Prohibition and Organised Crime

Explain how prohibition and organised crime affected the lives of
Americans in the 1920s

The Anti-Saloon League had been working for years to ban alcohol:
getting supporters of its campaign elected into Congress, and also
accumulating supporters from rural areas with a strong disapproval of
the drinking habits in cities. By 1917 alcohol had been prohibited in
18 states, and then in 1920 the Federal government banned the making,
selling or transporting of alcohol in the whole of the USA. This ban
was called the "18th Amendment". The League tried to convince the
American people that drink led to violence, crime, poverty, hunger and
absence from work.

However, from the first day it was introduced, the law was broken. The
Americans began a whole new culture of illegal bars, called
'Speakeasies', which served 'bootleg' - illegal - alcohol. This became
a hugely profitable line of business. 'Bootleggers' would obtain
alcohol from across the borders of the country, and sell it for a large
sum of money. Others made their own alcohol, 'Moonshine' and this was
often highly potent dangerous. In this way, instead of cutting down ill
health, prohibition caused illness and even death.

Also instead of preventing crime, prohibition made it worse. Gangs
which had not existed before, began to be formed. This organised crime
because a huge industry which produced and distributed bootleg alcohol.
The gangs ran the speakeasies and were defended from the police,
politicians and rival gangs by bribery or intimidation. They often sold
alcohol quite openly, and this was because the local authorities were
also being supplied with it. Gang warfare began- defending territory-
and this meant that the American people were under a greater threat of
violence than they had been before. Fighting was often what a gang's
reputation or territory depended on. Anyone who stood in their way was
likely to be hurt.

All in all, the Americans did not benefit from prohibition because it
brought about widespread organised crime and put their lives in danger.
So many people were breaking the law that the legal system lost
respect.