Organized Crime During The Prohibition Era In America

In 1919, the United States passed the 18th amendment, which banned the transportation and manufacture of alcohol in the United States starting in January of 1920. Alcohol was a problem of Americans because people often became alcoholics, resulting in broken families, lone children, and lots of fighting. So, as a result, the government decided to ban alcohol, thinking that it would do good for the broken families and put illegal prostitutes out of business and mend relationships. The government did not predict but soon had to deal with the backlash due to Prohibition. Prohibition led to more violence, poverty, bootlegging, speakeasies, and organized crime. America did not experience organized crime until Prohibition. Therefore, this dissertation aims to analyze how prohibition led to organized crimes in the United States of America.

As Prohibition started in 1920, there was witnessed the rise in activists' movements made up of Christians and other groups that were championing moral and social reforms in many states of America. These activist groups established the 'dry' movement in the middle of the 19th century. But for approximately ten years after the ban, what might have been the 'noble experiment' yielded more criminal activities, violence on peaceful citizens, and thrive of illegal sale of alcohol. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, just as the probation laws were enacted to ban the manufacture and transportation of alcoholic drinks.

The prohibition resulted in many more negative effects that were unanticipated during the enactment of the prohibition law. Criminal gangs were present in the cites during the late 19th century, but they even became more rampant after the prohibition law. These gangs operated blackmailing businesses and shylocking schemes in the neighborhoods composed of Italian, Jewish, and Irish people. While the Christian crusaders and activists rejoiced, daring criminals such as the Al Capone thrived, making supernormal profits in the sale of banned alcohol. He was able to get about $100 million annually through the illegal sale of alcohol. These gangsters led complex business activities of alcohol transport across states through rivers and other watercourses. Other criminal enterprises rose and expanded from the profits realized from such unlawful acts. As organized crime mushroomed during the Prohibition era, territorial conflicts repeatedly changed America's cities into violent fighting fields. Cases of assaults, violence, murder, and burglaries increased exponentially between 1920 and 1933. During this wave of violence and intolerance, law enforcement was beefed up, but unfortunately, perpetrators of these illegal acts operated with relative impunity. Police under the state and local levels appeared overwhelmed by the organized crime syndicates.

Poverty was another outcome of the prohibition laws in the United States of America. The proponents of the prohibition were struck by did not happen during the dry era. They hoped that when regulation is effected, the sales of clothing and household goods will rise, but it never came to be. Real estate developers and property owners thought that rents would increase as saloons were shut down and neighborhoods improved. Many business enterprises such as those dealing with chewing gum, grape juice, and other soft drink hoped for more profits. Theater producers were eager to welcome mammoth crowds as those who used to drink looked for ways to enjoy themselves without alcohol. Unfortunately, none of the above expectations held.

The unforeseen consequences included a general decrease in entertainment industries throughout many states. Hotels and restaurants failed as it appeared that they could not anymore gain profits without the sale of alcoholic drinks. Revenues from the entertainment sector, such as theater production declined instead of increasing. Other economic gains that were thought would be realized after the ban unfortunately failed. Generally, the initial economic implications of prohibition were mostly adverse. The shutting down of saloons, breweries, and distilleries resulted in the direct or indirect loss of many types of jobs for truckers, makers of a barrel, waiters, and other forms of employment. The closure of businesses such as salons, distillers, and breweries drove populations that relied on such enterprises into poverty. As the poverty levels increased, violence increased as people engaged in illegal activities to support their livelihoods. Sadly, the economic failure of the prohibition went far to affecting the government itself as it incurred a colossal loss of tax revenues. Many states, before the enforcement of the alcoholic ban, depended more on excise taxes charged on sales of liquor for the budgeting. The law that was supposed to prevent Americans from consumption of alcohol transformed them into professionals of manufacturing and transporting it. The sale of illicit alcohol had adverse effects on public health. The quality of drink in the black market considerably declined, and as a result, many people died further, affecting the economic sector. These consequences led to the loss of employment, revenues as businesses collapsed, and rates of poverty increased.

Prohibition was responsible for bootlegging, the unlawful business of transporting alcoholic drinks on the contrary of such transporting being made an illegal business by the government. The banning of manufacture, transport, and doing the business of alcoholic beverages caused a rise in demand for such drinks. The earliest documented rum-running began by bringing in foreign-made commercial alcohol into the US from across the borders of Canada and Mexico along the coastal strip using ships under foreign registry. Cuba, the Bahamas, Cuba, and Sainte-Pierre and Miquelon islands were the most preferred sources of this liquor. Smuggling of the illicit liquor grew into a became riskier venture when the US coast guards were searching ships. Bootleggers opted for other sources of the unlawful supply of alcohol. '>The liquor was now sold in masquerade as bottles of 'medicinal' whiskey being smuggled into drugstore counters on lawful or forged prescriptions. Some US industries were had permission to sing denatured alcohol, which was in concoction with harmful chemicals to make it unsafe for human consumption. The unlawful business was emasculating when the bootleggers started bottling their counterfeit brew, and by the end of the Prohibition Era, they were making corn-based alcohol was the leading supplier. Faultily distilled liquor was harmful for consumption and could cause visual impairment, immobility, and death in severe cases.

Prohibition also caused organized criminal activities. Organized crimes were unheard of before the 1920s. The criminal gangs were responsible for organized crimes and were at times used by influential people to accomplish political objectives. For example, they would be hired to intimidate opposition candidates and engage in electoral malpractice in favor of their boss. As a way of returning the support to the gangs, the police, in collaboration with the politicians, would not act as per laws established to combat illegal gambling, illegal business, and prostitution rings. At first, the organized criminals were unaware of business but knew how to use firearms and infringe on the competitors. They offered protection to unlawful liquor making and bootlegging operations from rival gangs.'>The gangs also would offer security for speakeasies and bribe nosey police officers or politicians to let them carry on with the unlawful business. The groups were minting a lot of money from the rogue alcohol economy. Police bosses and cops were now at the eve of an offer they would not reject, and they were now making the orders. As the illegal business continued to mushroom, the gangs also became smarter to remain afloat in the illicit liquor ring. They started to hire lawyers and accountants to look after the millions in cash from the business. The gang now began to think of striking a partnership deal with other groups to work on shipping arrangements and invest in the real estate sector.

The organized crimes went far as making deals on mutual protection over international borders to enable shipments of rogue alcohol into the main cities. The demand for illegal alcohol was growing very fast, and kingpins like Capone were making millions of dollars a year and spending close to $0.5 million in bribing police officers, the political class, and even national crime investigators. Prohibition act was responsible for the development of underground speakeasies, which are the illegal establishment of entities that engage in alcoholic drink business. The prohibition act did not put an end to alcohol consumption, but it took the use of alcohol to the underground. By 1925, thousands of underground clubs were selling alcohol out of New York City, and rum-running operations cropped up to offset the unquenchable alcohol thirsty citizens. A lot of loopholes had a role to play in the underground business. People would get a prescription to buy alcohol from a pharmacy, and this kept distillers in business. The sale of liquor continued, even after the illegalization. In Detroit, close to the US-Canada border, people were smuggling alcohol as false second gas tanks, suitcases, and camouflaged flasks and hot water bottles. It is documented that when a Michigan police decide to raid a particular bar in Detroit, they were astonished to find a local legislator, the local sheriff, and the mayor to the city all enjoying a drink. People continued to take liquor in the speakeasies. When caught drunk, they would not dare say where the alcohol is being sold.

The case of the sheriff and the mayor caught in Detroit is proper proof. It showed that even after the legislation on prohibition, alcohol was still being sold in underground bars. Legend postulates that the commercial entity of the illegal liquor was Arnold Rothstein, whose agents established a coordination 'office' at Midtown Manhattan. Rothstein was responsible for alcohol merchandise from Great Lakes and down the Hudson from Canada and made money after selling it to the city's gangsters. As long as the history of prohibition stays, the most infamous gangster of the illegal business was Al Capone. He controlled most of the Chicago underground business of alcohol in the mid-1920s. Al Capone lived a lustrous life in Lexington hotel, and it is alleged that he was making $100 million per annum, from operating casinos and speakeasies. He had a penchant for proper grooming, wearing good suits and drinking expensively and hence just looked like an ordinary businessperson. He opened several soup kiosks and was fond of charity, until Valentine's massacre, where he was responsible for the gunning down of his rivals.

In conclusion, the road to hell was paved with good intentions. The prohibition law that was supposed to prevent the American citizen from the effects of drinking turned as an incentive to other unintended consequences. The abolition of the manufacture and transportation of alcoholic drinks led to the establishment of two warring factions. While those who supported the ban rejoiced, the opposers, mostly made of drunkards, gangsters, those who owned breweries and distillers operated complex illegal business operations with impunity. The rejoicing of the supporters of the prohibition was short-lived. They anticipated that the laws banning drinking would result in more business gains, incomes, and even revenue. Much to their disbelief, unintended consequences led. Even the government was a victim of its own action as it realized a significant decrease in the amount of revenue and hence, problems of budgeting. The prohibition led to more violence, poverty, bootlegging, speakeasies, and organized crime. Instead of creating more peace, it resulted in more destruction, closure of businesses led to the loss of employment and hence poverty. Bootlegging and speakeasies thrived despite the enactment of the abolition laws to production and sale of alcohol. Generally, prohibition resulted in organized crimes.

Bibliography

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