My Grandpa Kronenberger used to be a bootlegger. Over in Dayton, Ohio.
My dad was born in 1922. And from the stories he told me, I’d say he was about eight years old when this happened.
To refresh your memory: Prohibition in the United States lasted from January 17, 1920, to December 5, 1933.
Yes indeed. It was established by the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. And that, of course, prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages.
Move ahead 13 years. Prohibition ended with the ratification of the 21st Amendment, which repealed the 18th Amendment, making it the only instance in U.S. history where one constitutional Amendment was entirely repealed by another.
Anyway. My grandpa had “Kronenberger’s Garage” over in the East end of Dayton. He mostly sold used auto parts. Scrap parts, really. Well, one day, he was “working” in his garage, and Dad came along. There, in the back of the garage, lined up on one wall, were wooden crates and boxes filled with clear glass bottles filled with clear liquid. Grandpa read my dad the riot act for being back there and chased him out of the garage.
But over the years, Dad saw a lot of men go in and out of the garage without buying any auto parts. Instead, they’d leave with something tucked underneath their jackets or overcoats.
I’m sure my grandpa probably had a boss in that whole thing. There was an entire network of people all over our nation delivering alcohol to their thirsty customers.
I was reminded of all of this because I read a “bootlegger” story from October 9, 1942. In the story, a Chicago bootlegger named Roger “The Terrible” Touhy escaped from Illinois’ Stateville Prison by climbing the guard’s tower. Touhy, who had been framed for kidnapping by his bootlegging rivals with the help of corrupt Chicago officials, was serving a 99-year sentence for a kidnapping he did not commit.
This guy, Touhy, was the son of a police officer. He had also served in the Navy during World War I and later set up a trucking business in the Chicago suburbs.
Anyway, his business never got off the ground. So, Touhy realized he could earn a better living through bootlegging. Along with his partner, Matt Kolb, Touhy began brewing his own beer and shipping it to speakeasies all over the state. His beer was widely considered the finest available at the time.
So. Al Capone heard about Touhy’s operation. And guess what? He wanted to get in on the action, but since Capone was not really familiar with the environment outside of the city, Touhy had an advantage.
The story gets thick here.
Touhy shouted orders to his fictional gang over the telephone when Capone’s henchmen showed up. Capone’s men reported back that Touhy was not someone to mess with, but Capone was undeterred. He kidnapped Matt Kolb, forcing Touhy to cough up $50,000 for his release.
When he ordered Kolb’s murder in 1931 anyway, the feud escalated. Capone helped to orchestrate a fake kidnapping, which he pinned on Touhy. In 1933, with assistance from Daniel “Tubbo” Gilbert, a Chicago police officer known as “the richest cop in the world.” Touhy was convicted for abducting con man Jake Factor and sent to prison.
Shortly after his escape in 1942, Touhy was returned to prison. But his attorneys successfully persuaded an appeals court that the Factor kidnapping was a hoax, and Touhy was finally released in 1959. Three weeks later, as he was entering his sister’s home, Touhy was hit by several shotgun blasts. Before he died, he was reported to have said, “I’ve been expecting it. The bastards never forget.” No arrests were made.
So, my point in telling this was that bootlegging was rough business. Thankfully, my grandfather and my father got through it unscathed.
The impact of Prohibition in the U.S. is a subject of debate, as it brought both good and bad consequences. However, the big negative was the strengthening of organized crime and lawlessness. Not only that, there were huge amounts of deaths due to the production of bad alcohol. The production of unregulated, unsafe alcohol led to numerous cases of poisoning and death from tainted products.
Here is one more thing about all that bootleg whiskey. Many people want to do away with government regulations. But it is not a smart thing to consider. If the government quits regulating food, drug, and alcohol production, many people will die. Way more than Al Capone ever killed.
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“Organized crime is nothing more than capitalism with the gloves off.”
– Raymond Chandler
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“Behind every great fortune there is a crime.”
– Honoré de Balzac
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“Organized crime, with its insidious networks, thrives not because it hides in the shadows, but because it often walks among us.”
– Loretta Lynch
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AND THIS:
“Organized crime exploits our weaknesses: our greed, our vices, and sometimes our apathy.”
– Rudy Giuliani
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The bootlegger in my past
