Mafia Gangsters

In 1920 the 18th Amendment went into effect outlawing the production and sale of intoxicating alcohol; however, what most Americans did not realize was that prohibition would also promote a major increase in crime. Those promoting prohibition claimed families would be saved, health would improve and workers would perform better on the job, but the increase in organized crime and rise of gangster culture brought on by prohibition brought about more crime, corruption and immorality than members of the prohibition movement could have imagined.

The origins of organized crime are in Sicily. Sicily faced numerous invading armies, in the middle ages, and a secret organization made up of many small groups was organized to unite Sicilians against them. These groups were collectively called the Mafia and later on Cosa Nostra. Each of these groups or families had their own territory to serve, inform and protect. At some point the Mafia spread in Italy and began selling protection. The Mafia also engaged in other criminal acts but the individual groups still took care of their own.

During prohibition the demand for alcohol was at an all time high. There were more than twice the number of speakeasies than there had been saloons prior to prohibition. Underworld criminals were supplying Americans with whatever alcohol they desired. The fact that the average American tolerated organized criminal activity because it fulfilled their desire to drink benefited gangsters greatly. After all any American who was consuming or transporting alcohol was breaking the law also.

Prohibition coincided with a leadership change in one Chicago area gang. The Torrio gang. Alfonse Capone took over the operations and saw a great opportunity to earn wealth through supplying Chicago and the nation with alcohol. This brought about significant change in organized crime. Up until prohibition organized crime had been mostly a local business, Capone's operations during prohibition turned organized crime into an international industry. In addition to smuggling alcohol from other countries and his illegal brewery and distillery operations in Chicago, Capone organized the illegal production, distribution and sale of alcohol nationally and internationally. He organized his bootlegging business like a legitimate company would to distribute its product, complete with salesmen, truck drivers and security.