Organized Crime and Prohibition in the 1920's

THESIS

Thesis

In the early 20th century, prohibition was introduced as a public safety measure, however, ironically the banning of production and sale of alcohol ultimately led to increased organized crime.

How it started

One of the main reasons prohibition was introduced was due to women in temperance groups who advocated for it. Many women thought that men spent too much money on alcohol instead of their families and men would even go to work drunk or miss work days. Most women agreed that their communities would be better off without alcohol because the public crime rates would decrease and the efficiency at work would increase.

How it came to be

Politicians supported the idea of prohibition to gain votes from the large temperance groups that advocated for it. The government eventually enforced prohibition laws. In this picture, there appears to be a government official pouring the alcohol out of the bottles for no one could drink anymore.

Initial reactions

Restaurants and bars stopped selling all kinds of alcohol. People, specifically mainly men, finally had to come to terms with prohibition as there were no locations selling alcohol publicly. It was a drastic change for the populations affected.

Protests

Some parts of the community improved just as people thought it would such as work efficiency and drunk crime rates. However, society was not prepared to stop drinking alcohol. There was a negative reaction from many people who protested prohibition and wanted alcohol.

Due to the lack of alcohol, a new kind of crime was created: making and selling illegal alcohol. Organized groups and small operators made and sold "bootleg booze". Others made alcohol at home that was known as "moonshine". Technically, this was not against prohibition laws since it was not illegal to consume alcohol. Moonshine was dangerous as it caused blindness in people and sometimes, in worse cases, death.

New crime

Illegal locations

Illegal alcohol was consumed in speakeasies which were places where people could drink alcohol secretly. The Cotton Club was a famous speakeasy in New York. Speakeasies did not publicly advertise selling alcohol, consequently, these establishments gained customers through spoken communication. Customers could only get in to the speakeasies by getting an approval from someone at the door.

Al Capone

Al Capone was one of the most largely known and successful gangster bootleggers in North America. He had control over 161 speakeasies. Capone created his own policy to murder any bootlegger competitors, thus contributing to organized crime. Organized crime related to alcohol and bootleg booze increased greatly. Although many people died with Al Capone in great power, he was never proven to have killed anybody directly but only by henchmen in his gang, this made it difficult for police to arrest him.

Organized crime

A big competitor of Al Capone's was Bugs Moran. Their rivalry to control the bootlegging industry caused organized crime to increase substantially. The St. Valentine's day massacre was an organized assassination by Al Capone, it was the climax of the two gangsters' rivalry. 7 of Moran's gang members were killed solely on this occasion. From 1922 to 1926, 474 people were killed by fraud, bombings, and revenge murders between the gangs.

Troubles with Enforcement

This cartoon drawing depicts the way that bootleggers and gangsters were hard to be caught by enforcement officers. Prohibition did not work well because it was difficult to control people as there weren't enough officers to enforce the prohibition laws. Gangsters such as Al Capone would pay off officers and judges in a court of law to ensure him and his gang's immunity from jail. The status that Capone and his gang carried made it near impossible to testify against them in court due to intimidation.

The end of an era

As the majority of people protested prohibition and organized crime rates were increasing, it became clear that prohibition was doing more harm than good. The government also came to the big realization that many people are constantly willing to buy alcohol, therefore the government was losing potential money in taxes. In Canada, each province repealed prohibition over time and most people were happy to go back to their normal, legal drinking days.

Bibliography

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