The Notorious Al Capone

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Recommended: The effects of the prohibition

The popular image of the 1920s is of an alcohol soaked, jazz enriched, and senseless society that was full of crime. Morally minded citizens tried to solve the growing problem of drunkenness by pushing their efforts to end this behavior. This crusade gained steam in 1920 when the US outlawed the manufacture and sale of liquor which was amended into the Constitution. What was supposed to end this wild behavior of mindless drinking and crime spawned new economic problems and gang wars in major cities around America. What was known as the prohibition era entrenched a network of organized crime with some of the most notorious minds and of these included the most well-known, Al Capone. Capone began to take over the Chicago area in 1925 as a young bartender and eventually controlling the criminal network. From bootlegging and racketeering, Al Capone became one of the most influential gangsters in history with control over the judicial and political powers that would soon come to an end as quickly as it started.
Capone saw the prohibition movement coming and acted on it with a business mind. He moved to Cicero before the eighteenth amendment was passed and purchased legal breweries where he would soon produce illegal alcohol called moonshine. Capone charted routes from nearby Canada to import and distribute this liquor when prohibition would be enforced. Capone has a clever mind because of his ability to start this international bootlegging business. He coordinated the sales and distribution of alcohol in other states and even Canada. He owned and manufactured alcohol in hundreds of breweries around America but most were located in
Dakota Mathers 2 the Chicago area. With all the movement of alcohol, Capone devised a plan to transport...

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... “Crimes and Trials of the Century.” Westport, CT:
Greenwood Press, 2007. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 27 Oct. 2013.

Blumental, Karen. Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition. New
York: Roaring Brook, 2011. Print.

Federal Bureau of Investigations. "Famous Cases & Criminals." Federal Bureau of Investigations. FBI, 21
May 2010. Web. 27 Oct. 2013.

Landesco, John. Organized Crime in Chicago. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1968. Print.

Lorizzo, Luciano J. “Al Capone: A Biography.” Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2003. eBook Collection
(EBSCOhost). Web. 27 Oct. 2013.

Sullivan, Edward D. Rattling the Cup on Chicago Crime. New York: The Vanguard Press, 1929. Print.

Young, William H., and Nancy K. Young. The Great Depression in America: A Cultural Encyclopedia. Vol.
2. New York: Greenwood Group, Incorporated, 2007. Print.

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