Prohibition and organised crime

When was the Volstead Act and what happened?

• January 1920

• This introduced prohibition (the 18th amendment to the American constitution)

What was prohibition?

• The ban of the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcohol between 1920 and December 1933

What was the Temperance movement?

• The formation of the Women’s christian Temperance Union in 1873 and the anti-saloon league in 1893

Why was it so easy to turn prohibition into a federal law?

• Because 26 states were already dry

• Example of a dry state = Maine

Prohibition posters and cartoon names:

• Little boy’s plea

• The downward path

• The poor man’s club

Why was prohibition introduced? (America’s participation in WW1)

• Accusation of being seen as unpatriotic

• Many brewers were of German origin and Germany was seen as the enemy due to the war

• Beer was given the nickname “Kaiser’s Brew”

• The Anti-saloon League saw prohibiting the sale of alcohol as patriotic

• Followers viewed the sale of alcohol as betrayal of the USA

Why was prohibition introduced? (committees)

• Formation of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (1873) and the Anti-Saloon League (1895)

• `(Due to) Female reformers argued that for some time there had been clear links between alcohol consumption and wife beating and child abuse - about 3000 children were smothered in bed by their drunk parents per year

• Religious groups saw alcohol as the roots of sin and evil

Why was prohibition introduced? (Industrialists)

• Henry Ford and other industrialists were concerned that drinking reduced efficiency and work output

Why was prohibition introduced? (Maine Law)

• The Maine Law of 1851 - by 1855 13 states has adapted to similar legislation

Summarise why prohibition was introduced in 5 simple points

• Increased levels of crime and general lawlessness - about 3000 children were smothered by drunk parents per year

• Workers became unreliable

• Alcohol was the roots of all sexual immorality

• Damaged peoples health

• Caused poverty as grain was being used for beer instead of bread

Bootleggers

• Suppliers of illegal alcohol

Speakeasy

• A basement bar behind locked doors with peepholes (eg. the 21 club)

Moonshine

• Illegally distilled/smuggled alcohol

Bathtub gin

• Homebrewed alcohol

Prohibition Bureau

• A government agency set up to enforce the 18th Amendment and Volstead Act

The Volstead Act

The law that enforced prohibition - passed in 1919 but came into effect in 1920

What were the aims of the Prohibition Bureau?

• Catch bootleggers

• Shut down speakeasies

• Destroy illegal stills

• Investigate and arrest people involved in illegal alcohol trade

What were the problems with the Prohibition Bureau?

• Understaffed

• Corruption: Many agents were bribed by gangsters with alcohol

• Lack of public support

• Organised crime: Gangsters like Al Capone became powerful by running illegal alcohol businesses and often avoided punishment

Stills

• Devices used for distilling alcohol

Rum Runner

Someone who illegally transports alcohol across borders

Prohibition agent

• Someone employed by the prohibition bureau to shut down any illegal profit, transportation or production of alcohol

  • Often underpaid and some agents (1/12) gave into bribery of alcohol from gangsters

Wets

• People who were anti-prohibition

Dries

• People who supported prohibition

Saloons

Bars/taverns where alcohol was sold and drank before prohibition began (in 1920)

What was the impact of prohibition?

• Increased alcohol poisoning (due to bathtub gin and because people drank pure ethanol)

• Increase in xenophobia

• Increase of gangs - adds to fear of communist or mafia gangs

• Increase in crime and anarchism - crime is normalised

• Increase in prostitution

• Corruption - bribery to officers

• Illegal money from speakeasies - not paying right levels of tax

  • Government has less money because of this, so they employ more prohibition agents but due to the impossibility of the enforcement of prohibition (not enough agents) the government is running out of money

How did prohibition end and when?

• Due to campaigning

• Ended on the 5th of December 1933

When was Al Capone born?

• 1899 in Naples - son of Italian Immigrants

What was Al Capone’s nickname and why?

• Scarface

• When he was 18 from when his face was slashed in a fight over a girl - he was ashamed of how he got this scar because he thought he deserved it so he lied and said he got it in ww1

Where did Al Capone’s criminal career start and what did he do?

• Chicago

• He ran errands for a local gangster Jim Colosimo who was murdered by the Torrio gang in 1920

• Capone became Torrio’s no. 2

In 1925 what happened to Torrio and how did Capone and Torrio deal with this?

• Torrio was seriously injured in a gangland attack

• They ordered the death of their rival gang leader Dion O’Banion and then sent $50,000 worth of flowers to his funeral

How was Capone caught?

• He was caught for tax evasion in 1931 and sentenced for 11 years in prison and fined $50,000 

• He was released in 1939 and died in 1947 aged 48

When was the St Valentine’s Massacre

• 14th February 1929

Who was Bugs Moran and what happened to his men?

• A leader of a rival Chicago gang who narrowly escaped death but 7 of his men were machine-gunned by Capone’s men who were dressed as police officers in a garage

• Capone’s alibi: he was in Florida at the time

What was the name of Capone’s gang and how much money did he make?

• The Chicago Outfit

• $60 million (from gambling, illegal alcohol profit, and prostitution)

Positive views of Capone

• Portrayed as the modern “Robin Hood”

• Gave money to the poor and soup kitchens during the Great Depression and helped communities in Chicago

• Prohibition was unpopular many people admired his supply of alcohol because many people still wanted it

• Newspapers portrayed him as a celebrity gangster

Negative views of Capone

• Many saw him as a criminal who was responsible for violent murders and corruption

• St Valentines Massacre damaged his reputation

• Seen as a symbol of lawlessness

• Conviction for tax evasion (1931) exposed the extent of his illegal wealth