Prohibition and Crime in the 1920s

Prohibition and Crime in the 1920s

                    by Constance Semponis

The 1920s changed the course of American society in many ways, but most prominently through prohibition. Not only was prohibition a fruitless attempt to limit alcoholism, but it gave birth to a plethora of negative affects that brought more damage. Crime rose to record highs with the increase of bootlegging (“Illegal traffic in liquor in violation of legislative restrictions on its manufacture, sale, or transportation” according to Encyclopedia Britannica) and gangsters such as Al Capone having a hand in illegal trade. 

Prohibition began in 1919 when temperance groups such as the Women’s Christian Temperance Movement sought to prevent excessive drinking by making it against the law. When the 18th amendment was passed to ban alcohol the consumption did drop, but for a very short time. “The years immediately after the introduction of prohibition saw a drop in liquor consumption to an historic low point; this was most noticeable among the ethnic groups and other lower classes, precisely the chief target of temperance reforms. Recent calculations reinforce the evidence derived from Clark Warburton that liquor consumption dropped, to about 30% of pre-prohibition levels in the early 1920s, but then rose by the late 1920s to around 60-70%.” (Tyrrell, 1406)

One of the reasons that alcohol consumption rose in the 1920s was because of the bootleggers. They made it very easy and accessible for nearly everyone to purchase liquor without being caught by the feds because of the clever ways they had of hiding it. Women had the popular flasks hiked up their skirts in garters, some would also have a false cane filled with liquor in which you would twist off the bottom and pour it into your glass, and at home people would convert tables into secret mini bars by adding extra compartments inside them them. 

Although people had to hide their alcohol from the government, the government itself was also guilty of illicit activities with bootleggers. In Laura Beshears’ article, ‘Honorable Style in Dishonorable Times: American Gangsters of the 1920s and 1930s’ she explains how illegal selling got involved with the government. “Even the U.S. President Warren G. Harding, from 1921 to 1923, and his administration played a role in this corruption. Harding appointed ‘‘cronies and crooks’’ from his home state of Ohio to office. These men, friends of Harding who comprised the so-called ‘‘Ohio Gang,’’ used their power to benefit themselves. Gangsters thrived in this environment of pervasive corruption, moral decay, and lawlessness.” (Beshears, 199)

Those gangsters, also known as Bootleggers, thrived off illegal selling and made millions by doing so. For this reason, bootlegging gave birth to another aspect of the Jazz Age known as organized crime. “Prohibition, supposedly created to prevent drinking, presented gangsters with an opportunity to profit from illegal bootlegging. Gangsters undermined the dream of rising to wealth through honest work; they made their money through illegitimate and illegal practices and usurped power through violence. In this way, their lives paralleled the transition that occurred in America from idealism to the corruption of that idealism.” (Beshears, 200)

The most famous bootlegger of all was non other than the infamous Al Capone. If anyone is an example of how profitable selling alcohol was, it was him. All the violence aside, Capone made bootlegging and illicit activity a high end underground business. “Upon the initiation of Prohibition, Capone essentially took over the business of the nation's thousands of breweries and distilleries. Since Capone was more than willing to disobey the law and had control over hundreds of professional criminals, he was, in effect, handed a monopoly on alcohol production by the ratification of Prohibition.” (Hales, 1) Capone didn’t limit selling to the average speakeasy-goer, but even worked private deals with politicians. “Capone bought legal immunity by administering bribes to police and politicians. He practically paid off every law enforcement agent and politician in the districts in which he operated his illegal businesses. These bribes, although sometimes on the order of a quarter of a million dollars, were relatively easy for Capone to dish out considering that he was earning over 100 million dollars per year ” (Hales, 1). 100 million dollars per year! And in the 1920s!

And it showed. Capone was not one to hide his riches by any accounts (even when he was in jail he had a rather elaborate cell), even though he earned them illegally. Gangsters were well dressed and relished in glamour. One particular gangster, Frankie Uale, in particular was well known for his ostentatiousness. He “was known for ‘‘sporting diamonds wherever they would show’’. He also happened to be ‘‘adorned with his diamond stickpin, two huge diamond rings, and diamond-encrusted belt buckle’’ the day he was shot to death” (Beshears, 204). Now that’s dying in style!

With money, diamonds, and glamour at their fingertips, the bootleggers used prohibition to their advantage. Much to the dismay of temperance groups, who sought to limit crime through banning alcohol, prohibition proved to increase the consumption by leading to the illegal selling of it. Gangsters such as Al Capone gained quite a bit of control over businesses, people, and even parts of the United States government. They also increased the rate of violence all because of one little amendment that only consisted of a few sentences. It is really amazing how powerful words actually are. 

Works Cited

1) Beshears, Laura, “Honorable Style in Dishonorable Times: American Gangsters of the 1920s and 1930s,” in The Journal of American Culture 2010.

2) Tyrrell, Ian, “The U.S. Prohibition Experiment: Myths, History and Implications,” in  Addiction, November 1997, Vol. 92.

3) The Editors of the Encyclopedia Britannica; www.britannica.com

4) Hales, Taylor; Nikolas Kazmers; “Organized Crime - How It Was Changed by Prohibition,” www.umich.edu