1920"s Crime

Most of the organized crime related activates began due to the newest amendment the eighteenth amendment which was the prohibition of alcohol. In January nineteen twenty the manufacturing and distribution of alcohol illegal. All in hopes of seizing violence and drunkenness. Needless to say it did the exact opposite … and the some. With to world in economic decline and many people out of work people saw this new “law” as an opportunity. Criminal opportunity. Everything that prohibition was suppose to fix got way way way worse. Arrests for prohibition violations had increased 102%. Arrests for drunkenness and drunken or disorderly conduct had increased 41%. Arrests for drunken drivers increased 81%. Thefts and burglaries increased 9%. Homicides as well as assault and battery charges increased 13%. The number of federal convicts increased 561%. The federal prison population increased 366%. The total federal expenditures on penal institutions increased 1,000%. And police funding increased 11.4 million dollars.(William A. Merideth, the great experiment.) In fact a new police force was created just for this. It was called the federal prohibition bureau. With all the police and newly formed organizations as well as the FBI only 5% of the alcohol in the U.S. was being confiscated.(Tim Nash, 20th century crime) unemployment grew as well as violence and jobs in crime. The main reason the unemployment rates were so high was mostly due to the fact everyone who worked in a bar, distillery, liquor store, winery and vineyard was now unemployed. Police recourses on preventing other crimes have now been diverted to prohibition causes. Thus letting more crimes of different varieties happen. With the law completely and utterly inferior gangs fought amongst themselves to gain control of distribution territories. Many people wanted to get in on this new and thriving source of seemingly endless revenue by making their own alcohol in their own homes and elsewhere. Most of the new people