Organized Crime - How it Was Changed by Prohibition
Through the criminal                experience gained and the political connections established in gambling                and prostitution rackets in the early 1900s, gangsters had become                well prepared for the exploitation of Prohibition, which was ratified                as the 18th Constitutional Amendment in 1919. Illegalizing the production,                distribution, and consumption of alcoholic beverages - all of which                were corollaries to the amendment - did not curb the desire of Chicagoans                for liquor or beer. This great demand for and simultaneous illegalization                of alcohol opened up a new illegal market for the gangster to develop                and monopolize. As Al Capone put it, "All I do is to supply a public demand  somebody had                to throw some liquor on that thirst. Why not me?" (Sullivan,                111) .
This thirst repeatedly                seen in the literature pertaining to Chicago's early 1900s (Prohibition                - Literature Analysis ).
"Chicago's                    change for the worse - or to the worst - was exactly coincidental                    with the beginning of prohibition" (Sullivan,                    182) . This was mostly due to Al Capone 's                    arrival to Chicago in 1920, when he inherited the leadership                    of Torrio's gang. It is important to note that this is the same                    year that Prohibition became enforced, although ratified in                    1919. Capone had a brilliant criminal mind, and he focused it                    on organizing an international bootlegging (on this page, meaning                    specifically the illegal production, distribution, and sale                    of alcohol) ring . He coordinated the importation of alcohol                    from different locations, including other states and even Canada,                    as well as the operation of hundreds of breweries and distilleries,                    many of which resided in Chicago. Capone also devised a system                    to distribute his alcohol, which involved delivery truck drivers,                    salespeople, speakeasies (equivalent to a bar), and of course                    heavily-armed bodyguards to protect these investments.
An                      illustration of a Chicago speakeasy during the early 1900s                      during Prohibition (Citation) .
"The experienced                      criminal or the boy brought up in gang culture approaches                      his 'trouble with the law' as a matter which can be met in                      a thousand ways - there are friends and 'fixers', perjury,                      bribery and intimidation" (Landesco, 211) .
Since all of these activities                were deemed illegal under Prohibition ,                Capone bought legal immunity by administering bribes to police and                politicians. He practically paid off every law enforcement agent                and politician in the districts in which he operated his illegal                businesses. These bribes, although sometimes on the order of a quarter                of a million dollars, were relatively easy for Capone to dish out                considering that he was earning over 100 million dollars per year (Sullivan, 149) .
This was most likely                      drawn before or after Prohibition, as hinted by the fact the                      government is included in the cash breakdown, but nonetheless,                      this cartoon illustrates how lucrative the manufacture of                      alcohol was (Bentley Historical                      Library) .
Profits of this magnitude                are not surprising for several reasons. Firstly, upon the initiation                of Prohibition, Capone essentially took over the business of the                nation's thousands of breweries and distilleries. Since Capone was                more than willing to disobey the law and had control over hundreds                of professional criminals, he was, in effect, handed a monopoly                on alcohol production by the ratification of Prohibition. Also, "there was no let-up in the demand [for alcohol] at any time" (Sullivan, 94) . These massive profits,                which enabled the payoff of even the highest state governmental                officials, revolutionized organized crime with respect to the number                of individuals involved, the level of complexity of political alliances,                and intertwinement with normal, everyday life. The profits also                allowed Capone to construct more speakeasies, gambling joints, whorehouses,                breweries, and distilleries within the city, and even in the suburbs                of Chicago.
The idea that money can                buy power was lucidly verified by gangsters such as Capone: bootlegging                funds led to both political and violent physical power. This power                enabled gangs to find new avenues to exploit, as well as new ways                to run old types business, such as gambling.
"Alphonse                    Capone  and a host of other gangsters and 'racketeers',                    who first came into prominence as the distrubuters of liquor                    concessions, found that with such weapons as bombs, sawed-off                    shotguns, machine-guns, and the threat of being 'taken for a                    ride', they need not confine themselves to the 'beer racket'                    and the distribution of beer privileges" (Landesco,                    80) .
Labor                Racketeering
A profitable and common business of the organized criminal appearing                after the start of Prohibition was labor racketeering. This type                of crime involved the infiltration of gangsters into legitimate                business; commonly workers' unions. The power of gangs such as Capone's,                which was achieved from their successes in bootlegging, enabled                them to make and back up the violent threats necessary to push their                way into legitimate business. Anybody who was confronted by a gangster                wanting in on their business knew they must yield in fear of being                executed.
A typical example of labor racketeering would be where a gangster                poses as a member of a specific union with the intent of taking                it over and collecting money from the salaries of the legit members                of the union, or by pilfering fractions of the members' monthly                dues. The gangster would often hire substitute union members, pay                them less than what they would normally be paid for their work,                and pocket the difference. Because it was "nearly impossible                to differentiate among the partners - the businessman [was] a politician,                the politician [was] a gangster, and the gangster [was] a businessman" (Demaris, 3) , it was very difficult                to detect and prosecute criminals involved in this type of activity.                This activity was also difficult to stop because it provided the                involved gangster with the front of being a legitimate worker, and                served as a plausible explanation for a source of income. Additionally,                any opposition - including witnesses planning to testify against                gang activities, and enraged union members - was immediately killed                by the gangsters.
The involvement of gangsters with legitimate business was not always                done against the will of the businesses they infiltrated, and in                some situations, the labor racketeer was called forth to improve                business. This was the case for businesses and companies trying                to control their competition while still circumventing the Sherman                Anti-trust Act and injunctions of courts that prohibited collective                bargaining and price fixing. These businesses desired a stable market,                and they wished to establish this through raising and fixing the                prices of their products or services. Labor racketeers were 'hired'                by legitimate businesses to do this, and to raise the wages earned                by their workers and the prices of the products they produced through                threats of violence. The power of the mob was evident by the numbers                of people who yielded to its requests, and by the fact that the                non-compliant were ruthlessly murdered. For his services in helping                these businesses, the racketeer earned a portion of the profits.
The number and types of different labor unions, insurance agencies,                and businesses that labor racketeers extorted is quite amazing.                Unions ranging from the Chicago Restaurant Association to the Landry,                Cleaning and Dye House Workers International Union had been taken                over by gangsters. Mobsters such as Joseph "Joey" Glimco                were involved with and profited from companies such as Yellow Cab,                Checker Taxi, and various Jaguar automobile dealerships in the Midwest.                Through corrupt means, Glimco became a trustee of the funds of the                Occidental Life Insurance Company, and was on the payroll of Paolo                Salce Incorporated, a road paving company employed by the city of                Chicago itself, which received $4 million contracts each year. Through                these and other similar illegitimate sources of money, Glimco was                estimated to earn $840,000 per year (Demaris,                38) . Although he had to hand most of this over to his superiors,                he still had enough left "to keep him in silk underwear, Cadillacs                and mistresses" (Demaris, 36) .
According to Landesco, there were two main reasons why such labor                racketeering prevailed: because of "a situation of cutthroat                competition among small business enterprises", and secondly                because of "a tradition of lawlessness and violence in Chicago" (Landesco, 167) .
The Racketeering                of other Gangs
Racketeering did not stop with infiltrating only legitimate businesses.                Often, powerful gangs would terrorize other inferior gangs in order                to steal a certain percentage of their profits. The inferior gangs                found themselves faced with the proposition of either being killed                and having their businesses destroyed by means such as bombing,                or 'donating' some of their proceeds to the superior gangs. Again,                as in racketeering in legitimate businesses, these types of threats                were validated through the power granted by financial success and                a high degree of organization resulting from income gained from                bootlegging alcohol.
Capone's gang, the mob, was notorious for this type of coercion. "To [his] syndicate every gambling house keeper, handbook owner,                vice resort keeper, and beer runner had to contribute a percentage                of the income derived from their enterprises, or risk being blown                up or 'taken for a ride'" (Landesco,                80) . These violent acts and threats usually could be carried                out without any legal consequences, for the mob was practically                immune to the law as a result of the bribery of police and politicians                alike. See the page titled " The Law                - History and Background " for further description of the                corruption of the law that was invoked by Chicago gangsters.
The mob also conducted complete takeovers of the business of rival                gangs. Capone stripping the gambling business away from Mont Tennes                serves as an example. With the profits Capone enjoyed from his bootlegging                activities, he could afford to pay out over half a million dollars                a month to politicians for the protection of his properties (gambling                joints, breweries, etc) across the city of Chicago (Landesco,                81) . By bribing government officials, Capone could also order                his competitors' breweries, gambling joints, and other illegal establishments                to be raided and destroyed by his crooked law enforcement agents.                One key politician who received part of this was Mayor William                Hale Thompson . By manipulating the government in this fashion,                Capone was rarely troubled by police raids of his gambling establishments,                and succeeded in making Chicago "the center of race track gambling                in the nation" (Sullivan, 183) .                Capone's gambling business was so closely affiliated with the law,                which also benefited financially from his business, that police                'overlooked' his slot machines which were found in places as blatant                and public as drug stores.
Prohibition was a period of time accompanied by "the                    greatest crime record ever attained by a nation" (Sullivan,                    xii) .