Speakeasy

When Speakeasy ( as speakeasy, Flüsterstube or speakeasy translated) were reported during alcohol prohibition in the United States from 1919 to 1933 illegal bars or clubs called, was where particularly high-proof drinks, but also beer, served.

History

Selling and serving of alcohol were prohibited by law nationwide in New York, as in some U.S. states already years before. The Speak Easy's were one of the few ways to get around the ban. The name comes from the fact that there should be spoken softly, so temporary passers-by could hear nothing of the present drinkers. Speak Easy's were operated by members of organized criminal gangs and catered for the high profits of organized crime in the United States. For gangsters such as 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 " speakeasies " from 1922 to 1927 rose from 5,000 to 30,000. Other estimates for 1927 assume even 30,000 to 100,000 speakeasy clubs. This large illegal market was soon no longer be handled by individually operating persons or groups whose bloody rivalries of emerging Mobstern - especially as Lucky Luciano - were considered bad for business. It developed a cooperation of different ethnic groups in the Seven Group, which can be considered a forerunner of the National Crime Syndicate.

The supply of illegal pubs was not only dominated by the Cosa Nostra; alone Waxey Gordon controlled presumably with his organization more alcohol than the Italian gangs. In the city of New York City's Kosher Nostra's 70 percent of the black market, the American Cosa Nostra dominated 25 percent; the rest were operated by Irish gangs or other groups.

It went to the clubs is not always so quietly and discreetly, as the name suggests. Their existence was often an open secret, and in legal nightclubs alcohol was hidden served to the visitors. So had to be temporarily closed several times after raids about the famous Cotton Club.

Effects

During alcohol prohibition in the U.S. as much distilled hard alcohol was about twice as drunk before and after the ban, as this much easier secretly produce and smuggle than about beer or wine. Because of the lack of controls and the higher yield predominantly poorly distilled alcohol was served with a high proportion of fusel oils; high-grade alcohol hand, often diluted to stretch him. To cover the resulting inferior taste, the drinks were served on ice, whereby the U.S. still popular, but frowned upon by whiskey connoisseurs Whiskey on the Rocks was born.

In order to avoid detection by the authorities, often had only " members" access; new guests were accepted only after a personal recommendation. In addition, the operator often bribed the local police to be warned in advance of a possible impending raid. This corruption is spread in the United States. So criminals like Al Capone were seriously pursued only after the end of alcohol prohibition and unpopular among the public, as they were no longer required for the supply of alcohol.

Organized crime sought after 1933 new sources of revenue and focused more on trade with other drugs and illegal gambling.

Adaptations

Speak Easy's were often used as places for action in the Dashiell Hammett detective novels and Raymond Chandler, and in the gangster movies of the film noir of the 1940s. In the comedy Some Like It Hot working with Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe, the two male lead at the start as a musician in a camouflaged externally as funeral Speakeasy, which is then cleared by the police. In the gangster epic Once Upon a Time in America plays a speakeasy, which is (played by Robert De Niro), operated by the gang around the main character David " Noodles " Aaronson, also a central role.