Prohibition in the United States created new opportunities for organized crime to make profits even they couldn’t imagine. It did not take long for the mobsters to push out the independent bootleggers and take control of the whole operation inside the United States. Their tentacles then reached into St. Pierre and Newfoundland, both of which has become legalized transhipment ports for liquor – a real rum-runner’s heaven!
During the era a Prohibition in the United States, Al Capone emerged as the top mobster in the country; Capone controlled the politicians, police, bootleggers, prostitution and smuggling, with his syndicates reaching into Newfoundland in a big way.
In Rumrunners and Mobsters: Prohibition’s 100th Anniversary in Newfoundland, Jack Fitzgerald leaves no stone unturned as he chronicles Prohibition in Newfoundland from start to finish, while exposing mobster involvement.