Prior to prohibition, organized crime was nothing more than “paid protection.” In 1910, Henry Ford himself hired a mob of gangsters to infiltrate his auto manufacturing plants to see who was speaking of a possible trade union (Mcwilliams). At that time, the mafia was nothing more than a paid hand with duties ranging from simple threats to murder. The mafia did not have heavy influence in the black market as they did later. The people of America still wanted liquor and aft

“The reign of tears is over. The slums will soon be a memory. We will turn our prisons into factories and our jails into storehouses and corncribs. Men will walk upright now, women will smile and children will laugh. Hell will be forever for rent,” claimed Reverend Billy Sunday at the beginning of prohibition. He couldn’t be more wrong. Mark Twain was on the money when he said, “Prohibition only drives drunkenness behind doors into darkness, and does not cure it or even diminish it.” Present day America has probably one of the worst alcohol abuse problems in the world, and it’s all mainly a result of prohibition.

The fact that alcohol was prohibited for some reason made it irresistible. People who weren’t even drinkers prior to prohibition wanted to drink. In the beginning of 1920 there were an estimated 16,000 saloons in New York City and an estimated 50,000 plus speak-easies in New York City by 1923 (Thorton). Unlike saloons, which were men-only institutions, the speak-easies welcomed women and in turn women started to drink. During prohibition, the average alcohol consumption of the American adult had more than doubled since 1910. By 1923, finding ways to "beat the feds" had surpassed even baseball as the national pastime (McWilliams).

There were the thousands of people in America involved in the alcohol industry. On that late January day in 1920 they had a choice to either lose their jobs or become criminals. There were also the investors and owners of the breweries and wine gardens. They now found their stocks and futures worthless. Then there were the thousands of people who worked in bars, restaurants, beer gardens, hotels, resorts, and related businesses that went out of business as a direct result of Prohibition (Thorton). It was even difficult for th

Some topics in this essay:
Prohibition Thorton, Thorton Unlike, Kansas City, Al Capone, Honest American, Henry Ford, Amendment January, Mark Twain, Canada Mexico, Hubert Humphrey, organized crime, prior prohibition, al capone, people drink, people america, reason people, result prohibition, thousands people, american people, day america,