Karen Blumenthal's Bootleg

During prohibition many bad things were happening to America’s society. Prohibition led to so many bad things in the country like bootleggers or racketeer, gangsters, and dope sellers. The government did not want people to continue these actions. There was so much smuggling of alcohol that the government could not stop it all. Crime rate and murders went way up in the country during prohibition, but when prohibition was repealed the homicide rates went down. It might have had to do with alcohol, it may not have, but no one knows. People would smuggle alcohol into the country so the country wasn’t really considered to be “dry.” No matter how hard our country tries, it is impossible to stop all the crime and our country knew that, so the bootleggers continued to smuggle alcohol across borders know the government can not stop every little thing. Even during this time period of prohibition Government Officials decided to drink alcohol against their own laws. It says in Document D in the second paragraph

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illegal, through the Volstead act of 1919, leading to the first and only time an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was repealed.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.

Once the organized crime families were established they were the main contributors to the illegal “Bootlegging” of alcohol. During the 20’s there was a great deal of violent crimes. Most of them could be connected back to the organized crime families. Alphonse Gabriel “Al” Capone was a gangster who led illegal activities such as the smuggling and the bootlegging of alcohol during the prohibition. Even though he had a tough exterior he was a caring man he was the first to open up a soup kitchen in Chicago (hammer). Capone’s estimated annual revenue was around 100 million dollars. He had many men working for him such as Frank Nitti, August Pisano and Louis Morganno. He supplied Chicago with most of its alcohol. (Capone: the man and his era).

There have been many influential events and time periods in history which have directly affected America today such as prohibition and “bootlegging.” The era of prohibition began on January 29th, 1920(Rebman9). Prohibition influenced many things such as the ratification of the 18th and 21st amendment. However, prohibition led to a huge increase in crime rates as well as taking a huge role in the development of NASCAR. Although, many notorious criminals came out of prohibition, by far the most famous would be Alphonse Gabriel Capone, also known as Al Capone.

In Marni Davis’s book Jews and Booze, she offers readers a well-researched study addressing Jewish immigrant acculturation. Data on Jews, booze, and prohibition is familiar to scholars who study the histories of New York City, Chicago, and New Jersey. Much to her credit, Davis also gathers information from southern locales such as Atlanta and California. In Robert Rockaway’s book But He Was Good to His Mother, he examined Jewish gangsters in the early twentieth century and came to the conclusion that the reason a large number of them worked in the illegal alcohol business was because of the profit caused by prohibition and the intense thirst society developed for alcohol that came with it. When he studied further he realized that these “gangsters” running illegal operations often were more caring and human than people believed. Incorporated into this review are studies of the real life activity of these gangsters through information that Rockaway was able to recover.

When caught bootlegging liquor you would be issued a fine, this made things alright because everyone was happy, the laws were so hard to enforce that the government was just happy collecting fine money and the bootleggers were happy cause it was a small price to pay for the amount of money they were making. The most ironic thing about prohibition is that it is the major bases for what we call organized crime.

Because of this a lot of bootleggers made their own alcohol, a lot of times they make their own alcohol in bathtubs They called this bathtub gin and it was not the safest thing to make, it turned out to be responsible for blindness and even death (“Prohibition” 3). Some bootleggers were often able to make a business out of their manufacturing. There where more that 7,000 drinking parlors in Chicago. Some people like George Remus and Al Capon made over $5 million fortunes from the business of bootlegging. Someone like George Remus used armed guard, licenses, and even bribery to not get in trouble with the law On the other hand someone like Al Capone did not stop for crime or murder (Batchelor 1).

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

Introduction The Prohibition of alcohol in America, coined as the Noble Experiment, was a nation-wide ban on the sale, production, transportation, and importation of alcohol in place between 1920 and 1933. Supported by members who wanted a “dry state” stating that it was important for health and moral in the society. Fiercely fought against by members of society that preferred a “wet state” and to keep alcohol legalised. The Prohibition lead to many underground Bootleggers and saloons, changing the way society functioned during the 1920s. The Prohibition served as an experiment, the belief that alcohol was the root of all crime; many states banned it in an attempt to curb crime, to control the behaviour of society as a whole, and ultimately

Clark analyzes and critiques Prohibition not as a historical moment, but as a movement. This book is very well researched and a thorough bibliography is

These crusaders saw alcohol as a plague in America, and wanted this plague to be wiped out. They believed the alcohol ban would improve the economy and decrease crime rates. However, the opposite of this proved true- prohibition had many adverse effects on both American economy and society. Alcohol consumption rose, economy declined, and, of most significance for America, organized crime grew. In this essay I intend to look at why prohibition caused an increase in organized crime, and to what extent.

¬¬¬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

As a result of this new law, a new social problem arose. “Seldom has law been more flagrantly violated. Not only did Americans continue to manufacture, barter, and possess alcohol; they drank more of it.” Americans who supported prohibition, argued that if drinking alcohol was illegal, the public would recognize and respect the law, and in turn, would give it up. During the start of prohibition, it appeared as though it was working. But, what was really going on, was that since the transportation and production was not allowed, bootleggers had to find ways to do it without being caught. The price of beer rose, because it had to be transported in large barrels, which was more difficult. As a result, people started drinking more potent hard liquor. It took less to get drunk, therefore it was easier to transport, thus, it was cheaper. Americans would drink this potent liquor and get drunk a lot faster, for less money. As a downfall, however, the liquor had no standards. The rate of alcohol related deaths due to poisoning drastically increased from 1,064 in 1920, to 4,154 in 1925.

Some states such as New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts did not enforce the prohibition act of 1920, causing funds to drop to the states for law enforcement agencies(GILDER). The prohibition Caused the rise of organized crime in the United States. Prohibition stated the creation of toxic moonshine, bootleggers used lead coils and lead soldering putting lead in moonshine(PEARSON). Others put additives in moonshine such as iodine and creosote causing blindness or even death. Over 12,000 people died from toxic moonshine Al Capone made over 60 million dollars from Bootlegging that’s 60 million dollars other US citizens lose. Many Bootleggers used Industrial alcohol in Products. The Federal Government started putting more poisonous chemicals in industrial alcohol causing over 10,000 deaths from consumption(PEARSON).Overall there are more negative effects of prohibition in the 1920’s. From poisonous alcohol to enforcement budget cuts it is all negative and is why prohibition failed. Even though prohibition stopped some americans from drinking alcohol it created a new door for new kinds of alcohol to come in to the US. Prohibition is bad in my opinion because it caused unnecessary deaths in america. That sets a final ending to the 18th Amendment in the 1920’s and forever