This work is an accurate, wide-ranging, and entertaining account of the illegal liquor traffic during the Prohibition Era (1920 to 1933). Based on FBI files, legal documents, old newspapers and other sources, it offers a coast-to-coast survey of Volstead crime--outrageous stories of America's most notorious liquor lords, including Al Capone and Dutch Schultz. Readers will find the lesser known Volstead outlaws to be as fascinating as their more famous counterparts. The riveting tales of Max Hassel, Waxy Gordon, Roy Olmstead, the Purple Gang, the Havre Bunch, and the Capitol Hill Bootlegger will be new to most readers. Likewise, the exploits of women bootleggers and flying bootleggers are unknown to most Americans. Books about Prohibition usually note that Canadian liquor exporters abetted the U.S. bootleggers, but they fail to go into detail. Bootleggers and Beer Barons examines the major cross-border routes for smuggling liquor from Canada into the U.S.: Quebec to Vermont and New York, Ontario to Michigan, Saskatchewan to Montana, and British Columbia to Washington.

This work is an accurate, wide-ranging, and entertaining account of the illegal liquor traffic during the Prohibition Era (1920 to 1933). Based on FBI files, legal documents, old newspapers and other sources, it offers a coast-to-coast survey of Volstead crime--outrageous stories of America's most notorious liquor lords, including Al Capone and Dutch Schultz. Readers will find the lesser known Volstead outlaws to be as fascinating as their more famous counterparts. The riveting tales of Max Hassel, Waxy Gordon, Roy Olmstead, the Purple Gang, the Havre Bunch, and the Capitol Hill Bootlegger will be new to most readers. Likewise, the exploits of women bootleggers and flying bootleggers are unknown to most Americans. Books about Prohibition usually note that Canadian liquor exporters abetted the U.S. bootleggers, but they fail to go into detail. Bootleggers and Beer Barons examines the major cross-border routes for smuggling liquor from Canada into the U.S.: Quebec to Vermont and New York, Ontario to Michigan, Saskatchewan to Montana, and British Columbia to Washington.

Bootlegger is about a Jewish immigrant who became a bootlegger at the age of 19 during Prohibition. By the time he was 24, the government claimed he owed $1.2 million in income taxes. He was a rarity in that he never used violence to achieve his wealth. After three of his breweries in Reading, Pennsylvania were closed down in 1928, he became a partner with Waxey Gordon, the foremost beer baron in the country. Their syndicate in North Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania controlled 17 breweries, according to the Prohibition Bureau. When real beer was legalized in 1933, Hassel became a legitimate brewer by placing a tax stamp on every barrel leaving his breweries. This was in direct opposition to the plans of the Luciano/Lansky forces whose plan was to retain control of the beer and liquor industries after Prohibition. Hassel was killed by mob hit men, setting off an investigation that ruined the mob's scheme. The mystery of who killed Hassel was not solved for almost seventy years. Hassel was not just another beer man who gained considerable wealth in the bootleg racket. He gave to numerous charities and financed a free loan society for the poor during Prohibition. The Hassel Foundation today gives grants totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to worthy causes in the Philadelphia and Reading area.

Chronicles the Prohibition era in the U.S. from 1920 to 1933; and traces the rise of the Temperance movement, speakeasies, and gangsters including Pretty Boy Floyd, Lucky Luciano, and Al Capone.

When the Prohibition era arrives in 1920, it changes the lives of almost every person living in America, including Bernie Winghart. Instead of pursuing a career as a factory worker or mechanic, Bernie vows to save the people from the bad liquor thats killing them. He teams up with his brother, Joe Winghart Jr., and his sister-in-law, Mayme Schaller Winghart, to illegally sell alcohol to the masses. Known as the Bootlegging Trio, they profit handsomely. Even so, this formerly upstanding family from upstate New York is now part of a secret underworld of lawbreakers that includes sinister gangsters. There is danger everywhere, and Bernie is so intimidated that he vows never to marry until hes out of the business. He goes from woman to woman, breaking hearts. Told through the perspective of the bootleggers daughter, Bernie, Youre a Bootlegger! gives a glimpse into how Prohibition affected one family and an entire nation until it was declared a failure.

"Recommended." — Library Journal. Written by the bestselling author of The Gangs of New York, this wide-ranging survey of the Prohibition era is populated by bootleggers, gangsters, and corrupt police as well as such reformers as Frances E. Willard.

Discusses the prohibition era of early twentieth-century America, including temperance movements, the prohibition amendment, alcoholic beverage profiteers, and the repeal of prohibition.

When the Prohibition era arrives in 1920, it changes the lives of almost every person living in America, including Bernie Winghart. Instead of pursuing a career as a factory worker or mechanic, Bernie vows to "save the people" from the bad liquor that's killing them. He teams up with his brother, Joe Winghart Jr., and his sister-in-law, Mayme Schaller Winghart, to illegally sell alcohol to the masses. Known as the "Bootlegging Trio," they profit handsomely. Even so, this formerly upstanding family from upstate New York is now part of a secret underworld of lawbreakers that includes sinister gangsters. There is danger everywhere, and Bernie is so intimidated that he vows never to marry until he's out of the business. He goes from woman to woman, breaking hearts. Told through the perspective of the bootleggers' daughter, "Bernie, You're a Bootlegger!" gives a glimpse into how Prohibition affected one family and an entire nation until it was declared a failure.