Organized Crime and Prohibition

     Prohibition has a direct link to the rise of organized crime in the United States. According to the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Prohibition was closing 236 distilleries, 1,000 breweries, and 177,790 retail liquor outlets. This created a huge demand for alcohol and made bootlegging a highly-profitable trade. This, in turn, forced small time crime groups to organize themselves along lines to effectively monopolize their area, which lead to creation of mafias and mobsters like Al Capone and Charles "Lucky" Luciano. This faction lasted well into present day with the infamous Italian-American "Five Families" of New York (Gambino, Genovese, Luchese, Bonnano, and Colombo) as they emerged from the wealth produced by Prohibition.