Prohibition F&F

• Dates of Prohibition

  Lasted from 1920 until 1933
• Levels of alcohol consumption fell by about 30% in the early 1920’s
• The Eighteenth Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified on January 16th, 1919.
• Prohibition ended with the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment on December 5th, 1933.
• Prohibition was repealed with the Twenty-first amendment which was passed on December 5th, 1933.
• Mostly approved in Midwest states
• Unpopular in urban areas
• Famous Prohibition Agents

  • Isadore Einstein
  • Moe Smith (Deputy)
• Einstein and Smith made a total of 4392 arrests by subtlety raiding speakeasies
• Impossible to properly enforce in cities due to underfinanced enforcement
• Underpaid agents who were responsible for large areas - ineffective enforcement
• Illegal alcohol from suppliers for millions of urban Americans not ready to obey prohibition laws
• Bootlegger


  Supplier of illegal alcohol
• Bootleggers made vast fortunes
• Two thirds of illegal alcohol came from Canada
• Bootleggers brought in alcohol by sea
• Captain McCoy


  Famous bootlegger who brought in fine Scottish whiskey by sea - ”the real McCoy”
• Illegal stills made their own illegal whiskey - moonshine
• Hazards of stills

  • Fire
  • Alcohol produced was frequently poisonous
• Agents seized over 280000 stills
• By 1925 there were more speakeasies in American cities than there had been saloons in 1919
• Speakeasy = secret bar where people could drink illegally
• Prohibition led to the rise of organised crime as gangsters took control of the distribution of alcohol
• The most famous gangster during prohibition was Al Capone, leader of Chicago’s South Side Gang (also known as ‘Scarface’)
• Gangster Al Capone controlled Chicago's criminal underworld, he earned $60 million from bootlegging (illegal sale of alcohol)
• Prohibition led to massive corruption
• Many law enforcers were involved in the liquor trade
• One in twelve prohibition agents were dismissed for corruption
• Organised gangs made about 2 billion out of the sale of illegal alcohol
• Gangsters generally came from immigrant and poorer backgrounds
• In the early 1920’s, the main gangs were Jewish, Polish, Irish and Italian
• Gangs fought viciously to control the liquor trade and the prostitution, gambling and protection rackets that were centred on the speakeasies
• In Chicago alone there were 130 gangland murders in 1926 and 1927 and not one arrest
• By late 1920’s fear and bribery made law enforcement ineffective
• Al Capone 


  Chicago Gangster boss
• By 1929 Al Capone had destroyed the power of the other Chicago gangs, committing at least 300 murders in the process
• The St Valentines Day Massacre 1929


  Al Capone and his men murdered 7 of his main rivals
• Prohibition , “The Noble Experiment“ had failed
• The Great Depression encouraged the end of prohibition
• Franklin D Roosevelt (democrat) was elected in 1932