“Prohibition wasn’t a failure”
by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On
The neo-Prohibitionists are reframing history to convince us that Prohibition worked – so we can do it again
“For instance, the St. Valentine’s Day massacre, in which seven men were gunned down in a Chicago garage, may have been carried out to avenge an earlier killing and had no connection to Capone or to bootlegging.”
Welcome to the Alice in Wonderland inhabited by the neo-Prohibitionists in their attempt to convince us that Prohibition was a success and that we should – and can – do it again.
How anyone can argue that the Valentine’s Day Massacre had nothing do with bootlegging and illegal liquor is past astounding. It’s a rejection of almost 100 years of historical analysis – Al Capone and Dion O’Banion fought for control of the Chicago liquor business, and Capone won by murdering as many of O’Banion’s gang as possible (including O’Banion). The seven murders on Feb. 14, 1929, finished the job.
It’s also worth noting that Capone thought the 1932 film “Scarface” was about him, wrote screenwriter Ben Hecht. Any why not? Hecht’s script revolves around Italian gangster Tony Camonte, who blows away his Irish North Side enemies in a St. Valentine’s Day-style massacre.
Yet search Google for “Prohibition was a success” and the results are mind-boggling — a mix of facts and wishful thinking. Which, come to think of it, is not all that different from the infamous cigarette study: Drinking one bottle of wine a week is the equivalent of smoking 10 cigarettes a week for women and five cigarettes for men.
So consider this, from a couple of studies in Scotland that looked at the results of alcohol minimum pricing. The idea was that raising the price of booze would cut crime, reduce drinking, and improve the public health. None of which seems to have happened.
Of course, the Iranians could have told the Scots that would be the case. Who knew AA would be so popular in Iran, a country where alcohol is illegal?