Kosinski 1Vanessa KosinskiMrs. BillingsleyEnglish 4˚24 Mar 2014Prohibition: The Root Cause of Organized CrimeIn the 1920s, cities were the place to be, and between 1922 and 1929 nearly 2 million people a year left their farms and small towns. Life in the cities was very different from life in the countryside and because of this it was difficult for many people to accept the changing values ​​of the 1920s. People in cities were more tolerant of drinking, gambling, and casual drinking – actions that were considered shocking and sinful in small towns. (Danzer 641) An aggressive clash between small-town Americans and big-city Americans began in January 1920, when the Eighteenth Amendment, or Prohibition, went into effect. Prohibition blocked the production, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages because it was made legally prohibited. (Danzer 642) Therefore, due to the provisions of the Prohibition movement, organized crime increased dramatically in the United States during the 1920s. “The reign of tears is over. The slums will soon be a memory. We will turn our prisons into factories and our prisons into warehouses and granaries. Now men will walk upright, women will smile and children will laugh. Hell will forever be for rent.” Reverend Billy Sunday said this during a speech at the beginning of Prohibition. As time passed, Americans realized that this was far from the case and that things had, in fact, gotten worse. (Organized Crime and Prohibition) Because of Prohibition, organized crime received a major boost from Kosinski 2 because it provided a product that so many Americans wanted and were willing to break the law to get. The largest supply of liquor in the 1920s was organized crime. Smugglers... middle of paper... cover “Prohibition: What if?”) The lasting repercussions of organized crime continue in America today. Even though alcohol is legal again, organized crime is now in the hands of drug lords who smuggle various types of illicit drugs into the United States every day. Kosinski 4Works cited "Al Capone". American history. ABC-CLIO, ndWeb. March 15, 2014.Danzer, Gerald A. “Chapter 21 The Roaring Life of the 1920s.” The Americans. Orlando, Florida: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. 640-45. Print.Eysturlid, Lee. “Ban: You need to know.” American history. ABC-CLIO, ndWeb. March 15, 2014.Eysturlid, Lee. “Prohibition: What If?: An Alternative History of Prohibition.” American history. ABC-CLIO, ndWeb. March 23, 2014. "Organized crime and prohibitionism." Organized crime and prohibitionism. Np, nd Web. March 15. 2014.