Due to prohibition and the world wide depression organized crime found it's chance to flourish. The American people turned more and more to criminal
activity, organized criminals such as the American mobsters, most common people looked upon these organizations as heroes. Criminals like Al Capone, Bonnie and Clyde and John Dillinger were headliners of the era.
Jobs were scarce and people needed to provide for their families, becoming a gangster was dangerous but provided an easy way to make money. When the American government passed the Eighteenth amendment outlawing alcohol, people who drank became criminal for doing so. It was organized crime who supplied the booze. In January of 1920 the American government banned the sale and supply of alcohol, the government thought that this would lower crime and violence, prohibition absolutely failed, leading to even higher crime rates and excessive violence.
Alcohol was seen as evil and banning it would help improve the quality of American lives. Sadly instead it caused an explosive growth in crime with more than double the amount of illegal bars and saloons operating than before prohibition.
The government set up the Federal Prohibition Bureau to police prohibition, this did not help stop organized crime as it continued to be the main supplier
of booze. With a large area of business it was almost impossible to police with only five percent of alcohol ever being confiscated. Police resources used to
fight other crime was diverted to stop alcohol consumption. The Criminal gangs that supplied the booze had inflated prices, often fighting each other for
control of the trade. An entire black market was created around alcohol.
The quality of alcohol was poor and many people became sick, deaths from alcohol poisoning rise 400%, people will argue that alcohol was less easily obtainable before prohibition since the bootlegging industry was so immense, you could purchase alcohol on almost any street in America. After thirteen years the government finally saw that prohibition was not working, it created more of a problem than it solved, finally the government abolished the prohibition laws.
activity, organized criminals such as the American mobsters, most common people looked upon these organizations as heroes. Criminals like Al Capone, Bonnie and Clyde and John Dillinger were headliners of the era.
Jobs were scarce and people needed to provide for their families, becoming a gangster was dangerous but provided an easy way to make money. When the American government passed the Eighteenth amendment outlawing alcohol, people who drank became criminal for doing so. It was organized crime who supplied the booze. In January of 1920 the American government banned the sale and supply of alcohol, the government thought that this would lower crime and violence, prohibition absolutely failed, leading to even higher crime rates and excessive violence.
Alcohol was seen as evil and banning it would help improve the quality of American lives. Sadly instead it caused an explosive growth in crime with more than double the amount of illegal bars and saloons operating than before prohibition.
The government set up the Federal Prohibition Bureau to police prohibition, this did not help stop organized crime as it continued to be the main supplier
of booze. With a large area of business it was almost impossible to police with only five percent of alcohol ever being confiscated. Police resources used to
fight other crime was diverted to stop alcohol consumption. The Criminal gangs that supplied the booze had inflated prices, often fighting each other for
control of the trade. An entire black market was created around alcohol.
The quality of alcohol was poor and many people became sick, deaths from alcohol poisoning rise 400%, people will argue that alcohol was less easily obtainable before prohibition since the bootlegging industry was so immense, you could purchase alcohol on almost any street in America. After thirteen years the government finally saw that prohibition was not working, it created more of a problem than it solved, finally the government abolished the prohibition laws.