Durban - With alcohol and cigarettes banned in South Africa during the lockdown, the Independent on Saturday takes a look at the Prohibition era in the early 20th century and the bootleggers whose names went down in history.
The banning of liquor in a number of countries was undertaken with good intentions, but largely failed miserably as the discontented populace sought “underground” suppliers to raise their “spirits”.
No alcoholic beverages could be consumed in Norway between 1916 to 1927, while across the Russian Empire/Soviet Union, alcohol was banned from 1914-1925.
But it was in the US between 1920 to 1933 where tales of the lavish lifestyles of the country’s most infamous “bootleggers” and gangland bosses gave rise to countless movies and books. A bootlegger is defined as someone who makes, distributes or sells goods illegally. And history has shown, where there is a gap in the market, criminal enterprise will quickly move in to fill the space.
Prohibition in the US came about because of churches and women’s groups advocating a healthier lifestyle with a more moral society, while some industrialists and economists believed it would make their workforce more productive, and also curb violence and crime.
But it was a move which backfired horribly, with some historians citing a 78% increase in murders, while there was also a dramatic increase in general violence.
It led to the rise of the “speakeasies”, bars controlled by gangsters, and which promoted heavy drinking, gambling and prostitution. Organised crime prospered beyond wildest dreams, with the cost of beer going up by about 700% and the price of spirits 24%. These profits provided enormous power to mob bosses, which in turn led to widespread corruption of public officials.
And there was also a devastating impact on health - stills, used to produce spirits such as gin and whiskey, would often use lead coils or lead soldering, while substances such as embalming fluid or iodine were added to the spirit being produced. This resulted in toxic bootleg alcohol making it on to the streets, which caused blindness, paralysis and death. In 1927 alone, it was estimated 12000 people died from such poisoning.
Perhaps the most notorious of all the gangsters of the Prohibition era was Al Capone, aka Scarface, because of the injuries to his face sustained during a fight in a Brooklyn night club.
In 1919 Capone left New York for Chicago at the invitation of mob boss, Johnny Torrio, who ran the biggest Italian organised crime group. Torrio was shot several times in 1925, and as a result, handed over the reins of power to his right hand man Capone, who was 26 at that time.
Capone never had a bank account nor a registered property under his name, and establishments that refused to buy liquor from him were bombed. While donating to charities and opening a soup kitchen, Capone was regarded as a “Robin Hood” among the poor of Chicago. He gained the most notoriety for the 1929 St Valentine’s Day Massacre, when two of his henchmen posed as police officers and lined up and gunned down seven of his rivals. By 1930 Capone had become “Public Enemy No 1” in the eyes of law enforcement agencies.
He was eventually arrested on tax evasion charges.
While Capone may be the most well-known bootlegger, it was in fact George Remus who was known as “King of the Bootleggers”.
Remus, who pioneered the temporary insanity defence, was a highly successful lawyer. But in 1920 when Prohibition began, he saw the vast wealth being rapidly accumulated by his criminal clients and decided to join the fray.
He moved to Cincinnati where he bought distilleries and pharmacies to sell bonded whiskey for medicinal purposes. He employed people to hijack his own liquor, which he then sold illegally. In less than three years, he had 3000 people working for him and had raked in $40million.
He and his wife, Imogene, lived a lavish lifestyle at their mansion “The Marble Palace”, and at their 1922 New Year’s Eve party, Remus presented each male guest with a diamond tie pin, while each of his guest’s wives was presented with a new car.
Another influential crime boss in US racketeering and bootlegging circles was Charles “Lucky” Luciano, who has often been called the father of modern organised crime.
He split New York into five crime families.
Luciano grew up on the East Side in New York and, by 1920 when Prohibition came into being, already knew most of the future mafia bosses. He worked for Arnold “The Brain” Rothstein, who quickly spotted the money-making opportunities in bootlegging.
Luciano used the lessons he learned from Rothstein to create a criminal empire and, by 1925, he was making $4m a year. By 1931 he was the most dominant crime boss in the US underworld.
In 1936, US authorities linked Luciano to a prostitution network and on April 3, he was arrested and stood trial. He was convicted on 62 counts of compulsory prostitution and was sentenced to 30 to 50 years.
On the high seas during Prohibition was the colourful William “Bill” McCoy.
McCoy was a sea captain and “rum runner”, trading illegal alcohol from the Bahamas to “Rum Row” off the US eastern seaboard. Because he never diluted his product, he earned the nickname “the real McCoy”. He has also been credited with inventing the “burlock” - a package holding six bottles jacketed in straw.
McCoy was arrested on his vessel Tomoka in 1923 by the US Coast Guard as he was making a run with some of his illegal cargo and, when asked what defence he would like to present, McCoy replied: “I have no tale of woe to tell you. I was outside the three-mile limit, selling whisky, and good whisky, to anyone and everyone who wanted to buy.”