Organized Crime In The Prohibition Era

Words: 1695
Pages: 7
Open Document
Organized Crime in the Prohibition Era The 1920s in the United States are known as the “Roaring Twenties” and the jazz age, but is even more popularly known as the era of prohibition or the “Noble Experiment”. On January 16, 1919 congress passed the 18th amendment, which would go into effect the following year, and last for a total of 13 years. The 18th amendment established that the production, transport, and sale of alcoholic beverages were now illegal. Among the various landmark cultural changes in the 1920s, the prohibition sparked the beginning of one of the biggest and most well known illegal movements in American history. The 18th amendment, ratified on January 16, 1919, reads as follows, “After one year from the ratification of this …show more content…
According to Jeffrey A. Miron and Jeffrey Zwiebel, writers for The National Bureau for Economic Research, “We find that alcohol consumption fell sharply at the beginning of Prohibition, to approximately 30 percent of its pre-Prohibition level. During the next several years, however, alcohol consumption increased sharply, to about 60-70 percent of its pre-prohibition level. The level of consumption was virtually the same immediately after Prohibition as during the latter part of Prohibition, although consumption increased to approximately its pre-Prohibition level during the subsequent decade.” Not only did the ban prove to be ineffective in preventing the distribution of liquor, but it also later proved to be a risk to the health of those who still consumed the banned alcohol. With liquor no longer being manufactured in the pristine conditions of a professional brewery, the quality of alcohol sharply decreased. The quality of bootlegger alcohol was very poor and many people who consumed alcohol from speakeasies became sick. Deaths from alcohol poisoning rose by 400% in the United States, causing major concerns. Mark Thornton, the Assistant Professor of Economics at Auburn University, describes one of the many negative effects of the prohibition as, “It led many drinkers to switch to opium, marijuana, patent medicines, cocaine, and other dangerous substances that they would have …show more content…
Organized criminal gangs began to abuse their power and crime rates began to grow at alarming rates. Bootlegging alcohol was not the only illegal activity on the rise in the 1920s. According to the FBI, “On the other side was law enforcement, which was outgunned (literally) and ill-prepared at this point in history to take on the surging national crime wave. Dealing with the bootlegging and speakeasies was challenging enough, but the “Roaring Twenties” also saw bank robbery, kidnapping, auto theft, gambling, and drug trafficking become increasingly common crimes.”6 With police forces not standing a chance against the power of organized crime gangs, crime rates went through the roof. The FBI reported that, “Rival gangs led by the powerful Al ‘Scarface’ Capone and the hot-headed George “Bugs” Moran turned the city streets into a virtual war zone with their gangland clashes. By 1926, more than 12,000 murders were taking place every year across America.” With crime growing at dangerous rates across America it began to become increasingly obvious that these illegal crime rings were being fueled by the prohibition. As the liquor flowed as much as ever, crime rates shot through the roof, and despite the large allocation of government resources in unsuccessful attempts to end the crime spree, it became increasingly obviously
Show More

Related Documents: Organized Crime In The Prohibition Era

Essay on Great Gatsby

3/3/12 The Days of Prohibition Imagine the next morning, waking up and finding something being taken away from you, finding out that it is now illegal to have or find in a store to buy. This is what happened on January 16, 1920, when the eighteenth amendment came into effect. During the Prohibition Era, the goals were simple, but yet failed in the end to succeed to meet the goals. During the 1920’s, prohibition heavily influenced the rise in crime rates and aided in the era of modernism. First…

Words 617 - Pages 3

Prohibition: Prohibition in the United States and Prohibition Essays

15, 2012 Research Paper Prohibition: Under the Influence of Crime The Prohibition Era lasted from 1920 through 1933, and was an attempt to establish morality by permanently banning the sale, production, importing and exporting of alcoholic beverages. It took a Constitutional amendment to enact it, and another one to repeal it. The effort to reduce the negative effects of alcohol on society did almost the opposite. In addition to creating new types of crime Prohibition also jump-started a new wave…

Words 2797 - Pages 12

Al Capone Thesis

D.W#1- Al Capone, was an american gangster who rose to fame during the 1920s when prohibition era was happening, Al Capone was the co-founder of the Chicago mob. Once Al Capone was in charge of the Chicago mob he expanded the bootlegging buisness through increasingly violent means. Throughout the years Al Capone was known for supposedly killing over 33 people in the course of 7 years. Al Capone was also good friends with the mayor of Chicago, which meant that Capone seemed to be uncatchable by the…

Words 357 - Pages 2

The Prohibition: The Rise Of Organized Crime In The 1920's

what exactly brought the Prohibition to its own demise? Organized crime and the rise of gangsters, were prevalent during this time. The Prohibition had started as the solution to immoral behavior in the U.S., but later became the aid to criminal injustice during this time period. While some people believed that the Prohibition was an answer to America’s problems, evidence clearly points how it was definitely a hinderance. Throughout the era of the 1920’s, organized crime and the rise of gangsters…

Words 1382 - Pages 6

The Prohibition Of The 1920's

"Prohibition did not achieve its goals. Instead, it added to the problems it was intended to solve." On January 16, 1920, the Eighteen Amendment was put into effect and all transporting, importing, exporting, selling, and manufacturing of intoxicating liquor was halted. By then already 25 states in America were already dry, this was because the government thought that banning alcohol would reduce crime rates. This amendment was the product of decades of effort by groups such as the Women’s Christian…

Words 1746 - Pages 7

Gangsters In The Great Gatsby

all. For these reasons the reader is supposed to sympathise with the character. Now notice how his background was not explicitly stated. Jay Gatsby was among the many during the 1920s who had taken advantage of the prohibition era to become rich through bootlegging and organized crime. With this realization, the reader now notices how gangster culture…

Words 1314 - Pages 6

The Role Of Organized Crime In The 1920's

experiments in the American society took all shapes and forms. The government wanted Americans to go “dry”. Although they attempted prohibition before, it lead people to wonder why they were repeating history (Lerner). According to Margaret Moos Pick’s article “Speakeasies, Flappers & Red Hot Jazz: Music of the Prohibition,” the ideal of the Prohibition was to, “reduce crime and poverty, and generally improve the quality of life in America”. Abrupt events continuously occured. Many restaurants and clubs…

Words 635 - Pages 3

18th Amendment Consequences Essay

American Prohibition: Passage and Consequences Melissa Bailey The passing of the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution on January 16th, 1919 brought in a new era of crime in America. The 18th Amendment, which went into effect January 17th, 1920, prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages nationwide in the United States (The 18th). By outlawing the sale and consumption of alcohol, the 18th Amendment attempted to create a more moral society…

Words 1878 - Pages 8

The 18th Amendment: The Failure Of The Prohibition

The Prohibition. Back in the 1920s the United States tried to ban alcohol. This was a time of parties and change, it didn't change anything for the better, but in fact for the worse, the law was barely even followed. Hoping to help America for the better by stopping the crime rates, and help the taxes. It ended up doing quite the opposite and ultimately failed causing the US to dig themselves a bigger hole. Thus, making the Prohibition a failure due to the economy deterioration during the era, speakeasies…

Words 1263 - Pages 6

The Prohibition Era In The United States

Prohibition Era The United States has always been considered a country of freedom, where immigrants have a big number of possibilities to succeed. But it has not always been like that, there was a time where the country was not doing well financially. After the First World War, between 1920 and 1933, the United States experienced an era of prohibition. It was a hard call. “Prohibition was the most ambitious social reform ever attempted in the United States.” (p.1032) President Woodrow Wilson issued…

Words 472 - Pages 2