Speakeasy
As Speakeasy (also called Speakeasy , Flüsterstube or speakeasy translated) or blind pig were during the alcohol prohibition in the United States from 1919 to 1933 illegal bars , designated or clubs where particularly high-proof beverages , but also beer were served.
history
The sale and serving of alcohol in the US state of New York , which also includes the city of New York City , were prohibited by law nationwide, as in some American states had been years before. The speakeasys were one of the few ways to get around the ban. The name comes from the fact that people should speak quietly there so that passing passers-by could not hear from the drinkers present. Speakeasys were run by members of organized criminal gangs and made big profits for organized crime in the United States . For gangsters like Al Capone , George Moran and Dutch Schultz ("Beer Baron of the Bronx"), these clubs were the most lucrative source of income and contributed greatly to the growth of organized crime.
In New York City alone, the number of these “whisper bars” rose from around 5,000 to 30,000 between 1922 and 1927. Other estimates for 1927 even put 30,000 to 100,000 speakeasy clubs. This large illegal sales market was soon no longer manageable by individuals or groups operating individually, whose bloody competition was viewed by ambitious mobsters - such as Lucky Luciano in particular - as being detrimental to business. A collaboration between different ethnic groups developed in the Seven Group , which can be seen as the forerunner of the National Crime Syndicate .
The supply of the illegal pubs was not only dominated by the Cosa Nostra ; Waxey Gordon alone presumably controlled more alcohol with his organization than the Italian gangs. In the metropolitan area of New York City, the Jewish Kosher Nostras controlled 70 percent of the black market , the American Cosa Nostra 25 percent; the rest were run by Irish gangs or other groups.
The clubs weren't always as quiet and discreet as the name suggests. Their existence was often an open secret , and even in legal nightclubs alcohol was sometimes served to visitors undercover. For example, the famous Cotton Club had to be temporarily closed several times after raids .
Effects
During the alcohol prohibition in the USA, about twice as much distilled , high-proof spirits were drunk as before and after the ban, as these were much easier to secretly manufacture and smuggle than beer or wine, for example . This is based on the fact that the amount of alcohol that creates a certain intoxication is contained in a much smaller volume of whiskey than in beer or wine, which above all minimizes the number of illegal transports required to the speakeasys and also the production and storage rooms could be smaller.
Due to the inherent lack of control by the authorities and the higher yield that can be achieved due to the lack of selectivity in the distillation process , predominantly poorly distilled alcohol with a high proportion of fusel oils was served. The higher yield resulted from the at least partial use of the actually discarded at the proper proportions of the distilling methanol -containing and therefore toxic forward travel and the geschmacksverfälschenden and hangover -fördernden lag . High-quality drinking alcohol, on the other hand, was often diluted in order to stretch it. In order to conceal the inferior taste resulting from these practices, the drinks were served on ice, which resulted in Whiskey on the Rocks , which is still popular in the USA but is frowned upon by whiskey connoisseurs .
In order to avoid detection by the authorities, often only "members" had access; new guests were only accepted after a personal recommendation. In addition, the operators often bribed the local police in order to be warned of a possible upcoming raid in good time. As a result, corruption spread in the United States. Criminals like Al Capone were only seriously persecuted after the end of alcohol prohibition and were unpopular with the public, since they were no longer needed for the supply of alcohol.
Organized crime sought new sources of income after 1933 and increasingly concentrated on the trafficking of other illegal drugs and illegal gambling .
Adaptations
Speakeasys were frequently used as locations in the crime novels Dashiell Hammett, as well as in the gangster films of the 1940s Film Noir . In the comedy Some Like It Hot with Tony Curtis , Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe , the two male lead actors initially work as musicians in a speakeasy disguised as a funeral parlor, which is then cleared by the police. In the gangster epic Once Upon a Time in America , a speakeasy operated by the gang around the main character David "Noodles" Aaronson (played by Robert De Niro ) also plays a central role. In the song Fat Sam's Grand Slam from the film Bugsy Malone , a speakeasy and what goes on in it are sung about.
Web links
- Whisper bars in Germany on lindy-hop.org
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hans Leip: January Himp and the small breeze 1934 (Leip was witness).
- ↑ Adolf Hepner : The American Prohibition and the abstinent socialists , in: Sozialistische Monatshefte 16 = 18 (1912), H. 1, S. 37-44 Electronic ed .: Bonn: FES Library, 2006 ( online ).
- ↑ Jo Durden Smith, MAFIA. The True History of Organized Crime ; Premio Verlag GmbH Münster; Translation Klaus Helmut; ISBN 978-3-86706-047-9 ; P. 64
- ^ Teaching With Documents: The Volstead Act and Related Prohibition Documents. The National Archives, February 14, 2008, accessed October 28, 2009 .
- ↑ John Dickie: Cosa Nostra: The History of the Mafia , Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 2006, ISBN 978-3-596-17106-4