The Lawless Decade

Prohibition, Gangsters and the Glorification of Crime in the 1920s

Prohibition

Championed by the Anti-Saloon League and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)

Many states pass anti-drinking laws in Progressive Era

Wilson bans beer production to conserve grain for war effort

Prohibition

18th Amendment, ratified 1919Banned manufacture and sale of

“intoxicating liquors”

Volstead ActBanned anything with more than 0.5%

alcohol

Enforcement

Very lax

Government never spent money to hire more agents Spent only $5 million when $300 million needed

Led to underground economy Speakeasies Gangsters

Per Capita Consumption of Alcohol, 1910-29

Source: Clark Warburton, The Economic Results of Prohibition (New York: Columbia University Press, 1932), pp. 23-26, 72.

Al Capone

Chicago gangster Wealth made in

alcohol and prostitution

“Active” in Chicago politics

No one would testify against him

Al Capone’s “Free Lunch” Restaurant During Depression

Leopold & Loeb, 1924

Two teenagers kidnap and kill 14 year old boy

From wealthy families

“Thrill Killers” Crime and trial a

sensation

Life sentencesRichard Loeb Nathan Leopold

St. Valentine’s Day Massacre

February 14, 1929, Chicago

Capone’s gang murders 7 from a rival gang - execution style

Brutality of event leads feds to crack down on Capone

Capone arrested in 1931

Murder Rate, 1910-44

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1975), part 1, p. 414.

Prohibition’s Demise

Problems Not enforceable Rise in crime Loss of tax revenue People switch to “harder” liquor

Blaine Act allowed 3.2% alcohol beer (1933)

21st Amendment repeals Prohibition (1933)

Crime Continues to Captivate

1930s

Public Enemy EraBonnie & ClydeJohn DillingerMa Barker

All met glorious (and bloody) ends

Bonnie Parker & Clyde Barrow