The Leader Of The Bootlegging Operations During The War On Drugs

During the Prohibition Era, Al Capone was an extremely powerful gangster that ran Chicago’s underground. At his pinnacle, he led uncountable brothels and speakeasies in which he and his syndicate could manage their various criminal acts, of which included illicit gambling, prostitution, and the sale of alcohol, which of course was illegal at this time and thus how he made the majority of his money. While exact numbers are not available, it is estimated that while at the peak of his power, Capone had brought in well over $1 billion in today’s currency and employed over 600 gangsters in order to do his business and protect him (Simkin, “Al Capone”). When asked whether or not he was a criminal, Capone even cheekily responded, “I make my money by supplying a public demand. If I break the law, my customers who number hundreds of the best people in Chicago, are as guilty as I am. The only difference is that I sell and they buy. Everybody calls me a racketeer. I call myself a businessman” (qtd. Simkin).

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

To start off, prohibition in the United States was constitutional ban production, importation, and transportation and sale on alcoholic beverages that still remained in place between 1920-1933. Numerous of gang bootleggers had an expansive amount of alcohol and controlled their businesses with violence and blackmailing. Al Capone was the leader of this whole entire destruction who was able to supply poor quality alcohol for a major high price. He felt he was

“This great demand for and simultaneous legalization of alcohol opened up a new illegal market for the gangster to develop and monopolize. As Al Capone put it, “All I do is to supply a public demand… somebody had to throw some liquor on that thirst, Why not me?”(1). With the prohibition getting everyone down, now that they can’t drink a beer and go out with friends anymore Al Capone thought he could take the reigns of this situation by starting to bootleg beer. He was already a leader of a very large and successful gang so he thought that if he could get his men to secretly bootleg beer in and out of Chicago then he would become one of the richest men in the U.S.. His dream came true as he nearly pocketed 60 million dollars in one year alone and 60 million which is now worth about 700 million dollars today. The prohibition didn’t only affect Chicago, but it made Al Capone a very wealthy man. As Capone was making million after million others wanted to get in on this action, creating new gangs to try and halt Capone and his dominance. One of these gangs was the Moran Gang, led by leader Bugs Moran, this gang ruled the North Side of Chicago while Capone and his men ruled the south side.

Al Capone is the single greatest symbol of collapse of law and order in the United States during the Prohibition Era. The act of Prohibition brought power to Al Capone, which he used to expand his organized crime activities into a stranglehold over the city of Chicago. Liquor trade became very profitable during Prohibition, and the struggle for control over the bootleg empire erupted into a full-scale war between rival gangs in Chicago. Capone gradually came to symbolize all the criminal evils of prohibition; to many throughout the world, he became the symbol of a lawless nation#. Publicity grew around the actions of Capone, with accounts of his sordid activities published in newspapers along with his image of power, money, and

Imagine it is 1920 and a new law has passed to ban the production, importation, transportation, sale, and consumption of alcoholic beverages across the great nation. Many people are trying to rise to the top by illegally selling alcohol, but only one can win the prize. If Alphonse Capone does not ring a bell, maybe the name Scarface or Al Capone will. Scarface Capone was a highly sought after man during the Prohibition time period. Capone became known as the most notorious gangster of this time. He was proficient enough to gain this title from his successes starting with his first gang, moving on to his rise to power in Chicago, and even his great downfall away from the top.

     In 1920 when prohibition became law, a large portion of the population still wanted alcohol. But not many were willing to put themselves at risk to sell it to others. Some did take advantage of prohibition, but none more than Al Capone. With the rise of the telephone, the increase of automobiles, the invention of the Thompson machine guns Capone was able to create an illegal empire like no other.

Recognized as one of the most fearless and violent cartels in all of Mexico, Los Zetas was brought forth by a need for personal security in the Gulf Cartel. This former hit man/security style operation, active since 1997, has since grown into its own ruthless and violent organization becoming the second most powerful cartel and easily the most feared in all of Mexico. Heavily trained and armed, members of Los Zetas are set apart from other cartels because of the level of brutality they are willing to administer to those who cross them, though they had initially hoped that by being more intimidating they would have to fight less. It is their command of the drug market, their lack of fear in using violent tactics, and the

Bootlegging is the illegal trafficking of liquor in violation of restrictions set by legislation. People would import liquor from other countries and sell it in America in places called speakeasies. Speakeasies were private bars were the illegal liquor was sold. It became one of the most complex crimes committed during this time. People who were in the bootlegging business created boats that could outrun Coast Guard boats. The Coast Guard caught on to that and created their own speed boats. This caused problems with shipments coming in by sea, and it cost criminals a lot of money. To cut down on cost, Americans began to make their own liquor and sold it to the speakeasies. Speakeasies were raided by cops and federal agents. Groups had to be more organized and have more internal connections in the justice system to not get caught. Eventually, organized groups that could control a whole local chain formed and took over the competition. Many people were killed defending their territory or trying to take from someone else. This resulted in a lot of mass killings and assassinations in the 1920’s. These groups controlled everything from distilleries to transport of the liquor to customers and retail outlets. Over time, these groups began to form monopolies in the distribution of liquor. One of the greatest names in organized crime is Al Capone. He had a “beautiful criminal mind” which allowed him to take over the

First, the prohibition significantly encouraged gansterism in the 1920s, when the mafia raised a considerable amount of money by selling alcohol underground. They even became more wealthy and powerful then the local government and took control of city affairs. Probably the most famous, and infamous mafia was Al Capone, who was a Italian descent grew up in New York City, and later started to smuggling illegal alcohols into Chicago city in the 1920s. He also participated in elections and controlled government officials by using patronage. In the late 1920s he had raised billions of money, and he was nicknamed “Chicago’s underground mayor”. Even when he abandoned his career after he was released from the prison in the 1930s, he kept about 8 million of properties still. Hence by enforcing prohibition, the government gave chances for gangsters to develop rapidly and may trigger some chaos as well as corruption. By using patronage, the mafias also gained lots of authorities for dirty work

Pablo Escobar entered the cocaine trade in the early 1970s. He collaborated with other criminals to form the Medellin Cartel and eventually controlled over 80% of the cocaine shipped to the U.S. In 1975, Medellin drug trafficker Fabio Restrepo was murdered. His killing, it’s believed, came at the orders of Escobar, who immediately seized power and

Drug lord’s, drug king’s, ceo of crime, are some of the names given to powerful drug cartel leaders. There are many such criminals throughout history that has gained these titles but a few have been so powerful and acquired so much wealth that they have gained widespread infamy. Pablo Escobar was one. From the 1970s until his death in 1993, Escobar was considered by many to be the most powerful drug lord in the world. With a net worth that earned him a spot on Forbes magazine’s Richest Man in the World list. Escobar was instrumental in getting his country out of debt, a creator of jobs for the Colombian people, and widely revered by many (Ramsey), all while sitting at the head of a large and powerful illegal drug organization. With his criminal

Over the past few decades drug cartels in Mexico have begun glorifying their brutal attacks and fearless efforts over the war on drugs and territory. Drug trafficking has become such a profitable epidemic that various organizations have grown to exploit this area of criminality. Cartels have gained notoriety by amassing large profits in exploiting the drug business. These organizations have created complex strategies to smuggle vast amounts of narcotics from the arms of the producer straight into the hands of the buyers. They have perfected this strategy successfully by distributing the illicit narcotics with the help of their government and local law enforcement, who in return receive bribes of monetary value to look the other way. This

“Founded by Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, and Rafael Caro Quintero, the Guadalajara Cartel is one of the five most famous drug cartels in history as it was among the first to work with and significantly prosper from the cocaine trade started in Colombia. Though his colleagues were arrested early on, Félix Gallardo was smart enough to privatize the Mexican drug trade by having it run by lesser-known bosses-yet top drug leaders-whom he had convene at “the plazas,” a house in Acapulco. He was eventually arrested and the Guadalajara Cartel split into two other powerful cartels, both mentioned

The most infamously known mobster and gangster, Alphonse Capone better known as Al Capone or Scarface, was born in poverty and worked his way up to get power. His mother, Teresina, immigrated from Italy to New York where Al Capone grew up poor. He ended up quitting school and worked in a bowling alley. Al Capone grew up in a bad neighborhood and ended up being a gangster at the age of eight-teen. He then made some choices based on what his gang leader told him. Al Capone had a leading role in the illegal activities occurring in Chicago which gave a sense of a lawless city. He dominated organized crime in the Chicago area from 1925 until 1931. Prohibition led to the bootlegging of liquor and the gang war’s of the 1920s. Al Capone one of the world’s most feared gangster started his life in poverty and ended up making millions from the sell of illegal liquor, prostitution, gambling, and extortion.