Without the stimulus of Prohibition, would organized crime have reached its OTL heights of influence in the 1920s and beyond? Would the Mafia ever become as renowned as in OTL?
American Organized Crime Without Prohibition?
- Thread starter frustrated progressive
- Start date
GeographyDude
Gone Fishin'
I remember reading a book on screenwriting in which the guy advised, give interesting villains. And he talked about belonging to a gym in New York which reportedly also had a lot of mob figures as members.
A guy he occasionally talked to slid next to him in the hot tub and asked, “So, tell me Roger, are you one of the good people?”
He goodnaturedly said, “No, no, I’m not.”
But in later thinking about it over, it occurred to him, the mob think of themselves as good guys, because at some level people want drugs and prostitution. And if their kids get in trouble, people want to be able to bribe a cop or assistant DA.
So, unless we have a libertarian-oriented mixed economy in which we get a lot of things right (and in a way which isn’t boring!),
yeah, will probably still be a role for the mob.
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The mob NEEDED Prohibition to give them the means to make enough money to establish themselves. Before Prohibition, most cops treated Wise Guys like the thugs they were. It was only the fortune Prohibition provided that the Mob was able to buy off the cops and expand into other areas. No Prohibition and the Mob stays VERY localized at best.