Chapter 12

In 1920, the United States Congress passed the eighteen amendment. Prohibition had arrived. They took away their bottle. It was now a law that the sale of, the purchase of and the use of alcoholic beverages was not to be. The average citizen was going to be very dry, and terrible damn thirsty in the good old U.S. of A.

Soon gang killings in the larger American centers escalated. The fact is that there were few gang killings before the war and many afterward. The gun they gave them didn't create the problem. The eighteenth amendment was the cause of the gang killings. Obits of the major and minor gunmen of this era fall into three categories.

1. Not old enough to fight when the war broke out.

2. Old enough to fight, but didn't enlist and escaped the draft.

3. Enlisted or were drafted, but had a criminal record before the war and picked up the old game when the war was over.