Prohibition was ignored by many people so the law was in effect almost useless as there was still a strong demand for alcohol, and people were still drinking.

This large demand meant there was a lot of money to be made in the illegal liquor trade. Gangsters moved into bootlegging and began to get extremely rich. Gangsters were making around $2 billion a year from bootlegging.

The most famous gangster, Al Capone, ran his empire in Chicago and was making $60 million a year from bootlegging. These large sums of money allowed gangsters to bribe police and politicians leading to corrupt officials. Therefore when gangs fought over the business in “Beer Wars” there was no convictions.

Where Al Capone was operating, Chicago, had 130 gangland murders between 1926-1927 and yet their was only one conviction. This increase in crime and corruption led to people turning against prohibition and toward prohibition repeal as it had caused a huge increase in crime.

What do you think about the huge demand for alcohol during prohibition?