The Corrupt Of Prohibition In The 1920's

On December 16, 1919, however, prohibition became the law of the land in the passing of the 18th Amendment which stated "...the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors ... for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited." (Constitution). This created a mixed bag of reactions by the citizenry.

The gang wars began with the simple plan made by the gang bosses. When John Torrio took out their leader “Big Jim”, he took over the biggest gang in Chicago. John Torrio was the one who saw that this prohibition could be a good opportunity for making money, so he started the bootlegging. John and other gang bosses made a deal to split the City so that everybody had their own place to sell liquor in a territory. However, when

The prohibition caused much controversy in the 1920’s. The 18th amendment was passed on Jan 16, 1920, it said in Title II, Section 3 the National Prohibition Act states that "No person shall on or after the date when the 18th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States goes into effect, manufacture, sell, barter, transport, import, export, deliver, furnish or possess any intoxicating liquor except as authorized in this act." (United States constitution). The Prohibition opened up many big business opportunities in the illegal marketing of alcohol. The people who took advantage of this opportunity were known as “Bootleggers”. With the enactment of this law organized crime was established, allowing men such as Al Capone to capitalize

Valentine’s Day Massacre, that took place in 1929. The Massacre started because of two men named Jack McGurn, which was Al’s hitman and “Bugs” Moran. On Valentine's Day McGurn shot and killed seven of Moran's men, but Moran somehow escaped the killings. While nowhere near the Massacre, Al was framed for all of the killing that took place. As the years passed the Supreme Court wanted to prosecute Al for the act and built up a case and found him guilty for 22 counts of income-tax evasion. Not expecting a harsh sentence, he was sent to prison for 11

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.

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

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

     Prohibition had become an issue long before its eventual induction as the 18th amendment in 1920. Organizations came about for the sole purpose of an alcohol free America. In 1833, an estimated one million Americans belonged to some type of temperance association (Behr 12). Many believed the absence of alcohol would help the poor as well as big business. Lower class people would put more money into savings accounts and productivity would increase among workers (Hanson 27). More importantly the “noble experiment”—was undertaken to reduce crime and corruption, solve social problems, and improve the health and hygiene in America” (Thorton 1).

The Prohibition was the time period in which the 18th amendment was in order. The 18th amendment prohibited the sale, manufacturing, and transportation on intoxicating liquors. Many people were upset with this law but very few people listened to the law. This law caused many problems including bootlegging, organized crime, smuggling, and trafficking of alcohol. With all these problems the law caused more problems than it solved.

¬¬¬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

“Prohibition did not achieve its goals. Instead, it added to the problems it was intended to solve.” On 16th January 1920, one of the most common personal habits and customs of American society came to a halt. The eighteenth amendment was implemented, making all importing, exporting, transporting, selling and manufacturing of intoxicating liquors absolutely prohibited. This law was created in the hope of achieving the reduction of alcohol consumption, which in turn would reduce: crime, poverty,

The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution banned the manufacture, transportation, and sale of intoxicating liquors. This ushered a period in the American history. This was known as Prohibition. Prohibition was difficult to force during the first decade of the 20th century. Bootlegging is the illegal production and sale of liquor. The increase of bootlegging, speakeasies, and the accompanying rise in gang violence and other crimes led to waning support for Prohibition. In 1933, the Congress had adopted a resolution. They proposed a 21st Amendment to the Constitution, which would repeal the 18th Amendment. The prohibition era came to a close by the end of that year.

Today, the Detroit River is one of busiest waterways in the United States, shipping iron and other goods to and from Canada. Only 100 years ago, those waterways were being used to transport illegal liquor from Canada to the Unites States (“Rum-running in Windsor.”). The men to pick it up were called the Purple Gang. The Purple Gang was a mainly Jewish, well established group of criminals, that by the late 1920s and controlled the city's drug trade, liquor, vice, and gambling (“The Purple Gang.”).

Bootlegging brought in many great profits (Sifakis 111). Al Capone, a famous Italian-American gangster, made about $60 million from bootlegging (725). The gangs established illegal distilleries and breweries. Some gangs even produced their own alcohol to keep a steady supply of it for themselves (111). More than one million gallons of bootleg alcohol had been illegally brought into the United States by the late 1920s. Bootlegging even occurred within the United States because even though alcohol was illegal, the process of it was not (Organized Crime and Prohibition 1). Bootleg alcohol had begun being

With the introduction into gang life comes opportunities for wealth, women, status and power all with the convenient diffusion of any criminal or moral responsibility. Like any society, the secret world of criminal gangs has its own set of stringent expectations and rules that must be followed. In E. L. Doctorow’s Billy Bathgate, the secret world of Schultz’s New York gang empire is revealed through the eyes of the young protagonist, Billy Bathgate. During a time when the grave effects of the depression had trickled down into nearly every community, the opportunity to partake in the privy, elite, prosperous network posed by Schultz was the manifestation of all that Billy could hope for. In his short