What Was The Significance Of Prohibition Essay

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PROHIBITION

Hayley Smith
History class something
April 5, 2023

Prohibition refers to the legal banning of the production, sale, and consumption of a particular substance or activity. The prohibition of alcohol in the United States, from 1920 to 1933, is the most well-known example of prohibition. Prohibition was caused by the Temperance Movement, which wanted to restrict the consumption of alcohol due to its effects on public health and morality. Prohibition was a significant time in the United State’s history due to the supporting movements that encouraged lawmakers, the increase in organized crime during the era, and the importance of its failure.
The 19th-century temperance movement aimed to restrict and

The New York Mafia used its ties to law enforcement and politicians to keep a tight grip on the bootlegging and smuggling businesses in the Northeast. During Prohibition, the Mafia also got involved in other illegal activities such as loan sharking, gambling, and labor racketeering.
During Prohibition, Alphonse “Al” Capone served as the head of the Chicago Outfit, also referred to as the Chicago Mafia. Being involved in various criminal activities, such as prostitution, gambling, and bootlegging, Capone became one of the most infamous gangsters in American history, “Capone made as much as $100 million a year (equal to $1.3 billion in 2016 dollars). At one point in the 1920s, he paid out $500,000 per month (worth about $6 million today [2016]) to police to let him operate his illegal booze trade.”
Capone, an immigrant who was born in Brooklyn, New York in January 1899, joined a known street gang after he dropped out of school. The head of the street gang was Johnny Torrio. Capone joined Torrio in Chicago around 1920. “The rackets spawned by the enactment of the Prohibition Amendment, illegal brewing, distilling, and distribution of beer and liquor, were viewed as ‘growth industries.’” After Torrio was critically injured in an assassination attempt, he gave up leadership and Capone took

Valentine's Day Massacre, which resulted in the deaths of seven members of a rival gang. Seven men connected to Irish gangster George “Bugs” Moran, one of Capone's longtime enemies, were waiting to receive a shipment of bootleg alcohol when Capone's men, disguised as police officers, entered the garage. The St. Valentine's Day Massacre marked a turning point in how the public viewed organized crime and was widely covered by the media. The massacre also influenced President Herbert Hoover to order authorities to try to capture Capone. Many Americans were horrified by the massacre's brutality, which increased public pressure on law enforcement to take action against organized crime. “By 1930, Capone still ran about 6,000 speakeasies and made more than $6 million a week.” In 1931, Capone was convicted of federal income tax evasion and given an 11-year jail