What It Was Like to Be a Prohibition Bootlegger

Mark Twain once said, "It is the prohibition that makes anything precious." The United States learned that lesson the hard way not long after January 17, 1920, when it made the nation’s fifth-largest industry largely illegal. Smuggling alcohol during Prohibition became its own industry, inciting the growth of illicit activity and organized crime. But necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention, and some of the ways people hid alcohol during Prohibition were very inventive. If it hadn’t all come to an end in 1933, hiding liquor might have become another major industry.
#bootleg #prohibition #weirdhistory

[@witecatj6007]

My old high school history teacher always said that there are two things you can't govern: morality and stupidity. Prohibition proved it on both accounts

[@user-xs5bl9dy6d]

I'll drink to that! 🥃

[@davidneumann2705]

Only reason they did it was to keep down the German people that moved to usa after ww1 .

[@witecatj6007]

@@davidneumann2705 Not really. It was more of a long time belief that alcohol led to an indolent society and often pointed to the Irish as proof of that (a popular tactic of WASPs). Other people were doing this as a way to help families get the money that would have been used on booze for food and necessities. This was a very common reason to support it in areas where coal mining and manufacturing plants were common. What they didn't consider is the lengths people would go to to get a freaking drink and the criminal element more than willing to oblige.

[@iknowexactlywhoyouare8701]

yea i'm pretty sure sneaking in a substance that does no wonders to your body and is infamous for many domestic violence issues is not the most iconic and memorable thing humanity has ever done. there are better things people have done in history such as secretly freeing slaves from plantations and freeing children from the holocaust when the nazis weren't watching.

[@witecatj6007]

@@iknowexactlywhoyouare8701 This was also another rallying call for Prohibition. The sad thing is that it really didn't change some people's lives even with alcohol out of the equation. Abusive bastards will always be abusive bastards with or without alcohol.

[@DoloresJNurss]

One amusing thing from the time period were "grape bricks". These were openly advertised in magazines as mail order confections made of raisins, sugar and yeast ,compressed into blocks. They came with a warning: “After dissolving the brick in a gallon of water, do not place the liquid in a jug away in the cupboard for twenty days, because then it would turn into wine.”

[@thesimslover82884]

Sneaky lol, but that's the point.

[@kaylahensley1581]

Sounds gross

[@jessievelasco6074]

Lol the "warning label"

[@HailingSailor]

Sneaky, I like it.

[@Daniel_Plainview_1911]

It was called Vine-Glo

[@RavynAngelDarck]

Growing up in Detroit, I heard stories about bootleggers driving their cars across the Detroit River in winter when the ice was thick and the river traffic was non-existent.

[@SessaV]

My great grandpa was a Detroit bootlegger... and a Detroit cop haha.

[@erich.2550]

The Purple Gang had it on LOCK. 👊🏽🔥

[@machfiver753]

river traffic halted due to the ice I'm guessing. sigh

[@BandMaster57]

I also grew up in Detroit and I love looking at old photos of model T's and other cars of the era parked along the banks of the river to pick up their "shipments" from Canada.

[@antdagawd68]

Purple Gang

[@painkillerjones6232]

Plenty of bootleggers sold 'door to door'!!! My grandfather delivered booze in a coal truck, another buddy had grandparents that delivered 'fresh vegetables" from a truck..

[@joannahampton5979]

And of course none of those law makers ever went without 🤨

[@monkeygraborange]

Pffttt... as if! 🍸🤣🍸

[@redmoondesignbeth9119]

I grew up near Chicago and it turned out that the "wealthy cousins" who were then jewelers got their start making labels for bootleg beer.

[@joshuaneilson]

It’s strange, I see striking similarities in todays society with drug dealers.

[@PrezVeto]

Same thing, but with different substances.

[@mikitz]

Prohibition of anything is doomed to fail spectacularly.

[@joshuabradshaw9120]

Yes, I see similarities with mobsters like Al Capone and drug cartel leaders.

[@uria3679]

@@mikitz it didn’t completely fail, ice cream and soda production went up and it helped families from breaking apart

[@jtkirby2931]

Yeah I don’t consider it the same.. you might could say it’s similar when talking specifically about big city’s where people probably made the liquor as fast and as cheap as possible.. I’ve heard stories about people running it through car radiators.. but in the southern and mountainous places moonshine was a craft and a family tradition it was medicine and it was honest work period.. still this day it’s about money when it comes to moonshine.. you pay the government they’ll let you open a still and sell and brand your so called “moonshine” but you can go buy the copper and ingredients and pay taxes on all that stuff but because they ain’t getting part of that profit your making its illegal.. it’s a racket ran by the real mafia.. they “legally” do everything we can’t do in the name of justice.. I digress.. to compare those folks during prohibition to somebody cooking and selling meth or crack is just down right disgraceful..

[@amandalynnblaze9799]

Thank you so much for fulfilling my history needs. As a mom of 3 I don't get much "me time" and your channel keeps my cognitive wellness treking forward. This is such a great place for a history buff

[@michaelgallagher3640]

If you started at 20 you would have had to average 3⅓ kids a year. 🤓

[@RyanDMoore]

@@michaelgallagher3640 or is that just DURING the 20s?

[@amandalynnblaze9799]

@@michaelgallagher3640 that extra 1/3 kid would have really just pushed me over the edge lol

[@yellowstoneloyal8186]

Have a drink on me, cheers 🍻

[@monkeygraborange]

Check out “The History Guy” here on KZbin... you’ll be glad you did! 👈

[@monkeygraborange]

Here in Boston there’s a bar called “The 21st Amendment” which in the day was a notorious speakie that pretty much operated in the open, considering that its located directly across the street from the State House. Some things never change!

[@moonmilkman5157]

This all looks very familiar… oh well glad we’re learning from our weird history 😉

[@5809AUJG]

You might do one about a woman called Carrie Nation. Radically intolerant about alcohol, she would invade taverns and other places that dispensed alcohol, carrying an axe and other weapons, to get her point across. She was, in my opinion, more than a little crazy. Could be an interesting video for you to try. This video about prohibition is, as always with your wonderful "Weird History" videos, fascinating! Keep them coming!

[@selay333]

Grandfather had a bottle of something saved from prohibition, when he died my father, aunts and uncles opened and took a shot. If I remember right it my father said tasted horrible, but I guess that's to be expected when something has sat for at least 80 years.

[@SetariM]

Yeah because that's not how you age liquor, contrary to popular belief.

[@user-xs5bl9dy6d]

@@SetariM How do you then if you would be so kind as to give us the quick version.

[@Ottophil]

@@user-xs5bl9dy6d in wood barrels. Not glass

[@saraa.4295]

@@Ottophil and if you do let it rest while already in the bottle, it should be darky the same temperature and nearly flat...and maybe for a year or two, not decades ;)

[@user-xs5bl9dy6d]

@@Ottophil Oh right I forgot,like good whiskey or bourbon!

[@MahoganyBlack]

Boardwalk Empire taught me what I need to know about bootlegging during the prohibition era. Great show!

[@superfreakmorris4251]

My great grandfather was a bootlegger in Door County Wisconsin. My grandma told me a story about her father dropping a container of liquor late at night outside their house. I guess he frantically cleaned it up before making a run. Hats of to you grandpa

[@richardlynch5632]

My old stomping grounds 😎👍 Needed a drink to warm up the innards during those freezing Wisconsin winters😉 Hats off to your great grandfather 👍😉

[@alphawolftactical160]

Cool

[@69jbr69]

If your family still owns or you have access to the property and especially if he died suddenly, you should go check the area out with a metal detector. Probably coffee cans or jars with silver or gold coins hidden somewhere.

[@markemark1484]

Same🙌🤘🍻 In a small Christian village in Iraq called Alqosh

[@georgiafrye2524]

@SuperFreak Morris WI. here also.... Hayward, Hurley and Hell. I live in Hayward but heard there are still tunnels in Main Street Hurley. Al Capone had a Hideout here and flew liquor in from Canada landing on a small lake on tbe property. Local farmers sold them milk and eggs. A local Priest stopped by and He was given a donation but told not to return.

[@sugarplum5824]

My great grandfather used to keep Virginia's governor and the governor's mansion stocked with 'shine. In the most rural parts of Virginia, 'shine is still produced in copious amounts. You just have to hav e the right connections to obtain it.

[@monkeygraborange]

I remember buying a jar of ‘shine in Tennessee back in the 70’s... a shot of that stuff and you’d be hallucinating!

[@user-xs5bl9dy6d]

@@monkeygraborange That means you're drinking good shit! 😂

[@monkeygraborange]

@@user-xs5bl9dy6d Oh, yeah... that one jar lasted me almost 2 years!

[@bobfeller604]

And moonshine is now made legally by legitimate distillers. Not as much fun, but at least you know it was made under sanitary standards.

[@edl6398]

Ha ha! Thanks for this! I didn’t know about the actual stories behind the rum runners but knew my grandfather on my dad’s side was a rum runner between Canada and Seattle. My grandmother on my mom’s side was flapper in Chicago. I have amazing photos of her then. Prohibition was a terrible mistake. It made the mob rich and very powerful. Ban anything, people always find ways around it.

[@annmarieannicelli9408]

Thank you for including the speakeasies. As always, your delivery is spot on.

[@beepbeeplettuce5890]

Why would he not? They were a cornerstone of prohibition

[@platinumdragonslayer6128]

The prohibition episode of The Simpsons is still one of my many favorites.

[@theencyclopedicmind]

Not only do I love these bits of history, but, love how it's narrated.

[@zach7193]

Man, this is something. Fascinating insight into the most tumultuous time in American History, Prohibition.

[@danamardell1209]

"most" tumultuous!? I doubt that ethnic people in America will agree

[@julienotsmith7068]

I had two great uncles who ran 'rum' from Lake Erie (where it came over from Canada), down to the Ohio River for easier transport. My first exposure to the idea of Prohibition was the two of them laughing their heads off going "remember that time..." My grandfather on the other side of the family was definitely some kind of law-breaker during Prohibition, but no one would say what. Getting older relatives to talk about their lives can be very eye-opening. Just saying.

[@nicolee2649]

Eye opening indeed! I agree! That is why I cherish talking with elders when given a chance!

[@ortheosapolloson1197]

“If you’re gonna break the law, mah as well have fun with it” 😂😂 ngl, that was my approach to cannabis before it became legal. 3 minutes in and I already appreciate the effort of the channel

[@jacobh869]

Huhuhuhuhu

[@thecaptain3773]

My grandparents were bootleggers as kids. During the depression they would go around Coffeyville Kansas selling baked goods in a concessioners box, which underneath the cookies and brownies my great grandmother made, hid the hooch my great grandfather made.

[@laurenbthatsme]

As a Kansan, I did NOT expect to see little ol’ Coffeyville mentioned in the comments!

[@thecaptain3773]

@@laurenbthatsme My grandparents are buried right by the Dalton brothers also, I may journey out there someday to visit, as I haven't been there in decades.

[@laurenbthatsme]

@@thecaptain3773 you should!!

[@janetlynn3397]

@32 seconds...."We've got a long way to and a short time to get there" ...."We're east bound so watch oh Bandit run"

[@OntarioBearHunter]

I always wondered about how many coopers popped up just to make the extra barrels needed and if they made a good living supplying the distillers

[@Nipplator99999999999]

I wear a overcoat all the time and I'm not hiding... well, I wear a overcoat all the time.

[@nickw.6898]

My great great great grandparents were the founders of Bond & Lillard and Old Ripy, both bourbon distilleries that would eventually become Four Roses and Wild Turkey respectively. Prohibition is the reason the original families don’t own them anymore, but during those days they used to line the walls with bottles of whiskey and hide bottles in the cellar. Some distant relatives even took their distilling operations down to Mexico to get away from it. Meanwhile, on my dad’s side, my great grandpa was the sheriff of his county in Kentucky, and there are newspaper articles with photos showing him arresting his own relatives for moonshining lol

[@breezer723]

Would love to hear more about how towns like Prescott Arizona and whiskey row survived the prohibition time Especially because it was a wild West town with lots of history

[@thomasmeyer6407]

Could you imagine what it was like the day that they repealed prohibition I bet the next day the whole nation had a hangover LOL

[@decemberjoy86]

There’s a fantastic Ken Burns doc all about Prohibition. Much as I love Peter Coyote’s narration on that one, your narrator’s sarcasm deserves its own long form!!! LOL!! Always so entertaining!! :) Another thing about Prohibition is that the government poisoned the alcohol hardcore, hoping that people would stop drinking. It didn’t work (obviously) and more people were being killed by the government, worse than anything alcohol could do to them!!!

[@monkeygraborange]

So you’re saying some things never change? 🤣

[@johnhickman106]

"Name of a crooked politician..." That's redundant; crooked and politician go hand-in-hand.

[@CrazyCatMom11]

My great great uncle was machine gunned to death by rival bootleggers while he was asleep next to his still. His own gang was called the Cuckoo Gang. He was 24 when he was killed.

[@DragonGoddess18]

Well, it's like what Carl Jung once said, "What you resist, persists."

[@joelharris6449]

A video on Popcorn Sutton would be cool

[@BridgesDontFly]

I'm with the government; I'm here to help!

[@billbammerlin4666]

The check is in the mail and sterility runs in my family, my grandfather was and my dad was.

[@jimarcher5255]

Later in the forties and fifties a lot of counties in Oklahoma and Texas were “dry” and the bootleggers of “wet” cities would run booze to the drys. We knew which fast hot cars were popular from the rides of the bootleggers. The V-8 Fords and Mercury’s were popular, then the Hudson Hornet, and finally the Oldsmobile Rocket 88 was the choice of bootleggers. Lubbock was dry and many of the Texas Tech students from Wichita Falls paid their tuition by bootlegging.

[@diontaedaughtry974]

Boardwalk Empire is one of my favorite shows to watch till this day. It inspired me to learn more about life in the roaring 20's.

[@SessaV]

My great grandpa was a Detroit cop and a bootlegger haha. He and my great grandma would cross into Canada, stashed the liquor in her dress because they couldn't search women, then come back to Detroit. They'd sell out of the Leland hotel on bagley downtown

[@The7Reaper]

Such a wild time in America, telling people they CAN'T have something is a sure fire way to make them want it more, also a reason why the war on drugs has been a massive failure.

[@fishonshay]

I have multiple family members who were jailed for being bootleggers.

[@ArcherSuh4721]

About ten years ago when I was working in the wine & spirits department of a market in southwest New Jersey, we'd have customers who ran speakeasies in nearby Philadelphia. (And yes, they were still referred to by the term.) The alcohol wasn't illegal, but running an establishment without a liquor license was and there were regulations on how much beer one could buy in PA, but not NJ. Plus, the price is MUCH lower. We'd have people buying literal truckloads (and vanloads and carloads), always paying the four figure-plus total in cash, never wanting the receipt and usually putting covers on the cargo before transporting it across the bridge. It wasn't any secret what they were doing and quite a few of them were very open about it. One guy was telling me how his place was raided by police early that morning and he was stocking up for a new location he was opening up that night, all while out on bail. So I guess that store was the "Canada" of this Prohibition Era throwback scheme.

[@harleyburke5741]

3:57 "Have you ever tried being sober in the 1920s?" Have YOU ever tried being sober in the 2020s!? Ain't nobody that can do that sh*t.

[@psyxypher3881]

Not one of the people responsible for passing these laws was held accountable.

[@NK-pr9xy]

Never are

[@saddestchord7622]

46 state legislatures ratified the 18th amendment. Woodrow Wilson vetoed the Volstead Act (enforcement for the 18th amendment) but congress overrode it. There's a lot of blame to go around.

[@breakingames7772]

I live in a campervan in Detroit...my grandpa drove liquor across the Detroit river every winter. He made good money then met Roy Kroc the founder of McDonald's, he helped his start and grow the business...he was married in Roy's living room in Chicago then Roy gave him a 1962 rolls Royce which my grandma still owns and will be passed on to me

[@patrickaker4380]

@@breakingames7772 there are a lot of things going on in this comment.

[@russellburgan9023]

Great video guys. Very informative as always. It would've been great to get a lil back story segment in the beginning about the term "bootlegging", and/or "bootlegger" from the beginning in America. Thanks for the content!

[@jedikaren8112]

I havent lived through 1920's, but 2020's are being brutual enough to need a drink.

[@SheldorTheConqueror2313]

Have you tried to be sober in the 1920's, ya we are living thru the 20's agian

[@thejudgmentalcat]

"Boardwalk Empire" is still one of my favorite shows

[@breakingames7772]

I live in a campervan in Detroit...my grandpa drove liquor across the Detroit river every winter. He made good money then met Roy Kroc the founder of McDonald's, he helped his start and grow the business...he was married in Roy's living room in Chicago then Roy gave him a 1962 rolls Royce which my grandma still owns and will be passed on to me

[@rof8412]

I had a relative that was a bootlegger/rum runner in the 1920s. He would go up to Canada from Upstate New York, get the good Irish whiskey and run it down. He made a lot of money very quickly and died a very sudden, very violent death. His sister, my great grandmother, became super anti-alcohol.

[@SoutherbBelle]

❤🙏✊

[@Pbirv]

So he got bumped off?

[@chorton53]

Fascinating !!! Thanks for the video.

[@cyconway6222]

My grandpa talked about about bootleggers driving & sailing whiskey around the Great Lakes..very lucrative according to him

[@diamondtiara84]

If there wasn't any prohibition, they might have been "The Boring 20's". That law defined the decade.

[@sallykohorst8803]

Interesting subject so thanks for sharing!

[@Riz2336]

Wouldn’t have stopped me from drinking beer

[@zerocool9135]

I grew up on Grosse Ile an island between the US and Canada. They would run the booze from Canada to US over the Detroit river to a house on the island called the Pagoda house. They could drive the boat into the boathouse and unload the booze.

[@miriambucholtz9315]

When we moved into this old house in NJ in 1951, we found a treasure trove of stuff that had been left behind in the attic. My father found a carved wooden walking stick with a glass interior that he said had been used to hide liquor during Prohibition.

[@closertothefutureme8469]

Great video guys!

[@NASCARFAN93100]

Please cover more NASCAR History as well as a NASCAR Timeline Series

[@happyvocal]

There are gravestones in our cemetery which have hidden compartments where a dealer would leave liquor in the compartment and the buyer would then come after and take the liquor and leave the money in the spot, it's actually really fascinating history just the absolute lengths people went to this trade and the number of silly and convoluted ways you could acquire it. Our family were farmers so they just made barley beer for themselves during prohibition, thug life.

[@gunsbeersmemes]

I like that you started the video off with lyrics about smuggling Coors east of the Mississippi

[@adilsongoliveira]

That's why I think drugs should be legalized, taxed and controlled just like alcohol and tobacco. If there's a will, there's a way. People will continue to use booze and drugs no matter what so we should manage the best way possible.

[@Lkydo8165]

Thankyou for the information I would like to hear more about the Temperance Union during prohibition

[@mr.rubber_duck]

Love the smokey and the bandit quote

[@Lizablue0608]

Hahaha! My great great great grandfather was a Baptist preacher by day, moonshine manufacturing fool by night. 🤭 1920’s. Heard he was quite the uh..heathen. XD.

[@matthewdrummond1340]

That's awesome 😆

[@JRulkiewicz]

No Gatsby references? For shame!

[@scottnotpilgrim]

Animated sitcom dads..like The Beer Baron

[@kirbymarchbarcena]

Cheers to the bootleggers

[@catholicactionbibleonlyist1813]

Long live the 1920's

[@huntingtonbeachsasquatch]

...."Eastbound and Down" Jerry Reed

[@babscabs1987]

1:41 I just want to register my appreciation for this amazing acting performance from the silhouette, I tasted every drop.

[@user-xs5bl9dy6d]

"To alcohol,the cause of and solution to all of life's problems"

[@monkeygraborange]

My absolute favorite toast! 🍸

[@itsmuhj8607]

I would love to hear about prohibition in Utah. Ogden Utah supposedly has a huge underground rail system for bootlegging. And Al Capone supposedly hid there for a while and said it was too much for him.

[@p.l.g3190]

As a Jerry Reed fan, I greatly appreciated the reference at the beginning. Keep loaded up and truckin'.

[@bigboyblue7181]

Like Turdeau banning handguns.

[@adrianfleming3437]

Wtf has that got to do with this you knob

[@jordanhicks5131]

Dont worry friend, just come over to Detroit or Chicago, plenty of guns for you to bring back to dear ol canada

[@Ottophil]

I don’t hear about many school shootings in canada anyway. Ban em in america, now that would actually do something

[@dgreen3298]

@@Ottophil It would do something - raise prices, for example - but it wouldn't do any of the things you apparently hope for. Search 'The Iron Law of Prohibition' for more!

[@sithlordbilly4206]

This is the greatest example of: "The Cobra Effect" at play here! 🍻

[@shaneabrahamson8732]

My grandfather was a moonshiner in Wisconsin, Trempealeau County. Distilled in a silo, transported horse and buggy, hidden under loads of cord wood. To get a drink one had to stand at a certain part of the Cafe counter and ask for a certain drink special. Grandfather would be gone for days and return unconscious because horses knew where to go. Grandmother would speak of this occasionally, Grandfather never mentioned it.

[@Pbirv]

My grandfather had a still. And the local police chief brewed beer in his basement.

[@munchiemac2895]

My great grandfather ran liquor for Capone.

[@sawgerera]

So many bootleggers,yet a few law enforcer. That really is a ridiculous to boot.

[@auntvesuvi3872]

Thanks for this! 🍾 #WeirdHistory #Prohibition #Bootleggers

[@sharimullinax3206]

A friend inherited an old Philco radio that had been retro fitted with a bar. His uncle had been an attorney and had the bar in his office. It was lovely.

[@debbylou5729]

My dads parents were bootleggers. I’m not sure how old he was when his mom died…I think 15. He didn’t work with them, but I think he became a runner. Apparently he had a red roadster, that ended up in a ditch. Whitefish Montana

[@EDMDoc]

You can thank both sides of my family for sailing booze from Halifax Nova Scotia down to Enoch Thompson's lads in New Jersey and our brothers in Boston. There was a more lucrative use for the Bluenose (the fastest schooner of the time) and many many more like her beside winning trophies or fishing cod fish. A sailing schooner was much faster in the North Atlantic than the steam powered vessel in those days. What, you think they air dropped it from Windsor Ontario, hahaha.

[@cd5433]

He literally has a whole section on how they smuggle it from Windsor with boats…

[@jovanweismiller7114]

Bootlegging is no respecter of the era. My grandfather was a bootlegger before prohibition and I was a bootlegger after it. Bootlegging will always exist wherever there are stupid laws trying to control the consumption of alcohol.

[@janebeckman3431]

My father had a deal with the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard would intercept the rumruners and leave a few cases on the pier on Catalina Island, where my father and friends would pick it up for later retrieval. For this service, my father and buddies got to keep half.

[@clearcreek69]

Nice. Ken Burns produced a Prohibition series for PBS a few years ago. Its worth watching

[@garycarpenter2980]

Do a video on the police during the prohibition era or I've heard of some of the strange things that happened in that time

[@deathstranger9371]

The only thing I would do during that time would probably be transporting while walking as its simpler than possibly getting caught in those fake transport trucks as the cops I'm sure were always on the lookout for them

[@jasonwilliamson8416]

My grandfather and his brother used to run moonshine from West Virginia to many of the large eastern cities. They actually became sort of local legends after killing two of Al Capone's men that tried to rip them off during a rendezvous in Dayton, Ohio. They returned home with the moonshine, the money, a tommy gun, and an extra vehicle. 🍻

[@Pbirv]

I don't suppose Capone went after them?

[@DefinitelyNotAnAlien]

I agree with the comment above. How did they manage to not get offed afterwards??

[@jasonwilliamson8416]

@@Pbirv Not in West Virginia. That's the same state that declared war on the United States government during the Mine Wars of 1921. They literally went toe to toe with the U.S. Army. Capone's people would NEVER be heard from again if they went there.

[@jasonwilliamson8416]

@@DefinitelyNotAnAlien An Italian mob member coming to West Virginia in the 1920's - 30's would be the equivalent of me going to South Central Los Angeles looking for someone that ripped me off on a drug deal. I'd never come back.

[@DefinitelyNotAnAlien]

@@jasonwilliamson8416 Okay, makes sense. Your grandpa and his brother sound awesome, btw.

[@israelmcclure2771]

FINALLY someone uploaded a color photo of Bugsy Siegel. People talk about his looks yet almost every pic is black and white.

[@edwardweaver6360]

I don't think i would have been a bootlegger but i would for sure make my own beer at home.

[@mnmountainman9343]

I wish I had a beer after watching that😎👍I'm beer less🍺the champagne of beers 🥂.

[@professorsprout3382]

I have some antique bottles and through them I learned about Jamaican ginger!! It was for tummy ache but became a go to drink for booze during the prohibition and then the government put actual poison in it so folks would not abuse it drinking whole bottles. Every bottle haunts me a bit because the death rate for those who drank it was the highest for any medicine that was tainted intentionally to prevent abuse by the public. Could you please do a video about the "medicines" that people turned to when booze was gone? The buyers for Jamaican ginger were usually poor and they usually died after the "additive" of a poison was added. The idea is people know its got an additive taste bad and would stop drinking it but people being people and loads of denial they just drank it and died. Could you also do a video about Paraquat? When I grew up in the 70's and 80's I saw on the news some folks smoked the marijuana that government sprayed with paraquat and died. Being from the emerald triangle and having a dope attorney for a dad we all knew to stay away from Mexican grown marijuana until the paraquat was abolished. Basically same story as the alcohol. The US said hey Mexico do something to abated the import of marijuana and so they poisoned it!

[@solanaceae2069]

Cheers!

[@nievelatino9691]

When I grow up I wanna be a mobster like BUGSY SIEGEL

[@RickW-HGWT]

You may want to read up on how he died, it was not pretty.

[@dv84sure]

During prohibition in the rural areas across USA there were perhaps many thousands that distilled moonshine made mainly with corn mash. Lots did not know how to do proper distillation and the alcohol had some percent of methanol. That can cause at minimum a very nasty headache and if too much it’s blindness or death. Methanol alcohol is still going around now in many areas of the world. Even popular brands of whiskey and vodka are watered down with methanol.

[@lynemac2539]

My grandparents said that prohibition made criminals of honest people. They said the prohibtion of marijuana was just the same.

[@richmondfrancisco516]

@weirdhistory can u make video about American pitbull history?

[@Ryan-gz9xg]

Anyone else just pause and look at the old photos through out these videos? It’s sort of fun trying to determine the backstory of someone in one of these photos

[@chrisidoo]

*Ale* Capone. Good one.

[@julscatten2640]

This is interesting - my great grandpa was a bootlegger in the Jewish mafia. He was killed when my grandpa was 4, and we know little about him.