“If I break the law, my customers, who number hundreds of the best
people in Chicago, are as guilty as I am.
The only difference between us is that I sell and they buy. Everybody calls me a racketeer. I call myself a business man. When I sell liquor, it’s
bootlegging. When my patron serves
it on a silver tray on Lake Shore Drive, it’s hospitality.” --Al Capone
A Rise in Crime
One consequence of Prohibition was the rise in organized crime. With no legal source of alcohol
available publically, organized mobsters switched their criminal focus from
gambling and prostitution to bootlegging.
Successful gangsters such as “Scarface” Al Capone and “Lucky” Luciano made
up to $50 million annually from supplying illegal liquor to speakeasies,
restaurants, and private customers. With competition fierce, criminal bosses ordered killings on
rival gangs. During the thirteen
years that Prohibition existed, nearly 800 such murders took place. As Prohibition dragged on, the public
grew increasingly alarmed by the escalating violence. This rise in crime increased the debate over whether Prohibition should remain.
Author Paul Maccabee describes crime during Prohibition