The rise of the mob in America can be tied to the passing of the 18th Amendment on Jan. 16, 1919, which banned the “manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors” and essentially made the United States a dry country. Unsurprisingly, the amendment didn’t go over well with all Americans, and the demand for illegal and bootleg spirits increased dramatically. Many gangs that had been loosely organized up to that point capitalized on this new market and began producing and distributing alcohol, in the process morphing into organized crime syndicates along the way. As time went by, these newly formed groups began to engage in other illegal activities like money laundering, smuggling goods, and bribing police, while adhering to strict codes of conduct and discretion in an effort to avoid the hand of the law. Eventually, the mob became one of the most powerful forces in the country, holding enormous influence over American life for much of the 20th century. While the mob doesn’t really exist in America today the way it did in the ’20s, ’30s, and ’40s, it hasn’t completely vanished. Additionally, organized crime as a whole—from street gangs to drug cartels—has grown in recent years, a fact… Read full this story
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