… Chicago. Torri o was a notorious gangster and bootlegger, and after he was shot in 1922, Capone became the leader of his gang. He quickly expanded the business and by 1930 controlled speakeasies, bookie joints, gambling houses, brothels, horse and race tracks, nightclubs, distilleries and breweries at a reported income of $100, 000, 000 a year. By bribing police and prohibition agents, he was able to get away with almost anything he did. He was somewhat of a celebrity in Chicago and admitted what he did with quotes such as: ‘All I’ve ever done is to supply a public demand – you can’t cure a thirst by a law.
It’s bootleg when it’s on the trucks, but when your host hands it to you on a silver tray, it’s hospitality. They say I violate Prohibition. Who doesn’t?’ Capone also believed in killing anyone who got in his way. Throughout his career, Capone was said to have killed over 200 people, but he was never convicted of any related charge. In addition to bootlegging and operating his other establishments, Capone began the widespread use of racketeering. Racketeering is when Capone would force businesses to pay him money in exchange for protection by his gang.
Really, though, they were paying for protection from Capone’s gang. However, what goes up must come down. Capone became too famous for his own good. The American public began to hate him for being able to defy the law, and the government hated him for continuously breaking laws and embarrassing it.
After the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1929, in which Capone executed seven rival gang members dressed as police, the public saw Capone as a truly evil man. In 1931, Capone was indicted for tax evasion and sentenced to ten years in prison along with being told to pay substantial fines. At first he went to Atlanta prison, but after being able to buy better treatment there, he was transferred to Alcatraz, where his money meant nothing. He was soon diagnosed with syphilis and spent the rest of his term in a hospital. After he was released, Capone returned to his Florida estate and slowly succumbed to his disease, he died on January 25, 1947. During prohibition, the social ills of America that the prohibitionists had hoped to cure with the implementation of the Voluted Act were not eradicated.
Before prohibition, the temperance movement blamed an increase in crime on alcohol. This was one of the main arguments for prohibition. However, after the beginning of prohibition the actually increased in America. This was mainly the selling of liquor was becoming increasingly more profitable for criminals. Because each separate criminal group was fighting for the same thing, to sell the most illegal alcohol, there were increasing tensions among these groups. The crime rate in major cities went up, as did the homicide rate.
Serious crimes such as homicide and assault and battery increased 13% during prohibition. Even though proponents of Prohibition saw the 18 th Amendment as a law that would reduce criminal activities in America, this was not the reality. Another social problem that prohibition was supposed to address was the loss of morals in America. “The emerging middle class used the temperance and evangelical movements to establish a culture of sobriety, restraint, and industry to strengthen the family, promote individual and community prosperity…
.” (Dumenil, 1995). Many Americans thought that society was morally and ethically decaying. There was prostitution, gambling, and open sexuality, more prevalent in the cities than in rural areas. Prohibition would cure this. With prohibition in place the Temperance Movement claimed that, “The abolition of the saloon and of drinking in clubs and at public dinners are an unequivocal sign that the new ideal of social responsibility has progressed” (Fisher, 1926).
Prohibitionists thought that this was the path America should be headed in. But prohibition failed its desired outcome. In the times of prohibition America did not move toward the new ideal of social responsibility, but, in fact, backed off to being less ethical then it had been before prohibition. During the years of prohibition, the number of illegal clubs for drinking or speakeasies increased dramatically. “Just in New York, as early as 1923, the estimate was 5, 000 which later upped to 32, 000 (more than double the 15, 000 places where a man could have gotten a drink legally in pre-Volstead days’) (Lee, 1963). This was not the only place where this was happening.
All over America speakeasies were popping up. In Illinois there were an estimated 40, 000, Pennsylvania 20, 000, and California 15, 000 (Lee, 1963). This shows that even though it was illegal to drink, frequenting saloons was still a common habit among Americans. With this increase in speakeasies, there was also an increase in moral decay. These establishments brought with them crime, gambling, and prostitution, all things that the Temperance Movement thought would be eradicated with prohibition. The year 1933 marked the conclusion of a thirteen-year prohibition of alcohol in the United States, with the pressing of the 21 st Amendment to the Constitution.
This marked the end to a lengthy period of the great experiment, which was prohibition. Looking at the era following prohibition will complete the picture of how prohibition did not meet its goals. The amount of per capita consumption of Americans did in fact decrease to. 97 gallons of alcohol in 1933 from 2. 56 gallons in 1915, but alcohol consumption was not eliminated. In addition, the homicide rate for America actually decreased in the years after prohibition was repealed.
Even though this fact would seem to be a positive effect of prohibition that is not the case. One reason for the decline in the homicide rate is that after prohibition, there was not as much violent crime among gangsters. During prohibition, there was more cause for violence; because alcohol was so important to them. This explains the decrease in the homicide rate after prohibition. Prohibition also did not accomplish its goal of stopping the decay of America’s morals and values.
After prohibition was repealed, the cultural change had already taken place. There were new, acceptable ethics. Progress in the 1920 s had changed the ways American life After looking at prohibition in the context of the time period before, during and after, one can better see the failure of prohibition. “Prohibition did not achieve its goals. Instead, it added to the problems it was intended to solve” (Thornton, 1971).
We can see that prohibition did reduce the amount of alcohol consumed in the United States, but alcohol use was not altogether eliminated. The social problems that were hoped to be addressed were not solved either. The great experiment that was prohibition did not accomplish its goals of solving the social problems of America or eliminating alcohol consumption. But, it will always be remembered for causing Americans to reflect on the effects of alcohol on society.