The Role Of Organized Crime In The 1920's

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The 1920’s was an interesting time period. Social 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 closed because they could not supply the demand for alcohol. On the other hand, illegal places and gadgets could serve the request (Lerner). The organized crime that arose from this movement was …show more content…
The Prohibition era created countless criminals out of everyday citizens.
As mentioned, the amounts of organized crime that came about was amazing. In an instance, an illegal black market for the alcohol business was formed (Hall). Gangsters were the real culprit. They extended their everyday work into the black market. By doing this, it provided the gangsters with a lot of money (Alchin). These people were known as bootleggers. A prime example of these people were the Genna Brothers gang. This gang of Chicago bootleggers created a liquor still, and they called it the “ally-cooker”. This tiny still was put in kitchens. The use of this product was to make homemade liquor. Not only did they invent the ally-cooker, they also created a type of bad tasting “bathtub gin”. Despite the awful taste, the gin was a huge success. Speakeasies purchased it to make the customers drink orders. The Genna Brothers were successful because the people