THE ROARING TWENTIES

Today’s Topic: Prohibition and Organized

Crime

STUDENT OBJECTIVES

By the end of class today, you should be able to:

• Identify the three main goals of Prohibition

• Explain the connection between Prohibition and Organized Crime

• Evaluate the validity of arguments by those who wanted to

prohibit alcohol and those who wanted to keep it legal in the

United States

WARM UP ACTIVITY

Consider what might happen if the making,

selling, importing, and exporting of soft drinks

were made illegal.

Do you think that all Americans would stop

drinking soda? Why or Why not?

What unwanted effects might such a law

have?

Name reasons why some Americans would

want to BAN soft drinks.

MAIN GOALS OF PROHIBITION

Eliminate drunkenness and the domestic violence

that often came along with it.

Get rid of saloons, where prostitution, gambling,

and other perceived vices thrived.

Prevent absenteeism and on-the-job accidents that

drunkenness often caused.

PRACTICAL TEETOTALLERS

Though many prohibitionists believed that the

consumption of alcohol was an evil of society, others

stressed that the grain used for producing alcohol

should be used instead to produce food.

POEM ABOUT PROHIBITION

“Coward, monster, vicious brute. Friend to thief and prostitute.

Heartless, Godless, Hell’s delight. Crude by day and lewd by

night. Conscience dulled by demon rum. Liquor, thy name’s

Delirium.”

Funeral for Alcohol:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuutDlyx1cE

I Never Knew I had Such a Wonderful Wife until the Town Went

Dry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT4TBxPewLQ

ENFORCEMENT

Once Prohibition becomes official through both the

18th amendment and the Volstead Act of 1919, it then

becomes difficult to enforce.

Can you think of any laws that are not very strictly

enforced by the police force?

Why do you think this is so?

D I S RE S P E C T F O R L AW E N FO RC E M E N T

Many citizens who wanted to drink alcohol viewed

police as “dog catchers with badges.”

The federal government organizes a taskforce

specifically aimed at curbing the transportation and

consumption of alcohol.

Prohibition laws were enforced much more in rural

areas than in the cities. Why so?

VOCAB NAME DROPS

Bootleggers supplied illegal alcohol. They either brewed

it themselves from corn, grain, or potatoes or they

smuggled it in from Canada and the Caribbean.

Speakeasies were bars that operated illegally, usually in

major cities.

A heavy gate usually blocked the entrance; needed to show

a membership card to get in.

Other speakeasies were elaborately hidden.

ORGANIZED CRIME

Because supplying illegal liquor was a complex operation that

brought in enormous amounts of revenue, organized crime was

essential for its success.

Criminals like Al Capone flourished. He consolidated (peacefully

or otherwise) control of bootlegging in Chicago.

Capone flaunted his wealth, drove around in a bulletproof

Cadillac

He felt that there was nothing wrong with providing a service

that consenting adults wanted.

ST. VALENTINE’S DAY MASSACRE

Capone orders the brutal murder of 6 members of

a rival Chicago gang. He evades prosecution.

Would have been much easier to charge Capone if

the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt

Organizations Act) existed back then.

Allows mob bosses to be charged for the crimes of

their subordinates, enacted in 1970.

THE MASSACRE

THE CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE

Mobsters made their fortunes not simply through

alcohol but also through controlling gambling,

prostitution, and racketeering rings.

They paid off cops and forced local businesses to

pay “protection” fees.

What are some of the advances in

transportation and weaponry that helped

mobsters do their jobs more efficiently?

T H E A U T O M O B I L E A N D T H E T O M M Y G U N

THE FBI

The federal government fought back with improved

law enforcement.

Headed by J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI went after

mobsters like Capone, who managed to evade

chargers brought against him

Feds finally get Capone on tax evasion

M O V I E S / S E R I E S R E L A T E D T O T H E P R O H I B I T I O N E R A

CLOSURE

Prohibition and Organized Crime were just two factors

that made the twenties a time of boom, excitement, and

ultimately. . . Tragedy.

The intense pace at which life in the twenties moved came

to an equally abrupt end in 1929 with the stock market

crash and the ensuing Great Depression.

In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt repealed

prohibition, to the rejoice of millions.