Drinks, Crime and Prohibition

After decades of decrying liquor and its corrosive impact on American culture, the Prohibition Party got their wish in 1919 when the 18th Amendment took effect, banning the manufacture and sale of alcohol. The ban was almost unenforceable from day one. The “Lost Generation” flocked to speakeasies, moonshine was made at home, corruption infected every level of the government, and gangsters grew in wealth and power. Witness the early days of Prohibition and the violent events that sent it careening towards its final days.

In the 1920s, Americans blatantly ignore Prohibition, while gangsters and small-time bootleggers use it as an excuse to build a gigantic underground industry. Up until this point, the federal role in crime prevention barely existed, but new president Hebert Hoover marshals the power of the state against it and Al Capone, the nation’s most famous outlaw. Witness their epic battle, which reshaped American law enforcement as we know it, and see how changing attitudes and a national crisis finally brought an end to the ban on liquor.