How Did The Mob Drink In The 1920's

Police are doubling their efforts in order to put an end to organised crime, and the underground empire these mobsters have created. Al Capone's bootlegging, and other criminal activities are estimated to make him over 100 million dollars a year,“His underground empire has its tentacles in almost every illegal activity possible” said one officer we interviewed. “Al Capone is by far the most powerful man in chicago” says one citizen we interviewed another said “if Al wants you to disappear your gonna disappear”. With the prohibition act of 1919 mobsters have making

On January 17, 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment officially came into effect. This new provision in the constitution made it illegal to manufacture, sell and transport intoxicating liquor (under .05% alcohol content) in America. To enforce this new law, the Federal Government assigned only 1,500 agents in America. This created a hole for organized criminals to exploit; they made millions of

The men who created this law were not even following it. A deputy U.S Attorney General for Prohibition enforcement, Mabel Walker Willebrandt explains she is tired of the hypocrisy. It she showed by her asking “How can you have the heart to prosecute a bootlegger, send a man to jail for six months or a year for selling a pint or quart of whiskey, when you know for a fact that the men who make the laws.. Are themselves patronizing bootleggers?”

“When I sell liquor, it's called bootlegging; when my patrons serve it on Lake Shore Drive, it's called hospitality”(Capone). Prohibition was a national constitutional ban on the sale, production, importation, and transportation of alcoholic beverages in the United States. Prohibition costed the Federal Government approximately $11 billion in lost tax revenue, and costing over $300 billion to enforce the law. Alcohol being this expensive

Crooked Agents were bribed to “look away” from people buying liquor. Even workers in the government wouldn’t help with the prohibition, they wouldn’t spend any money on enforcing it. When criminals smuggled alcohol they could easily get away with it because there would be so little patrol at the many miles of the country 's border. (Document C) The men who made the prohibition were not following its rules.

Al Capone Mobsters was a term that describes a group of gangsters in the 1920’s. Gambling, Prostitution, and Murder went hand in hand with the term of mobster. Every mafia group has a leader. Al Capone was a dangerous mobster who was a Mafia crime lord and had took part in illegal alcohol, illegal drugs, prostitution, and illegal gambling during the 1920s (History).

Cole Sandbrook Mr. Thompson English 11 12 November 2014 Prohibition Research Paper The United States enforced the prohibition movement in 1920 to reduce the drinking of alcohol by eliminating businesses that produced and sold alcohol. When alcohol was made illegal it increased organized crime because of an increase of bootleggers. People who produced, sold, and transported alcohol illegally were known as bootleggers. Once authorities caught on to the bootleggers, they had to come up with better ways to transport the alcohol unseen.

Liquor clubs, secret drinking clubs, started popping up throughout the cities. As well as clubs being formed, alcohol was being illegally manufactured, sold, and consumed in stills, which was known as bootlegging. Tainted liquor was being made everyday by the common folk resulting in the deaths of many Americans (Doc 4). More serious offenses arose such as organized crimes conducted by gangsters. By this time, crime rates were skyrocketing, the economy was at an all time low, and families were being torn apart (Doc1).

Although drinking was generally thought to have declined during Prohibition, it had instead, continued uninterrupted in many parts of the country, particularly in large cities and areas with large foreign-born populations. Smuggling on such a large scale could not be prevented, and the illegal manufacture of liquor sprang up with such speed that authorities were hard pressed to contain it. Thus began a period of illegal drinking, lawbreaking, organized crime, and the corruption of public officials. During Prohibition there was a 24 percent increase in crime rate between 1920 and 1921. The rate of arrests on account of drunkenness rose 41 percent, and arrests for drunken driving increased 81 percent.

“In one big city alone—Chicago—an estimated 1,300 gangs had spread like a deadly virus by the mid-1920s” (“FBI”). Not only did gangs commit crime against the population, but they also fought with one another, and they took control of the alcohol industry. As you can imagine, this caused even more danger than a simple robbery. Gangster’s used Thompson submachine guns, also known as “Tommy Guns,” and didn’t care who they hit. And now, people had to buy their alcohol from bootleggers and smugglers-you would never know what they could put in there.

These people were the major crime bosses of New York, Chicago, Atlantic City, and L.A. The crime bosses and their mafias used this money to fuel other illegal ventures. Crime grew exponentially. The mobsters of Chicago, Detroit, and New York City all found ways to traffic banned items during prohibition to grow their mobs. The Chicago Mafia alone earned an estimated 4,000,000 dollars a year on average during prohibition. Police and the government officials relied on the mob for alcohol.

Bootlegging was the manufacture, distribution and sell of illegal goods. In this case it was Alcohol. During the prohibition Era, the rise of Speakeasies increased. A Speakeasies also known as “blind pigs” and “gin joints,”was an illegal bar or nightclub that sold illegal liquor during the Prohibition Era. The liquor was supplied by gangsters such as Al Capone.

How does this movie compare to the real history of Al Capone and the people who hunted him down? In the movie The Untouchables, there are several similarities and differences in comparison with history. Eliot Ness and his team, and Capone

In Canada it was legal to produce alcohol. The Canadian producers send it under water through Lake Huron and members of the Purple gang would pick it up. In Toledo it was illegal so they had to produce it secretly and send it to Detroit. The Purple gang was a predominantly Jewish gang.

On January 16, 1920, the 18th amendment was passed stating alcohol was illegal creating multiple problems in the United States. Although Prohibition seemed like a good idea at first, representing good health and morality, prohibition soon led to organized crime and gangs. Speakeasies, run by gangs and bootleggers, sold illegal and home-made alcohol. Bootleggers, getting their names from people soring alcohol in false legs, would run bars or taverns hidden from police. Organized crime grew and the gangs fought for control and kept their secrets by conquering any threats.