"Alone in Unquiet Darkness": Mafia and Gangsters: Their role in the 1920s

There had been a rise in Mafia and Gangster activities in the 1920s-this was mostly due to the prohibition act. Near the end of the 1920s mobs had became extremely organized. During the short-lived prohibition years they smuggled, and bootlegged more than a million dollars worth of alcohol.

(Fighting prohibition)

Al Capone is one of the many well known names of the 1920s. His career showed the power of organized crime in the United States. After his friend Torrio fled the country, he found himself holding control of part of Chicago's bootlegging, the people of Chicago were more than happy to purchase this illegal alcohol-Capone took advantage of the attitude. With the coming of the great depression (and end of prohibition), his profiting began to decline, and Hoover was set on getting him behind bars. He was later sentenced to ten years under tax fraud.

(Al Capone)

When the prohibition profiting ended in the early 1930s mafias focused their efforts on gambling, loan sharking, prostitution, and drug distribution. J. Edgar Hoover chose not to battle organized crime, fearing a poor showing in the underworld. The National Organized Crime Syndicate kept a low profile to receive little interference from the FBI. Hoover pretended, and assured, that mob activities did not exist, as a result organized crimes grew and prospered in America.