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Prohibition & the Rise of Organized Crime

Isaac Cooley & Logan Shover

Pre-Prohibition

Pre Prohibition

  • A surge of religious revivalism swept the country in the 1820s and 1830s.
  • In 1838 Massachussets passed a law that prohibited the sale of 15 gallon quantities of Spirit.
  • Temperance societies like WCTU, saw that alcohol was seen as a destruction of families and marriages.
  • Wayne Bidwell Wheeler becomes President of ASL (Anti Saloon League).
  • Some factory owners supported prohibition as it lowered workplace accidents and boosted efficiency.

Prohibition Starts

  • Though Congress had a seven-year time limit, it received the necessary support in just 11 months.
  • Ratified 1/16/1919, the 18th Amendment went into effect one year later.
  • 33 states had already enacted their own. prohibition legislation before the 18th Amendment.
  • Prohibition only affected the manufacture and sale of alcohol, but not the consumption.
  • World War 1 helped finally push the US to support Prohibition.

Al Capone and the Mafia

  • Al Capone ruled an empire of crime in the Windy City
  • He dropped out of school in the sixth grade, and was accepted into a gang.
  • Many of his activities include: gambling, prostitution, bootlegging, bribery, narcotics trafficking, robbery, “protection” rackets, and murder.
  • He ran shady distribution, brewing, and distilling operations.
  • This earned him the moniker "Public Enemy No. 1" as a result of gang violence.

Organized Crime

  • The rise of Prohibition is considered the birth of organized crime.
  • New York and Chicago were two major cities where racketeering was a big business.
  • Illegal manufacturing of liquor occured, along with the operation of "speakeasies"
  • People made millions of dollars anually from bootleg operations and speakeasies.

Saint Valentine's Day Massacre

  • This massacre was caused by Al Capone's desire to consolidate control by eliminating rivals.
  • On February 14, seven members of Moran’s operation were killed while facing the garage wall.
  • The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre remains unsolved, and was never officialy linked to Capone
  • This massacre was the start of
  • the decline of Al Capone.
  • Having seen the effects of the Prohibition, many people lost intrest and stopped supporting.

Prohibition Ends

  • The increase of bootlegging, speakeasies, and the rise in organized crime led to the Prohibition's end.
  • Thousands of people died each year from drinking cheap alcohol laced with toxins.
  • Many states had previously relied on liquor taxes to fund roads, schools and other public benefits.
  • Because of the Gret Depression, creating jobs and revenue by legalizing liquor had an undeniable appeal.
  • The 21st Amendment was ratified on December 5, 1933, ending Prohibition.

Citations

“Bootlegging.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 20 July 1998,

https://www.britannica.com/topic/bootlegging. Accessed Mar. 21, 2023

Hayes, Amy. “Bootleggers, Bathtub Gin, & Speakeasies: Organized Crime in the 1920s.”

TheCollector, 28 Nov. 2022, https://www.thecollector.com/organized-crime-roaring-twenties/. Accessed Mar. 21, 2023

“Prohibition (Article) | 1920s America.” Khan Academy, Khan Academy,

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/rise-to-world-power/1920s-america/a/prohibition. Accessed Mar. 21, 2023

“The Roaring Twenties: Definition and Facts - History.” History, A&E Television

Networks, 29 Oct. 2009, https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties. Accessed Mar. 21, 2023

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