The Gangsters

• Prohibition provided an opportunity for organised crime to grow in the 1920s

  • Ordinary people wanted to drink alcohol, market for gangs who could produce, smuggle and sell alcohol to them.

  In some cities, gangs grew larger and created their own businesses.

  Gang bosses ran gambling dens and brothels.

  + Loan Shanks made local businesses pay protection money to them.
• Al Capone = most successful gang organiser

  • Earned around $105 million a year from organised crime.

  (Profits at risk from gangs wanting to takeover his territory)

  He had to use extreme violence to protect it:

  14th February 1929, Capone's men dressed as policeman and tried to kill Bugs Morgan - leader of the rival north side gang.
• Valentines day massacre:

  • Bugs Morgan escaped, but 7 of his men were lined up and shot.

  To put an end to this violence, prohibition agent Eliot Ness and his team seized illegal alcohol from warehouses (this did not stop him)

  • IRS uncovered $200,000 worth of unpaid FIT, which led to Al Capone's arrest on charges of tax avoidance in 1931.
• The impact of the Gangsters:

  Gangsters actions had a big impact on US cities because they were:

  • Extremely violent - By November 1924, 200 gang related murders had taken place in Chicago.
  • Controlling US politicians - Big Bill Thomson re-elected in 1927 because of support from local gangsters.
  • Many ordinary citizens becoming criminals because of their involvement manufacturing around 200 gallons of alcohol a day.
• Gangsters work made prohibition ineffective.

  • Bribed low paid enforcement officers to dodge the law

  In NY, 1929, there were over 32,000 speakeasies.

  The campaign groups eventually changed the policy of the government - in 1933, National alcohol ban was lifted.