Bootlegging was easy; some gangs even paid hundreds of poor immigrants to maintain stills in their apartments. Common citizens, once law abiding, now became criminals by taking part in drinking, making and selling alcohol. Each major city had its own gangster but the most famous was Chicago's Al Capone, Capone was earning $60 million a year from alcohol sales alone while other ventures earned him $45 million more a year (Key Figures). Capone managed to pay off many law enforcement agents and politicians in the districts in which he operated his illegal businesses, these bribes, although sometimes costing him a quarter of a million dollars (Organized Crime) allowed him to work with no interruptions. This caused there to be less respect for law officers and government officials making the people view the law as less serious and just an option instead of a rule that they must follow. One of Capone's men named Thompson said "We'll not only reopen places these people have closed, but we'll open 10,000 new ones (speakeasies)" (Prohibition and the Gangsters), showing you how much influence and power these gangsters had. Violence became a daily occurrence all over the country, 227 gangsters were killed in the space of 4 years, and on St Valentine's Day, 1929, 7 members of the O'Banion gang were shot dead by gangsters dressed as police officers (Prohibition and the Gangsters). This is what the gang culture of that time had become and caused, it not only destroyed the lives of thousands of people through its illegal ventures but increased the crime rate and influenced people to disrespect the law and what it stood for, breaking the law, even flaunting it, also became exciting and popular among people, and this caused people to drink more heavily due to alcohols glamorization. .
When people think of the prohibition era they tend to think of Capone, crimes, and gangs but look pass the economic related issues.
