"Newly hired and poorly trained Prohibition agents, along with local and state police, targeted violators at the margins," McGirr wrote. "But, they lacked the capacity, and at times the will to go after powerful crime kingpins."
It's simplistic to say Prohibition created organized crime in America, but it fueled a huge expansion as local crime gangs collaborated with those from other regions to establish shipping systems and set prices for boothegged alcohol. Beneficiaries included Chicago-based Al Capone, who earned tens of millions of dollars annually from bootlegging and speakeasies.
In the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929, gunmen disguised as polive officers killed seven men from a gang that sought to compete with Capone's empire.
Beyond the ranks of gangsters, legions of Americans were committing or abetting crime.
--CootGang
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