The Coolidge examiner., 1933-09-01
PASSING OF THE
ROOTLEGGER
ARTICLE No. /


some disposition.
The problem is not only real, 1t is
acute To understand ii, and gath
er an idea about what must be done
To solve 1t, we should analyze the
bootlegger. We should know whence
he came. determine whittier he goes.
If he goes
He was. broadly speaking, a
product of the prohibition era. That
is, the millionaire bootlegger" came
with prohibition. Before that we
always had the bootlegger. But he
was small timer. He was nothing
but a tin-horn evader.
But let no one tell you that pro-
hibition made the gangster. Amer
lea had gangsters just as vicious as
present-day gangstvTs long before
Tie dry era dawned as a national
condition.
What prohibition did was 10
finance the gangster through max
ing the small.time business Of boot
Logging a national industry. The
notorious old Hudson busters" Of
New York were a gang. They plum
dered and pillaged; they fought
and brawled. But they were con-
staatly In trouble with the police.
They served a goodly portion of their
lives in the penitentiary for com
paratively minor ofenses. They
were. In the language of the gay
nineties, buns" They had no po-
litical influence, they controlled no
profitable commercial activities, and
they utterly lacked influence in the
court.
Prohibition changed that. With
a nation suddenly gone drink-mind-
ed a source of supply was necessary.
The gangster, being a naturally-in-
clined criminal. undertook to supply
Illicit booze. Suddenly he supplied
it in immeasurable quantities for
immeasurable profits. He lost none
of his thuggery; none of his Grim
inal pr0pensities; none Of his strong
arm methods of operation. He mere
ly became rich, and riches are
power.
\ boOtlegger caught plying his
trade could pay his legal fees in
advance TO the arresting officer in
stead of 10 the court. This made
him immune. Prosecution was moth
ing but persecution, and persecu-
tion was little enough so long as you
passed its cost along to the con-
sumer of booze.
Millions rolled In. Petty gang
sters passed out because the boot
logging business attracted cute law
yers in search of great fees. Their
ability to do this had more far
reaching results. II attracted to
bootlegging competing gangsters.
The whole thing grew with almost
magical speed. The only fundamen-
tai change in the old-time gangster
was the lifting OF him from the
status of an alley rat with a black
jack and a sweater TO a bouleyar-
dier with a boutonniere and a limou-
sine. Under the seat of the limou-
sine was machine gun. In the
background was a shyster lawyer
with habeas corpus, and venal
judge living on the fat of the land
through the bootleg bribes.
Now the change. Sentiment Is
routing prohibition. If it passes, the
United States will have an array of
the most murderous bandits of mod
ern times -ithout work" No more
the endless stream of gangrenous
gold; no longer the overflowing cof-
ferS of beer and booze wells; no
more the "alky-cooking" millions
which offered profits of 1,600 per
cent a drink and sold for anywhere
from 10 cents to two dollars a gulp.
That is gone
Inevitably the gangster reverts to
his old status. But here is the
chronic and acute angle: he is now
a gangster accustomed to ten-course
dinners. star sapphires and peaked
lapels. He uses limousines, presents
diamonds, contributes to elections.
He has assumed an immense polit-
ical power through the information
he has on venal officials now in of
fee. He has learned TO operate
without numbering anything but
competition. Is it to be expected
that the repeal of single law viii
change this yegg? Not for a second.
The problem then, is simple.
Without bootleg revenues where will
he turn? What will he do? How
will he operate? What of all his
luxuries? Can he keep up the pace
without turning to crimes of vio-
lence?
Let me say right here that he can
not. The records of the last few
months prove this. Kidnapings
have assumed front page position.
Rackets fill in with less sensa-
tional but just as incredible advices
of the predatory operations of these
thugs. American business pays the
price.
Those who know their underworld
know bootlegging has not been the
bir-Shot oDpration for some fourteen