Gangsters Profit From Prohibition

The United States had grappled for years with the fight to make the production and sale of alcohol illegal. Americans who viewed liquor as an evil problem and a moral issue had formed religious or temperance groups as early as 1826. Those groups encouraged people to drink less or to stop drinking alcohol altogether.

By the early 1900s, reform-minded groups had gathered enough support to make their concerns about alcohol consumption a national issue. They cited husbands and fathers who drank too much liquor and who were a danger