Emergence of Crime (1919-1933)
The 18th amendment came into existence on January 16th, 1919, bringing in an era of national prohibition. In theory, this would have made temperance easy to follow for the entire United States, since it outlawed alcohol nationwide. However, it did not take long for cracks to form in the 18th amendment, as different states created their own views on how important it was for prohibition to be enforced. As a result, even though Virginia started out relatively strict in enforcing prohibition, it did not take long for things to crumble.
For starters, organized crime started to flourish by the early 1920s. One of the things that prohibitionists promised the public was that introducing alcohol prohibition across our state and country would drastically decrease crime rates, but in the end, this never happened. In the US, "the homicide rate increased to 10 per 100,000 population during the 1920s, a 78 percent increase over the pre-Prohibition period".[5] Organized crime increased tenfold through this decade, creating iconic gangster characters such as Al Capone from Chicago. Now that alcohol was outlawed, obtaining and selling it was fair game to anyone who did not get caught. There were no more regulations and demand for alcohol was skyrocketing, so illegal distilleries, smugglers, and gangs all became incredibly wealthy in very short amounts of time.
The location of Virginia also led to Prohibition’s demise in the state. Virginia shares the Chesapeake Bay with Maryland, and this bay proved to be incredibly helpful for alcohol smuggling due to its numerous small islands and secret inlets.[1]
Bootleggers found the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay to be particularly useful in smuggling alcohol. Pictured here is the Linwood, a rumrunning boat. In 1923, when the crew was threatened by an approaching Coast Guard ship, they burned it down to destroy any evidence of alcohol onboard.
Furthermore, Maryland, Virginia’s next-door neighbor state, remained mostly wet. Even though it was not fully wet, its state government barely made efforts to enforce prohibition.[1] On top of that, Norfolk, a popular port city in Virginia located in the Chesapeake Bay, ended up voting wet during the Virginia referendum on prohibition. It subsequently ended up being a big center for bootleggers who wanted to bring in their goods from the Chesapeake into Virginia.[1] Finally, Virginia already had a history of folks who were illegally producing moonshine for decades, and this was very prevalent in Southern Virginia and the Appalachian Mountains. When these illegal distillers caught wind of Prohibition’s enforcement in our state and the public’s subsequent growing demands for alcohol, they made serious and incredibly prosperous businesses smuggling and selling their goods.
Many of them were willing to put their lives on the line in order to remain in this illegal business. Chuck Miller of Belmont Farm Distillery in Culpeper, Va, explained how his grandfather was a bootlegger in rural Virginia during Prohibition. "My grandfather got involved in moonshining during Prohibition and sold his whiskey up in DC. One time they had the road blocked up there for him, and he just ran through the roadblock. But they shot out the back window of his car".[2]
Furthermore, as prohibition progressed, one particular county in this area of Virginia, Franklin Country, became notorious and was given the nickname, “Moonshine Capital of the World”. This county had the largest amount of alcohol seized by officials during the Prohibition era, with an absolutely monstrous 131,930 gallons![3]
This is an article from the Richmond Times, dated August 5th, 1917. It explained that one of the largest illegal distilleries in Virginia was discovered near Franklin County, and it was hidden in a cave on the side of a mountain. Authorities poured out 36 gallons of beer after finding it, although it had a massive 300-gallon capacity.
This is another article from the Richmond Times, written five years later, on May 27th, 1922. It explained that state Prohibition officers arrested five men, captured three distilleries, confiscated two automobiles, and seized mash and whisky in Goochland and Franklin County.
[1] Benbow, Mark. The Old Dominion Goes Dry: Prohibition in Virginia. Journal of the Brewery History Society. http://www.breweryhistory.com/journal/archive/138/Bendow.pdf
[2] C. Jarrett Dieterle. Moonshine Makes A Comeback in Virginia. And This Time, It’s Legal. The Salt (blog), Washington: NPR, 2017. https://search-proquest-com.mutex.gmu.edu/docview/1952923964?pq-origsite=primo&accountid=14541
[3] Kimball, Gregg. Teetotalers & Moonshiners: Prohibition in Virginia, Distilled. Broadside, vol. 2. pg. 2-4. 2017. https://www.lva.virginia.gov/news/broadside/2017-Spring.pdf.
[5] Thornton, Mark. Cato Institute Policy Analysis No. 157: Alcohol Prohibition Was a Failure, Policy Analysis. July 17, 1991. https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/pa157.pdf