there was still a lot of liquor locked away in government warehouses to be sold for medicinal purposes. Much of this was simply stolen by the criminals, particularly while it was being transported” (Cohen). The lawbreakers during the Roaring Twenties

Despite of the failure to meet the economic expectations, the bootlegging led by the Prohibition was also a heavy consequence. As the prohibition ended the legal sale

Unperceived economic factors relating to bootlegging, taxes, and police enforcement heavily contributed to the demise of the prohibition era. As soon as the eighteenth amendment took effect a ring of bootlegging and organized gangs emerged. In addition to many of these bootleggers brewing their own “moonshine” to sell, several

Those who still wanted to consume alcohol found ways to do so. “The Prohibition era encouraged the rise of criminal activity associated with bootlegging” (A&E Staff 2009). Al Capone earned $60 million annually from his bootlegging operations (A&E Staff 2009). Prohibition increases violence and criminal activity.