How Did Alcohol Prohibition Lead to Crime?

¶ … Alcohol Prohibition lead to crime?

Prohibition is an awful flo

We like it.

It can't stop what it's meant to stop.

We like it.

It's left a trail of graft and slime,

It don't prohibit worth a dime,

It's filled our land with vice and crime.

Nevertheless, we're for it."

The national prohibition of alcohol in the United States did the exact opposite of what it was designed to do. Instead of producing "clean living," alcohol-free Americans as supporters had hoped, prohibition gave birth to some of the country's largest crime syndicates and drinking grew in popularity. Syndicates were glamorized by the public that they provided a necessary service for. This glamorization resulted in a large upsurge of crime in the United States.

The Eighteenth Amendment to the constitution, known as The National Prohibition Act, was adopted in 1919 and ended in 1933. When it was first enacted, President Woodrow Wilson vetoed it. Two hours later Congress overrode his veto, and the act became law.

The author of the act, Wayne Wheeler, was a member of the Anti-Saloon League. The act, (only a few paragraphs long), laid out the framework for the legal and illegal uses of alcoholic beverages, and repercussions for illegal use. The act was later referred to as the Volstead Act, named after the Republican congressman from Minnesota, Andrew J. Volstead. (Cohen, Chapter 5)

The Volstead Act was designed to stop Americans from consuming alcoholic beverages - specifically those beverages containing an excess of.05% of alcohol. However, there were exceptions to this rule. "For example, a farmer could make cider - then store it and let it 'harden', that is, become alcoholic. So long as he didn't add anything to it, or treat it in any way, and didn't try to sell it, the beverage was perfectly legal. This was a concession to the politically powerful farmers." (Cohen, Chapter 5)

Although most Americans saw the Prohibition Era as a time when personal liberty was limited, some saw it as liberation all in its own. For some, it was liberation from the ills of alcohol and its related problems.

Warner supports his argument for this by commenting that "as stated by Professor Irving Fisher, 'it is untrue that prohibition is a violation of a man's personal liberty any more than are compulsory education, compulsory workmen's compensation, tenement laws or law in general. Alcohol prohibition is in the same class as opium prohibition. If liberty to be illiterate, to endanger workmen's lives, to build dark-room tenements and to narcotize oneself be liberty in form, it certainly is not liberty in substance. Naturally, every law to promote human liberty must be, in form, restrictive.'" (142-143)

The Volstead Act was instituted by a group of politicians and activists who believed firmly in the benefits of an alcohol-free society. The Prohibition Bureau was one of the most influential groups in support of prohibition. The group's agents or members "were about 1,500" in number. "They were poorly paid, barely trained, often corrupt, and widely despised. There weren't enough agents to make a serious dent in the liquor trade." (Cohen, Chapter 5)

Blocker noted that groups such as the Prohibition Bureau were based on intolerance and racism. "Looking back on the disastrous experiment of national prohibition in the 1920's, modern historians of the United States have depicted the temperance movement as an intolerant and futile attempt on the part of Protestant, rural, and small-town Americans to stem the flow of social change and to impose the cultural values of native-born Americans on urban and immigrant America." (45)

It is no wonder Americans had such a negative response to the Prohibition Act. This negative response overflowed into other aspects of American culture. The prohibition had a powerful effect on law, politics, and most importantly, the crime world. (Kyvig, 16)

According to the act, beer could still be brewed. However, most of its alcoholic content had to be removed before it could be distributed. This non-alcoholic version of beer was called 'near beer'. Unfortunately, this did not quench the thirsts of the public.

One of the ways Americans retaliated was by continuing to consume alcohol despite the act. Alcohol drinkers had many methods of illegally obtaining alcoholic beverages. The two most popular methods were smuggling and bootlegging. Both methods were very dangerous to all parties involved.

Law enforcement agencies were not prepared to prevent smuggling on the scale necessary. Jesilow adds that, "policing the perimeter of the country is as impossible today as it was in 1920. The amount of alcohol smuggled into this country at that time is, of course, unknown, but the quantity must have been large. For example, in the first seven months of 1920, 90,000 cases of liquor in Canada were transported to the border cities-approximately a tenfold increase from the previous years. Much of this alcohol was then smuggled across the border into the United States." (98)

Americans also found ways to add alcohol to their beverages. 'Needle beer' was an essential of the Prohibition Era. Before the beer was sold, a hypodermic needle full of alcohol was squirted into it, thus giving it the name 'needle beer'. Beer distributors also found ways to keep the alcohol from the legal beer, later using it in other alcoholic brews.

There were many other popular illegal beverages as well. Grape concentrate was recognized for its alcoholic benefits and wine making became popular again. According to Cohen, "a brick of the concentrate was dissolved in a gallon of water. Then the user was warned, 'Do not place the liquid in this jug and put it away in the cupboard for twenty-one days, because then it would turn into wine.' The sale of grapes and all the paraphernalia needed for making wine at home increased dramatically. The vineyards of California, where grapes are grown for wine, prospered." (Chapter 5)

The distillation of alcohol at home, in what was referred to as 'stills', was illegal but profitable. The end product, 'moonshine', was already commonly prepared by many families in rural America prior to prohibition. The distillation of moonshine ran rampant during the days of the prohibition when citizens realized how simple it was to create their own alcohol. Information on alcohol distillation was easily attainable and the necessary equipment was relatively inexpensive. Alcohol was made from corn, sugar, or potatoes - the same materials used by major manufacturers - but in the homes of individuals.

Another method of obtaining alcohol was from industries that produced it. Because industrial alcohol was used for so many products, such as cleaners and fuels, "the business could not be shut down, and during the Prohibition Era the production of industrial alcohol increased dramatically. Much of it - no one knows how much - went into the manufacture of illegal beverages." (Cohen, Chapter 5)

Unfortunately, both moonshine and industrial alcohol were dangerous to consume. For example, industrial alcohol was deadly in its true form. It had to be altered for human consumption. "It could be 'washed', that is, the poisons could be removed." Occasionally, this process did not occur properly "and many people died or went blind from drinking liquor made from industrial alcohol." (Cohen, Chapter 5)

The preparation of moonshine could sometimes lead to disaster as well, in worst case scenarios, blinding or killing unintended victims just as industrial alcohol. This was usually caused by poor preparation skills, a result of mistakes made during the de-naturing process of the alcohol.

For some, alcohol was still available legally for medicinal purposes. "Some unscrupulous pharmacists would get phony prescriptions from equally unscrupulous doctors or simply forge them. Then they would go to the government warehouses and get the liquor the prescriptions entitled them to. The liquor would be 'cut', that is, mixed with other substances, so the pharmacist now had three or four bottles instead of one." (Cohen, Chapter 5)

Politicians during the Prohibition Era believed that prohibition would be an inexpensive venture, requiring little effort on their part. It was expected that Americans would embrace the 'clean living' ways that the act promoted. "Wayne Wheeler estimated that enforcement would cost about five million dollars a year. Like other die-hard drys, he was convinced that the American public would soon recognize the enormous value of an alcohol-free society, and the need for enforcement would rapidly disappear. It was the greatest miscalculation he ever made." (Cohen, Chapter 5)

For the initial year of implementation alone, the congress appropriated $6,350,000. In 1923, another $28,500,000 was needed. A few years later, it was projected that $300,000,000 was necessary to continually implement prohibition on a national scale. (Cohen, Chapter 5)

According to the Volstead Act, states were allowed to pass their own specific prohibition laws. "Many did, and some laws were a lot tougher than the federal statutes. In Vermont, for example, people arrested for drunkenness were required to tell the authorities who had given or sold them the liquor." (Cohen, Chapter 5)

Unfortunately, states typically did not enforce their own prohibition laws. Most states did not have the funding to impose their laws, and often considered prohibition a federal issue. Crime was often overlooked due to this. The lack of state funding and man power contributed to the growth in crime during the Prohibition Era.

According to Kyvig, "prohibition was most assuredly a major landmark in the history of American syndicate crime." The organized crime syndicate is a byproduct of the prohibition. With loose state laws, bootlegging, and smuggling abound, crime became more 'organized'. Gangs had declared territories, with key members often in political power. Law enforcement agencies then reflected this corruption in its own enforcers. Many judges and police officers were eventually brought to justice after lending support to local crime syndicates.

Essentially, criminal syndicates are businesses that pose as legitimate organizations, but really exist solely to promote the gainfulness of the criminal underworld. This promotion usually includes profitable activities such as gambling, labor racketeering, bootlegging and smuggling.

Validation gained from the public allowed criminal syndicates to receive shelter from law enforcement agencies. These syndicates satisfied various needs of the general public. In turn, some viewed crime syndicates as patrons providing necessary public services.

Kyvig adds that "Henry Barrett Chamberlain, operating director of the Chicago Crime Commission, recognized as early as 1919 that 'modern crime, like modern business is tending toward centralization, organization, and commercialization. Ours is a business nation. Our criminals apply business methods.... The men and women of evil have formed trusts.'" (123)

Professional gamblers and criminals formed syndicates to escape the threat of social reform groups. Despite the good intentions of national prohibition and social activists, "the American public and its elected officials had no conception of the violence, corruption, and disrespect for the law that the so-called noble experiment would cause or encourage." (Kyvig, 124-125)

Bootlegging was particularly appealing to criminal syndicates already in place. The profitability of prohibition attracted fierce competition from syndicates. "For all involved, violation of the liquor laws was more acceptable to the public than were the other forms of criminal enterprise. Even the murder and maiming of rival gang members in the scramble to expand markets and increase profits stirred remarkably little anger or dismay. To many Americans, the shootings resembled a modern version of the Old West shoot-out. Only when innocent bystanders, and especially children, were hurt or killed did public opinion demand action against the gangsters. The underworld recognized the importance of public relations and the need to limit violence to insiders. Those who violated the rule to 'only kill each other' were dealt with severely." (Kyvig, 125-126)

It was because of such rules that organized crime was romanticized. Films like The Godfather typify the Old West romanticism that clouded the public perception of crime syndicates. Prohibition, which took away the personal freedom to drink alcohol, also emphasized the romantic aspects of crime, leading many to feel it was a perfectly acceptable avenue to follow. This led to the brief public support of organized crime.

Despite this romanticized vision, criminal syndicates were extremely violent. The syndicates were like small businesses, but instead of using pens, businessmen used guns. Battles between gangs were waged in favor of the economic profitability proposed by the prohibition. Professional criminal relationships often ended in murder. The opposition also faced a similar fate. Hundreds of criminals were slain in New York and Chicago. The public's thirst for alcohol was quenched by the violent means of the criminal underworld. (Kyvig)

While shootings, murders, and hijackings generally did not provoke public outrage or force effective action on the part of police or courts, criminals came to realize that such behavior was undesirable from a very pragmatic business standpoint. The reason, very simply, was the element of uncertainty injected into operations. As a result, although considerable violence - by the standards of a normal business - continued to characterize bootlegging, certain individuals or groups emerged as dominant forces by the end of prohibition. From New York to Kansas City and Chicago to San Francisco, these men established their ascendancy because they encouraged, or even demanded, cooperation rather than competition." (Kyvig, 126)

While Italians were the predominant ethnic group involved in criminal syndicates across the nation, syndicate members consisted of various ethnic groups. Even the Capone syndicate, which reigned over Chicago, was predominantly Italian. Nevertheless, association was not restricted to one ethnic faction. Among the Capone syndicates' most influential members were Murray Humphreys and Hymie Levin, non-Italians who were highly respected. (Kyvig, 126)

America's need for liquor glamorized bootlegging. "Although bootleggers engaged in an illegal enterprise, it was of a nature which millions of otherwise honest and law-abiding citizens fully supported - in fact; it was a service they demanded. The consuming public, in effect, became willing, and even eager, accomplices in the widespread violation of the Constitution. Thus, paradoxically, bootleggers were, in the popular mind, glamorous and mysterious benefactors, and not corruptors of public and private morals." (Kyvig, 127)

The smuggling trade was also an important criminal aspect of the Prohibition Era. In 1924, the Department of Commerce estimated that $40 million in liquor was entering the United States per year. Rum runners often brought liquor into the country from Canada, Belgium, and Holland. Liquor was easily smuggled across the Canadian border and into the United States, thus becoming the preferred method.