Prohibition and the Mafia Essay

After nearly being killed, Torrio retired to Italy as Capone took over his throne as Chicago’s crime leader. Under Capone’s reign, his bootlegging business thrived. In order to take out the competition, Capone even ordered men to assassinate them. Feud between his gang and rivaling gangs sparked many conflicts and murders. One of these mass murders was the infamous Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre.

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through the Volstead act of 1919, leading to the first and only time an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was repealed.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

Prohibition led to the bootlegging of liquor and the gang wars of the 1920’s. The most notorious gangster of all time, known as Al Capone, was the most powerful mob leader of his era. He dominated organized crime in the Chicago area from 1925 until 1931. Capone grew up during the roaring 20s in Chicago. He joined the James Street gang, lead by Johnny Torrio. In 1920, Torrio asked Capone to move to Chicago and work with his uncle who controlled the city’s largest prostitution and gambling ring at the time. Capone had liked that idea. Later that year the Prohibition act came into affect and Capone became interested in selling illegal whiskey and other alcoholic beverages. Al Capone was America's best known gangster and greatest

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.

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.

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

Organized crime grew during this time period. Why? It was never illegal to drink alcohol. Therefore, people never stopped drinking liquor. The law just caused them to buy illegal liquor. Al Capone capitalized on the method of bootlegging, which is the illegal making and selling of alcohol. He made over sixty million dollars annually. These bootleg operations were very well known during these times. These operations made honest people criminals. Police officers were often a part of these operations. They were often time bribed by gangsters, such as Al Capone, to be apart of these

Prohibition was a period of time in which the sale, manufacture, or transport of alcoholic beverages became illegal. It started January 16, 1919 and continued to December 5, 1933. Although it was designed to put an end to all drinking, it simply created a large number of bootleggers who produced and sold illegal alcohol. Many of these bootleggers became very rich and influential through selling alcohol and also through other methods. They pioneered the practices of organized crime that are still used today. Thus, Prohibition led to the rapid growth of organized crime.

For the most part main stream America accepted gangsters. It was a necessary evil to get the alcohol they craved (Bergreen 231). Until that is, the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1929. “ Crime in Chicago has been so psychologically successful, that it takes such a romantically excessive episode as the recent St. Valentine’s Day Massacre to stir the citizens at all “(Bergreen 319). Seven of Bugs Moran’s (a chief rival of Capone) men were slaughtered in warehouse on Clark Street in Chicago. The five killers, two

Plus bootleg alcoholic beverages like beer and whisky were created, the whole drinking scene was slowly starting to look like its former self. The most confusing statistic is that before prohibition there were less speakeasies then there were during prohibition. So therefore the introduction of prohibition had actually increased America's alcohol intake rate. When Prohibition started it opened up an opportunity for local gangsters to make some money and then expand their business and many of them took this opportunity. Probably the most famous of all the gangsters was called Al Capone.

In the 1920s and 1930s America saw a large growth in mafias & mobs, drug & Alcohol Trafficking, and the organization of crime were a result of the Prohibition.

Their influence spreads rapidly, gaining control by 1895, then had passed the law on prohibition in 1920. Since alcohol was illegal in america the bootlegging industry has immensely grown and thus Al Capone had started his industry(Chicago), After his boss had gotten shot, recovered then retired, Al Capone had took his place and ran the criminal industry. With the help of his close friend, Frankie Yale, Al Capone imported and sold alcohol through Chicago to New York, making him rich (Al). Although everyone knew Al Capone had been smuggling alcohol into the country nobody could testify as a witness because all Al Capone had either bribed or threatened all witnesses to forget what they see (Irey). The amount of alcohol each individual consumed after 1921 had increased massively from 0.2 gallons a year per person in 1921 and increased to more than six times the amount to 1.3 gallons per person a year (See graph 1 in appendices), showing that even though there was a law against alcohol, people still drank as much as they did before prohibition had been applied, completely disproving the anti-saloon league showing that their efforts bore no fruit.

¬¬¬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.

This loophole led to the industry of illegally distributed alcohol. When the surplus supply of alcohol left over from pre-prohibition days ran out, the nation would need more. The illegal distribution of alcohol met this demand. Those who distributed alcohol became known as bootleggers or rum-runners. Considering that a large amount of the population consumed alcohol before the eighteenth amendment was passed, these bootleggers thrived. The profitability of illegally distributing alcohol allowed the crime rate to skyrocket. Infamous gangsters like Al Capone rose to power as heads of organized crime, all made possible through the funds received from bootlegging. According to an article from “History.com”, Al Capone made sixty million dollars annually from the illegal distribution of alcohol. During prohibition, the government was incapable of regulating the smuggling of alcohol because of its illegality. This combined with their lack of resources allowed crime rates to soar, and violence between rival gangs formed in the wake of prohibition became commonplace. The St. Valentine's Day Massacre is an infamous example of the kind of crime that couldn't have happened without prohibition. According to the “History.com” article on the incident, the massacre took place on Valentine's Day in 1929. Seven men of a rival gang to Al Capone’s were brutally gunned down by gangsters impersonating police officers. With his rivals out of the way, Al Capone rose to power with the illegal distribution of alcohol funding him. Not every person involved in the alcohol business was a hardened criminal