ipl-logo

How Do Gangsters Affect The Economy Of The 1920s

584 Words3 Pages

Gangsters of the 1920s are very similar but also so different from most people's opinions of gangsters today. The definition of a gangster is, “a member of a gang of violent criminals”(“Legends of America”). This without a doubt matches what a gangster was in the 1920s, but isn’t quite the first thing that comes to mind while thinking of them. A gangster is someone who brutally murders someone because they stepped on the wrong shoe right? Well not exactly, don’t take that the wrong way because they weren’t opposed to killing people. Although they were more interested in the route to fast money. The sales of illegal alcohol, gambling, prostitution, and black market drug sales were just a few of the routes taken. Although a gangster is thought as bad more often than not, they absolutely impacted …show more content…

A prime example of this was during the prohibition that started in 1920. The prohibition was the outlawing of production, sale or importation of alcohol in the United States. The gangsters, who were always looking to make money, found this to be a perfect opportunity to do so. These money driven gangsters took it upon themselves to start selling alcohol behind closed doors, despite the new laws issued by the US government. They decided to secretly import foreign made beverages and selling them on the “black market,” this went on to be known as “bootlegging.” The effect of gang activity in the United States took a toll on more than just the economy in the 1920’s. Many gang members were large suppliers of illegal drugs/narcotics. These drugs were being pumped into large cities very rapidly. Therefore with a rise in drug activity, there also came a higher crime rate in these areas. With a higher crime rate the sale of drugs became more popular, which gave the gangsters more motivation to sell. This process of supply and demand resulted in a huge spike in illegal drugs in the United

Show More
Related
1840 Words | 8 Pages

Organized crime was relatively new to America, there were families in the past, but they had never grown to the extent they did in the 1920s. With the expansion of the availability of luxury goods and prohibition, the criminal underworld had many doors open to it. Criminal organizations started to take advantage of prohibition, bribing police, taking control

Read More
778 Words | 4 Pages

Instead of it solving problems in the country, it created even more because criminals used it as a way to make money and gangster, Al Capone, was one of them. Woodwiss states that Al Capone made more than anybody from it with a yearly income of millions upon millions of dollars. This shows how much money could be made from bootlegging and how Capone was the biggest seller of it. Another thing Woodwiss states is that Capone spent millions of dollars to pay off law enforcement and officials at all levels to make him and his partners immune from arrests. This shows how corrupt the city of Chicago was and what many gangsters like Al Capone did.

Read More
1053 Words | 5 Pages

The 1920s was a time of prosperity in America; the stock market was skyrocketing, the Great War was over and America seemed to turn the corner onto a new, prosperous age. Not only were stock investors and white collar workers experiencing a great flow of wealth, gangsters and criminals were also experiencing a great cash flow. After the Eighteenth Amendment went into effect, it was immediately exploited by gangsters who had already began to think about the business opportunity that the United States government unintentionally provided to them. Despite their many negative impacts on society, criminal organizations in America during the 1920’s personified the american dream because of their exploitation of a unique business opportunity, they adapted their business to make it more efficient and they were able to gain financial prosperity while doing so.

Read More
555 Words | 3 Pages

The creation of illegal establishments like speakeasies would be the just the beginning of crime in the 1920s. Bootlegging, the illegal sell of alcohol became commonplace. Gangsters rose to power on the streets of cities like Chicago and New York. Criminals like Al Capone, and Charles “Lucky’ Luciano became household names. Prohibition, intended to fix America’s alcohol problem, only made it worse.

Read More
1381 Words | 6 Pages

Gangsters began grouping up to create a large and efficient organization to handle entire bootlegging operation. Bootlegging is a term used to describe suppliers of illegal alcohol. Operations moved to racketeering, one form of this was bribing police or government officials to ignore their operations and another kind was gangsters forced local businesses to pay fee for protection. Many americans did not agree with prohibition similar to how people did not agree with teaching evolution in public

Read More
1119 Words | 5 Pages

Crime in the 1920’s In the 1920’s, a large group of gang members, more commonly known as gangsters took their chance to make as much money as possible and acquire as much respect and rank as they could so they would not have to worry about altercations with the police or other rival gangs. However, throughout their troubles in becoming wealthy and powerful they had to break the law on several occasions. Especially, when it came to making money, earning respect and becoming more powerful than other rival gangs.

Read More
550 Words | 3 Pages

This money made the gangs and the mafia even more powerful. The mafia also become very skilled at bribing politicians and even policeman to look the other way when they did get caught. Al Capone is a famous example of this common happening. In urban areas most people opposed prohibition, in these places law enforcement towards prohibition was much weaker compared to rural

Read More
1422 Words | 6 Pages

During the 1920s multiple criminal activities were taking place and the majority of illegal activity was due to the eighteenth amendment which prohibited the selling and manufacture of alcohol. Illegal activity that took place was bootlegging and the establishment of speakeasies. With criminal activity on the rise, a major criminal behind many illegal activities at the time was Al Capone. In addition, the Mafia rose with gambling, bootlegging, and illegal marketing.

Read More
1706 Words | 7 Pages

In the article “Capone, Al” by Benson, Sonia, Daniel E. Brannen, Jr., and Rebecca Valentine it states, “Prohibition gave rise to organized crime in America. Prior to the 1920s, gangsters operated independently, often in ethnic enclaves, but Prohibition created a national market for illegal liquor. By the mid-1920s, organized crime was a highly structured, well-organized enterprise, and gangsters had become national figures. Gangsters such as Al Capone in Chicago and Lucky Luciano in New York City became powerful kingpins of organized crime, with vast empires built on bootlegging, gambling, and other illegal activities.” Prior to Prohibition, gangsters operated independently, but during the 1920s, they became highly structured and well-organized enterprises.

Read More
1436 Words | 6 Pages

In 1920, there were 1300 gangs in Chicago alone, all looking to make it rich from a dry city . Prohibition was able to develop gang culture and changed the perspective concerning organized crime. Due to the immense scale of these bootlegging operations, gangsters were forced to bribe police and government officials to turn a blind eye to their activity . Not only were these gangsters well paid and out of authoritative sight, but they became well liked by the general public. Gangsters were hailed as Robin Hood characters-- who bent the rules to appease the demands of the general public-- and dominated the various cities they provided drink to.

Read More
987 Words | 4 Pages

Gangs had also become a big part of the 1920’s, they had a lot of say in went on round the towns they lived in. Gangs had a lot of control of how liquor got in and out of their towns “It was smuggled in from the seas off both the east and west coasts and brought overland from both Canada and Mexico.” (McNeill). Everyday people would smuggle liquor in from all over if it was hard to find by them. They would sell it to family and friends all over and speaks did the same thing.

Read More
685 Words | 3 Pages

The U.S. census published in 2008 showed how in the time prohibition was enacted, the homicide rates skyrocketed. Then, when prohibition ended in 1933, the homicide rates went down again. (U.S. Census document B). In cartoonist Winsor McCay’s cartoon, he drew about how prohibition promoted all sorts of bad habits, including how it promoted gang violence and dope selling. (McCay document A).

Read More
489 Words | 2 Pages

Abbie Dickerson Casey Reynolds English III 3 May 2023 Organized Crime In Chicago During The 1920’s The 1920’s was known for a lot of things but the most dangerous time period is known as the “Chicago’s Roaring 20’s” in America, Chicago became the most violent city due to homicides, drug trafficking, gangsters, and robbery. Not only was it devastating for the citizens of Chicago Illinois but also for the citizens of America.

Read More
706 Words | 3 Pages

These bootleggers would make the alcohol themselves, or buy it from others who made it themselves, which caused many people who would drink the alcohol to become sick. Although this may have affected people, the money made from the illegal business was good, and it attracted many gangsters as well as

Read More
630 Words | 3 Pages

Prohibition and Immigration conflicts in the 1920’s were linked. The Italian mafia was under attack and a lot of its members fled to the U.S.. They organized the crime in the U.S. and created the mob. The mob made most of it 's money off of running speakeasies and bootlegging liquor. This was easy money since everyone was ignoring prohibition and wanted

Read More

More about How Do Gangsters Affect The Economy Of The 1920s

Related Topics

Open Document