Prohibition One of the guiding influences on the the 20’s was the 18th Amendment “Prohibition” The main goals of Prohibition seemed worthy, the elimination of drunkenness and its resulting family abuse, the elimination of saloons which served as places where other illegal activies often took place, and the prevention of absenteeism and on the jobs accidents resulting from drunkenness

Prohibition banned the sale and distribution of liquor but not its consumption Prohibition went into effect on Jan. 16th 1920, the evening of the 15th was one of the busiest nights for liquor sales in history as people took advantage of their last legal opportunity to buy liquor Prohibition was one of the most widely ignored federal laws in history Dispute the ban people continued to drink

Bootleggers found that they could make tons of money either distilling or running liquor Bootleggers would bring run liquor down from Canada, or up from Mexico on trucks or cars, they would also bring liquor in on boats which would sit just outside of US territorial waters waiting for speed boats to move the liquor to land Other times people people would make their owning stills, moonshine was common in rural areas, or at home in bath tubs “ bath tub gin”

Some of this bootleg liquor was good, most was bad, and some was dangerous or deadly Stories of people going blind or dieing from alcohol poisoning were not uncommon Most of this bootleg liquor was sold in “Speakeasies” illegal saloons Prohibition caused a massive growth in these saloons prior to prohibition Washington DC had 300 saloons after Prohibition there were an estimated 700 Speakeasies

These Speakeasies served as social gathering places, they were where young, hip, wealthy, powerful, and famous went to party and be seen Speakeasies played the best jazz and hired the best musicians, customers danced and drank all night Because Speakeasies were already illegal they often served as places where other illegal activities took place such as gambling and prostitution

The Syndicate Prohibition had an unexpected negative side effect in that it created organized crime Bootlegging was a multi-million dollar business that was completely illegal Soon gangs in the big cities began to compete for control of the booze business This will lead to gang wars which took place in the heart of major cities

Gangster working for different bosses would patrol the cities strapped with pistols shotguns, the ever famous Thomson sub machine gun or Tommy Gun, and the Gangsters weapon of choice the Browning Automatic Rifle or BAR These bloody conflicts were front page news on every paper in the country and the bosses, legends, and infamous characters of the time are still know Al “Scare Face” Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, Bugsy Morand, Lucky Luciano ect.control not only bootlegging but entire cities

The amount of money involved in bootlegging turned local criminals into national powerful individuals Eventually most this organized crime was consolidated in the hands of a few mob bosses or families, among them was the famous Italian mafia La Cosa Nostra Corruption from the mass money being made by the Mob paid off everyone from local police to judges and politicians

The Federal Government fought back by creating the FBI Federal Bureau of Investigations to track down and arrest the criminals Though millions of gallons of bootleg liquor was destroyed and many gangsters were arrested but the gang warfare and corruption controlled many large cities