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Prohibition's Failure Essay

462 Words2 Pages

Prohibition’s Failure In the 1920s, Al Capone was a name that inspired fear into the hearts of all of Chicago. His reign as crime boss over Chicago came because of a single government act. This act was the Eighteen Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, commonly known as Prohibition. The common goal for the law was that alcohol related crime would go down and the problems of drunks who did not take care of or provide for their families would be eradicated. However, the law made the sale, manufacture, and use of all alcohol illegal. Prohibition failed because it was not easily enforced, it destroyed businesses and jobs, and lead to the rise of organized crime. It was a nice day on January 16th, 1919 when the 18th Amendment was ratified in congress and many celebrated the outlawing of alcohol. It didn’t take long however for people to find ways to break the law without getting caught which flourished the illegal alcohol trade. Speak-easies were popular during the 1920s and would be …show more content…

These people were the major crime bosses of New York, Chicago, Atlantic City, and L.A. The crime bosses and their mafias used this money to fuel other illegal ventures. Crime grew exponentially. The mobsters of Chicago, Detroit, and New York City all found ways to traffic banned items during prohibition to grow their mobs. The Chicago Mafia alone earned an estimated 4,000,000 dollars a year on average during prohibition. Police and the government officials relied on the mob for alcohol. Prohibition led to the rise of organized crime and failed as a policy due to many loopholes and large numbers of corrupt officials. Though started with good intentions it was not a good policy because it destroyed jobs and attempted to destroy an industry. These reasons lead to Prohibition’s failure and the repealing of the 18th Amendment in

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