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18th Amendment
The 18th Amendment is ratified on January 16, 1919. -
National Prohibition Act
The National Prohibition Act, also known as the Volstead Act, is passed on October 28, 1919. -
Mob Bosses Begin to Gain Power
In 1920, Mob Bosses like Lawyer George Remus who moved to Cincinnati and set up drug company to gain legal access to bonded liquor, Roy Olmstead who bootlegged alcohol while serving as a police lieutenant and later was called the King of the Puget Sound Bootleggers, and William McCoy, a man in charge of boats in Florida, pioneered rum-running trade by sailing a schooner loaded with 1500 cases of liquor from Nassau in the British colony of the Bahamas to Savannah, Georgia -
Government Fights Back
Frank Mather joins treasury department to scour Nelson County, Kentucky for moonshiners. He arrested them and dumped their whiskey into local streams. -
Scofflaws
Four years after Prohibition was first imposed, the Boston Herald offered $200 to the reader who came up with a new word for someone who ignored the law and drank liquor that had was made or sold illegally. Twenty-five thousand responded. Two readers came up with the same word, scofflaw, and split the prize. -
Al Capone's Rise & Beer Wars
Al Capone is blamed for murdering prosecutor, Billy McSwiggin, who was the prosecuting attorney against several beer runners. -
Justice is Done
The Purple Gang of Detroit, Michigan goes to trial for bootlegging and high-jacking -
Gang Violence
Gang violence is on the rise in nearly every city in the United States, and then Al Capone has seven of Bugs Moran's (another Mob Boss) men murdered in Chicago, in the so-called Valentine's Day Massacre. -
Stock Market Crash
The United States Stock Market crashes. -
Law Fights Back Again
Elliot Ness begins in earnest to tackle violators of prohibition including Al Capone's gang in Chicago.