Al Capone Hypocrisy

The government became the epitome of hypocrisy and corruption. Bribes and gifts were frequently exchanged between gangsters and smugglers and agents officials. Many officials drank alcohol, even in the highest levels of the government. According to Alice Roosevelt Longworth, “No rumor could have exceeded the reality;... trays with bottles containing every imaginable whiskey stood about.” The director of Prohibition enforcement in Pennsylvania had over four million dollars to bribe his own men, and his counterpart in northern California publicly admitted that he drank alcohol. (alcoholsolutionsandproblems.org). Disregard for the government rose. Millions of normal people went directly against the federal government’s mandate. This is not to say every official was corrupt and bribed, not even a majority. Unfortunatly, there was enough that the whole system became thought of …show more content…
Eliot Ness was in the employ of the Department of Justice, and led nine other agents in closing down many illegal breweries. Hired and recruited to harass Capone, they busted several of Al Capone’s speakeasies and illegal breweries around Chicago, starting about 1929. A popular 1987 movie was also made about this famous group. The Untouchables helped catch Al Capone and send him to jail in 1932 (britannica.com). The passing of the Eighteenth Amendment had a varied effect on the public. Some lost money and jobs, as they worked in or invested in the brewing business. Others grew rich, profiting of the lucrative trade in alcohol and spirits. Many, though, began making their own alcohol. Some American citizens bought illegal stills from hardware stores. Others simply brewed it in their showers and bathrooms, making their own bathtub gin. More Americans than ever before were learning how to manufacture and distill beer, wine, and spirits

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