Success And Failure Of The Prohibition In The 1920's

Prohibition
The prohibition was the 18th amendment put into effect back in 1920 where it had made any manufacturing, sales, or distributing any type of intoxicating liquor illegal. Many different groups that were against alcohol believed it to be America's national curse. They believed by taking alcohol away it would lower crime rates and have consumers spend more at other stores. By doing all this it would make America look like a more friendly classy country. After the ban of alcohol the economy took a turn for the worst. Tens of thousand of people lost their jobs and bars restaurants and saloons went out of business. When this was all happening the government lost around 11 billion dollars and spent up to 300 million trying to enforce these
This new law was very hard to enforce throughout the US. This is because in many parts of the US it was custom to have a drink after a day of hard work. Even the police who were supposed to enforce these laws would drink to. Many officers would look the other way when it came to this law. It was very flexible and many cops would look the other way for friends and even average citizens. This was not just a problem for local law enforcement it also proved trouble for the federal government as well. The law was a lot easier to enforce in big cities where everyone didn’t know everyone. During this era crime was on the rise since people felt as if they really needed the alcohol. Also many people lost their jobs since alcohol had such a big impact on the American society. Many people still got to drank by going to speakeasies where they would consume liquor. During this era you were still allowed to consume alcohol. Citizens during this time would also go to drug stores to buy “medicine.” This was a form of distributing alcohol where Dr.’s would prescribe alcohol as a medicine. This was discovered many time and lead to many busts. This is what the prohibition was like if you were living during this
He was an Italian boy born in NYC on January 17, 1899. It wasn’t till his twenties when scarface moved to Chicago. Al was always in the newspapers when he moved to Chicago but not for his gang presence. At first he was known as a proment boxer throughout Chicago. He was Torrio right hand man Torrio was a Boss of one of the biggest gangs in the area. One day torrio was shot several times while shopping. He did not die but instead he gave all his power to Al Capone at the age of 26. Al Capone in a way owned the city of Chicago everyone was in his pocket. He paid of cops, politicians, and even government employees while he was in power. Al’s gang was not afraid to have people killed either no one knows how many people were actually killed since none of it’s on record. They were suspected of having done the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre. This is where several gang members were killed in daylight in a parking garage. These actions had ruined the image of Al Capone. Citizens throughout the city demanded that officials would do something to stop all the bloodshed. Before such incidents like this Al capone was a figurehead of the city. He used to always be at games, lavish events around the city, and even make generous donations to different organizations. This gang was all about the profits Al Capone used to make upwards of 100 million dollars a year for his illegal activities.