Windsor, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, was a major rum-running port in the early part of the twentieth century. In 1916, the State of Michigan, in the United States, adopted Prohibition

Prohibition

Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...

. Alcohol was smuggled from Ohio until Prohibition became national

Prohibition in the United States

Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...

 in 1919. From then on, the City of Windsor, Ontario

Windsor, Ontario

Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and is located in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, Ontario, although administratively separated from the county government. Separated by the Detroit River, Windsor...

 became a major site for alcohol smuggling and gang activity.

In Canada, the federal government was in charge of regulating the manufacture, importation, and exportation of alcoholic beverages and it approved liquor production in all the provinces. Canada had passed the Wartime Resource Act prohibiting the manufacture, sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages and when it expired on January 1, 1927, new legislation authorized each province to decide if prohibition would continue. Like most provinces, Ontario chose to be dry. Two years later, gang violence erupted and Detroiters were murdered daily for their involvement.

Volstead Act and "Near Beer"

The Volstead Act

Volstead Act

The National Prohibition Act, known informally as the Volstead Act, was the enabling legislation for the Eighteenth Amendment which established prohibition in the United States...

of 1920 defined intoxicating liquors as any liquor containing more than 0.5 percent alcohol. It permitted the manufacture of non-intoxicating cider and fruit juices for home use, and it allowed the sale of alcoholic beverages for medicinal, sacramental, and industrial purposes. The Volstead Act allowed breweries to produce “near beer” with an alcohol content of up to 0.5%. To make the beer, distilleries had to produce actual beer and then let it sit to eliminate most of its alcoholic content. This allowed breweries to produce virtually unlimited amounts of beer. The Volstead Act also meant that households could ferment wine for private consumption.

"Joe Sent Me"

The popular saying, "Joe Sent Me", was used to gain entry to speakeasies, blind pigs, clubs or joints. By 1928 there was anywhere from 16,000 to 25,000 in the Windsor-Detroit area. There was a club for everyone. There were some in the slums and some in Detroit’s most prestigious neighborhoods. Different drinks varied depending on the club you were accepted to. Criminal gangs often owned the clubs and provided protection from police and other gangs. Independent stills still needed to pay most criminals for protection and insurance that their delivery would arrive from Canada.

Some even offered food, at times for free with the purchase of a beverage to encourage customers. But although police were bribed to protect against raids, they would intervene if the stills were prone to violence and food poisoning. Gambling also played a significant role in speakeasies; the one arm bandit, poker, blackjack and roulette were popular among higher-class blind pigs.

The lure and attraction of speakeasies during the prohibition is not difficult to understand. The commonly accepted attitude towards drinking and minimal penalties for drinking made it worth consuming. The thrill of it appealed to the young and they were rarely embarrassed to have their names in the paper. Blind pigs generally went unnoticed; those near churches and school were often targeted because of their proximity to children. Drinking on campuses were usually in sororities and fraternities. The 18th amendment allowed people to obtain liquor by prescription. That liquor was diluted and often sold for huge profits.

Rum-running

The waterways that separate Windsor and Detroit saw 75% of the alcohol that was consumed in the United States during Prohibition.. The numerous islands (notably Bois Blanc, Grosse Ile, Fighting Island and Belle Isle) that dot the 30-mile stretch from Lake Erie

Lake Erie

Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...

 to Lake St. Clair provided the necessary hiding spots to evade officials. The river is narrow and could quickly and easily be crossed by boat. Many people on both sides of the river had private boathouse and docks. Many of those were connected by underground tunnels. An estimated 25% of Windsor’s citizens were involved in smuggling during the 1920s and made large profits. Windsor residents capitalized and many became millionaires, building some of the most prestigious mansions in Windsor. Once the Ambassador Bridge

Ambassador Bridge

The Ambassador Bridge is a suspension bridge that connects Detroit, Michigan, in the United States, with Windsor, Ontario, in Canada. It is the busiest international border crossing in North America in terms of trade volume: more than 25 percent of all merchandise trade between the United States...

 and the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel were constructed, the flow of alcohol saw a dramatic increase.

Windsor also became an exporter of alcohol to Barbados

Barbados

Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...

, Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 and other foreign countries. The booze was usually re distributed by smugglers to ports in the southern United States. The flow of whiskey continued and merely 5% of the alcohol shipped from Ontario was ever seized.

Drys vs. wets

The term "Drys" referred to those who were generally well financed and organized, with the support of influential people. They argued on a “high moral road” and believed in Prohibition. These figures included Billy Sunday

Billy Sunday

William Ashley "Billy" Sunday was an American athlete who, after being a popular outfielder in baseball's National League during the 1880s, became the most celebrated and influential American evangelist during the first two decades of the 20th century.Born into poverty in Iowa, Sunday spent some...

 who offered a Booze Sermon in hope of inspiring the "water wagon". The people that agreed with the prohibition often argued that the winners were the American family, churches, schools, workers and the American political system. The losers were seen as criminals, drunks and corrupt politicians.

The "Wets" were poorly organized and were recognized opponents of the prohibition. Saloons keepers, brewers, and distillers were viewed as corruptors of State. People in Detroit during the 1920s frequently visited speakeasies and blind pigs for something to do. They were generally not afraid to be arrested and considered it a status symbol.

The entrance of the United States into World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 provided opportunities to win support for prohibition. Rationing was widely accepted as a necessary ingredient of the American war effort. The use of grain for alcohol production was seen as wasteful.

Methods

Most alcohol was smuggled across the border by everyday people. They continuously designed new devices to hide the alcohol as they rode the ferry from one side to the other. People used such gimicks as rubber belts, false breasts, chest protectors, suitcases and even loaves of bread to transport it. Many took children and travelled in families to avoid detection. Children were taught to cry and shout to create confusion and avoid long searches by officials.

Criminal gangs also developed sophisticated methods to signal across the border to avoid raids and arrests. The system was timed like clock work, one group arranged the purchase of liquor on Windsor's docks and another team transported it across. Then a third team would transport it to a warehouse where a final team organized the distribution. Gangs with strong financial backing would often bribe federal, state and local officials. Police would often call in sick as requested by the gangs, and in the end hundreds were indicted. They eventually began to use airplanes after the prohibition navy became effective. Railways were also used extensively, 2 tunnels and loads of space and short staff made it easy. Railways were responsible for around 800 cases of beer daily. Customs officers noticed that after the Volstead Act there was a sharp increase in the application of motorboat licenses. During the mid 1920s, the narrow Detroit River

Detroit River

The Detroit River is a strait in the Great Lakes system. The name comes from the French Rivière du Détroit, which translates literally as "River of the Strait". The Detroit River has served an important role in the history of Detroit and is one of the busiest waterways in the world. The river...

 and highways running farther inland could quench the thirst of millions of mid westerners.

After 1923 gangs controlled a large percentage of alcohol and their facilities and acquired huge profits. The Purple Gang

The Purple Gang

The Purple Gang, also known as the Sugar House Gang, were a mob with predominantly Jewish members of bootleggers and hijackers in the 1920s, operating out of Detroit, Michigan, which was a major port for running alcohol products during Prohibition due to proximity to Canada.Many openly violent...

 was very powerful, made up of several Jewish hoodlums. They became a major supplier to Al Capone

Al Capone

Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was an American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early...

 and his Chicago Empire. The Purple Gang fell in 1929 after many leaders were arrested or murdered.

Italian mafiosi (Licavoli

James T. Licavoli

A member of the Licavoli Crime Family, James T. "Blackie" Licavoli also known as "Jack White" was a Cleveland, Ohio mobster and one of the earliest organized crime figures to be convicted under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act .-Early life:James Licavoli was born Vicentio...

, Vitali, and Giannolo families; see more at Detroit Partnership

Detroit Partnership

The Detroit Partnership, also known as the Detroit crime family, Detroit Combination, Detroit Mafia, Detroit Outfit or Zerilli crime family is an American Mafia crime family based in Detroit, Michigan...

) divided the waterways into sections and if crossed, all out warfare would follow. Gangs were financially stable and it allowed them to control state officials and police. They would hire anyone to transport alcohol: families, men, women and young teenagers.

Outcome

Customs officers and police official were overwhelmed by the smuggling; not only did the sheer number of people doing it but they miscalculated Canada's commitment. The prohibition movement lacked organization and smugglers often had better routes and better technology for outrunning the police. Police introduced new vessels. Once the "prohibition navy" was established rum-runners began using aircraft. Canada’s failure to enforce prohibition laws made it easily available; Canada was reluctant to close distilleries because of tax revenues and the potential loss of thousands of jobs.

The United States was growing tired of the violence involved with smuggling; the unemployment rate was a staggering 46% in 1931. In 1933 it was argued that the legalization of liquor would reduce crime, lawlessness and gangs. The amendment was repealed by the 21st amendment on December 5, 1933.