Part 4/7:
Capone's Underworld: The Prohibition Era
As Prohibition laws went into effect in 1919, Capone, a young bouncer at a dance hall, capitalized on the opportunity to ascend the ranks of organized crime in Chicago. The 18th Amendment gave rise to an underground world dominated by speakeasies, bootleggers, and gangsters, and Capone, with help from his mentor Johnny Torrio, quickly established himself as a formidable force.
His operations expanded under a veil of respectability through front businesses while he simultaneously eliminated rivals with ruthless precision. Events like the infamous St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1929, where Capone’s men murdered seven members of a rival gang, solidified his reputation as “Public Enemy No. 1.”