Organized Crime In The 1920's

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The prohibition era in the United States during the 1920’s brought a lot of change because of congressional Acts, the rise of organized crime, and the illegal production/smuggling of alcohol. The progressive era reformers and The Anti-Saloon League called for temperance and an end to the production of alcohol (Boyer). The United States Congress began to implement change in the U.S. by passing the 18th Amendment. The 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibited the manufacture, sale, transport, import, or export of alcoholic beverages (History.com Staff). In order to enforce the 18th amendment congress passed the Volstead act. The Volstead Act superseded existing prohibition legislation in 33 states (Henderson). The Anti-Saloon…show more content…
One of the most notorious leaders of organized crime during the 1920’s was Al Capone (Henderson). Capone made millions bootlegging and conducting other operations that involve transporting alcohol. Organized crime members paid off cops to look the other way while they conducted their operations. Organized crime grew out of nothing and was now an intricate part of United States history (Boyer). America was not used to such a powerful entity such as the mafia and other Organized crime groups on the streets. Organized crime groups worked in cities mostly but would venture out into the suburbs and surrounding countryside if they had an opportunity to make money (History.com Staff). The only reason organized crime became a reality in the 1920’s was too make a profit selling and bootlegging illegal alcohol. This was one of the biggest changes in the United States during the…show more content…
Bootleggers are people who smuggled alcohol into and throughout the U.S. and sold it to Speakeasies or other sources willing to pay good money for the liquor. Speakeasies were places like saloons which sold illegal alcohol to the public (Boyer). Bootleggers smuggled by the sea and by land. Many went north to Canada or south to Mexico to get shipments of alcohol to smuggle into the States (Boyer). Smuggling by sea became hard because the United States Coast Guard began to go farther out to sea to search for smugglers. The Coast Guard started to tighten the reins on smugglers (History.com Staff). Bootleggers were easy to come by and many were willing to risk getting arrested and sent to jail in order to make a possible large profit. Moonshiners were also Bootleggers. Moonshiners not only transported illegal alcohol but they produced it. The process of making Moonshine is very complicated and if it is done wrong the Moonshine could kill whoever consumed it (History.com Staff). Many people bought and consumed Moonshine despite the dangers, which shows how Prohibition was very
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