BOOTLEGGING AND SPEAKEASIES
When the Eighteenth Amendment was ratified in 1919, not only the sale of alcohol in the United States was prohibited, but also the manufacture and distribution as well. Due to the rural population and the strength of their vote, the amendment passed. The Volstead Act quickly followed, which was a law that officially implemented the amendment. Prohibition advocates, dubbed “drys”, argued that Prohibition brought families closer together and created better societies. Opponents of the amendment, the “wets”, retorted with the claim that Prohibition helped to form an ambience of deceit, and led to an increase in organized crime. The Volstead Act and the Eighteenth Amendment didn’t stop people from drinking, but alcoholism and liver disease did decrease during Prohibition. Luckily (for some), a large illegal network stepped up during Prohibition to provide individuals with what they thirsted (literally). Homemade stills gave people the ability to make their own liquor, and smuggling unauthorized drinks from other counties was another popular method. Bootleggers sold outlawed alcohol to buyers, and secret drinking organizations known as speakeasies popped up in cities, satisfying the unrelenting demand. Although the government worked incessantly to stop the spread of illicit alcohol, they were seriously outnumbered by the amount of people craving banned substances. Throughout the period of Prohibition, the demand for alcohol rocketed. Politicians, policemen, and others of power had a tendency to turn the other way when illicit deals were involved, as the system offered millions of dollars to be made by criminals (Lapsansky-Werner 229-230).
ORGANIZED CRIME and al capone
Bootlegging and speakeasies opened doors leading to more serious (and fatal) organized crime. What started as illegal smuggling and distribution quickly spread to drugs, robbery, prostitution, and murder. Ethnic immigrant groups, such as Italians and Irish, took over the distribution of alcohol. An infamous offender, Al Capone, defended his illegal actions by stating that he wasn’t a racketeer, but a businessman. A new breed of criminal, he built a domain extending from his hometown of Chicago to halfway across the country. Multiple gangs saw the opportunity to make money from bootlegging, and so of course, there were gang wars. Two of the most famous gangs, under the leadership of Al Capone and Bugs Moran, fought for control of Chicago’s organized crime earnings. The nine year long battle between gangs ended on February 14th, 1929, when four men dressed as policemen entered a Moran gang facility, told the men to line up on the wall, and shot their defenseless victims with Thompson submachine guns, firing more than 150 bullets at seven men. Six men died that day, but one of the victims lived long enough to give a statement. Unfortunately, gang codes keep men from talking to policemen, so he refused to give any information on the gunmen. Bugs Moran, a probable target of the shooting, fled the scene when he saw the police car pull up. Following the massacre, Moran observed that “only Capone’s men kill like that”, yet no charges were pressed against Capone due to the fact he had an airtight alibi, nor his supposed men, for they were never caught ("7 Chicago Gangsters Slain By Firing Squad of Rivals, Some in Police Uniforms"; "St. Valentine's Day Massacre").
Check out the link for a video about notorious gang member and criminal al capone.
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http://www.history.com/topics/al-capone/videos/the-many-moods-of-al-capone?m=528e394da93ae&s=undefined&f=1&free=false
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Background photo: Men raiding a still in New York during prohibition. (Cengage Learning)
Page by: Julia Russo