Al Capone: America’s Most Notorious Gangster (mini)(VG-F)

Description While the Mafia has existed in the United States since the late 19th century, especially in big cities like New York and Chicago, organized crime did not truly organize itself until Prohibition. Congress passed the Eighteenth Amendment in January of 1919. At the strike of midnight on January 1, 1920, the sale, production, importation, and transportation became illegal. The consumption of alcohol did decrease. Americans drank less—but did not stop drinking. It was left to entrepreneurial criminals to meet the demand.–Arnold Rothstein, a racketeer and mob kingpin, was the first to capitalize. His prot?g? Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky established a mob operation in New York beginning in the late 1920s, that splintered into the ”Five Families“ after Luciano’s death in 1962. But America’s most famous gangster is Al Capone, who was boss of the Chicago outfit from 1925-31. After years of presiding over a vast criminal enterprise, he was finally taken down in 1933—not for his violent crimes, but for tax evasion.–This is a silver ”Mercury“ dime from 1919—the year the Eighteenth Amendment was passed, and organized crime was born.