The Bureau of Prohibition (or Prohibition Unit) was the United States federal law enforcement agency with the responsibility of investigating the possession, distribution, consumption, and trafficking of alcohol and alcoholic beverages in the United States of America during the Prohibition era.[1] The enumerated enforcement powers of this organization were vested in the Volstead Act. Federal Prohibition Agents of the Bureau were commonly referred to by members of the public and the press of the day as "Prohis," or "Dry Agents."[2] In the sparsely populated areas of the American west, agents were sometimes called "Prohibition Cowboys."[3] At its peak, the Bureau employed 2,300 dry agents.[4]
History
Volstead Act and formation in the Department of the Treasury
Initially, there were 960 dry agents in the Prohibition Unit.[4]
Elevation to Bureau status
House Resolution 10729, passed by the 69th Congress, became law on March 3, 1927 and simultaneously created two new bureaus out of Treasury's efforts: the Bureau of Customs and the Bureau of Prohibition.[7] The new bureau would consist of a Commissioner of Prohibition, an assistant commissioner, two deputy commissioners, a chief clerk, and their staffs.[7] On April 1, 1927, with 10729 becoming effective, the organizational restructuring was officially completed, and prohibition was elevated from Unit status to Bureau status.[8]
Transfer to the Department of Justice
On July 1, 1930, the Prohibition Bureau was transferred from the Treasury Department to the Department of Justice (DOJ).[9][10]
Mission
The Bureau of Prohibition's main function was to stop the sale and consumption of alcohol.[5] Agents would be tasked with eliminating illegal bootlegging rings, and became notorious in cities like New York and Chicago for raiding popular nightclubs.[11]
Agents were often paid low wages, and the Bureau was notorious for allowing many uncertified people to become agents.[12] Doing so strengthened the bureau, as they were able to hire agents in greater numbers.[12]
In 1929, the Increased Penalties Act (Jones Law) increased penalties for violations previously set in the Volstead Act.[13] First time offenders were now expected to serve a maximum of five years and a $10,000 fine as opposed to the previous six months and $1,000 fine. This strengthened animosity toward Prohibition agents, as many of them (such as Major Maurice Campbell, Prohibition administrator of New York City), were already hated for their raids on popular clubs frequented by New York City's elite.[13]
Transfer to the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Early in 1933, with the repeal of Prohibition imminent, as part of the Omnibus Crime Bill, the Bureau was briefly absorbed into the Bureau of Investigation (BOI).[5] The Prohibition Bureau was demoted from Bureau status to Unit status and became the FBI's Alcohol Beverage Unit (ABU). Though part of the FBI on paper, J. Edgar Hoover, who wanted to avoid liquor enforcement and the taint of corruption that was attached to it, continued to operate it as a separate, autonomous agency in practice.[14]
Repeal of Prohibition and dissolution
In December 1933, once repeal became a reality and the only federal laws regarding alcoholic beverages were limited to their taxation, the ABU was removed from the FBI and the DOJ and returned to Treasury, where it became the Alcohol Tax Unit, ultimately evolving into the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF).[15]
Leadership and organization
Directors of Prohibition, Internal Revenue
Prior to the 1st of April 1927, the chief duties for leadership of prohibition enforcement and investigation were vested in the Director of the Prohibition Unit.
After April 1927, with the elevation of the Prohibition Unit to the Bureau of Prohibition, the chief administrator of the organization was the Commissioner of Prohibition.
In the summer of 1925, the 48 state enforcement districts were abolished and replaced with 22 federal prohibition districts, closely aligned with the Federal Judicial districts.[22] This number would grow by 1929 to 27 districts.
With the establishment of the Prohibition Unit in 1920, leadership established a Narcotics Division[a] with the enumerated powers to investigate all violations of the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act,[24] taking over the duties of investigations and enforcement from the agents of Revenue's Miscellaneous Division.[4] Narcotics Agents and Narcotics Inspectors in these early days primarily were responsible for investigating medical licenses for the distribution of narcotics, but their duties evolved over the course of the decade.[25] Narcotics Agents overall secured more convictions to federal prison for Harrison Act violations than their Dry Agent counterparts did for Volstead Act violations.[4]
In the single fiscal year of 1920, more than half a million dollars were budgeted for narcotics enforcement.[4] The requirements for entry into the Narcotics Division were far more stringent than for their dry agent counterparts; narcotics recruits were required to have an accredited bachelor's degree in pharmacology or medicine.[4]
Deputy Commissioner for Narcotics
Levi Nutt developed the Narcotics Division - sometimes called the Narcotics Field force prior to 1927, and was appointed the position of Assistant Commissioner for Narcotics.[26] His position would absorb the dual capacity as Secretary of the Federal Narcotics Control Board with its establishment in 1922.[27] He was a registered pharmacist, who had worked with Treasury since 1900.[4] He led the Division to the arrest of tens of thousands of drug addicts and dealers in the 1920s. After 1927, with the elevation of Prohibition to Bureau status, he was promoted to Deputy Commissioner for Narcotics.
Rothstein Scandal
Nutt's biological son Rolland Nutt and son-in-law L. P. Mattingly were attorneys for racketeer and gangster Arnold Rothstein in tax matters.[28] After an investigation into the relationship, in 1930 a grand jury found no criminal impairment of Narcotics Division activities, but Nutt lost his position as chief of the Narcotics Division.[29]
Anslinger
Harry J. Anslinger assumed his duties as the Assistant Commissioner for Narcotics.[30] On July 1, 1930, the Narcotics Division would be merged into the newly established Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) under the leadership of Anslinger, the first United States Commissioner of Narcotics.[29] Anslinger remained the Commissioner of Narcotics until his retirement in 1965. The FBN is considered a predecessor to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The first narcotics agent to lose his life in the line of duty was Charles Wood, fatally shot in the back after a two-hour gunfight following a whiskey raid in El Paso, Texas.[4][32]
The Narcotics Division consisted of between 100 - 300 Narcotics Agents and Inspectors[4] based out of 15 Narcotics Field Divisions;[33]
Industrial Alcohol and Chemical Division
In 1925, the Industrial Alcohol and Chemical Division was headed by James M. Doran.[16]
With the Prohibition Reorganization Act of 1930, this division was elevated to Bureau status and became the Bureau of Industrial Alcohol.[34]
Audit Division
In 1925, the Audit Division was headed by J.M. Young.[16]
Famous agents
The Untouchables
The most famous dry agent of the bureau was undoubtedly the "Untouchable" Eliot Ness.[35] The group of agents that Ness oversaw, "The Untouchables," were by far the most famous group of prohibition agents.[35] Ness was overseen by the northwest district administrator, Malachi Harney, based out of the Chicago Prohibition Office.[36] Their fame resulted from their investigation to capture and arrest the infamous Chicago gangster Al Capone. They earned their nickname after members of the Chicago Outfit repeatedly failed to bribe or intimidate them, proving they were not as easily corrupted as other prohibition agents.[35] Through their efforts, Capone was indicted on 5000 separate counts of conspiracy to violate the National Prohibition Act, though it was ultimately decided not to bring these charges to trial, but rather to concentrate on income tax violations. Nevertheless, the Untouchables gained national acclaim, in particular, Eliot Ness, who ran the group.[35]: 317–331, 349–365, 385–421, 493–496
Georgia Hopley
The first female prohibition agent was Georgia Hopley.[37] In early 1922, Hopley was sworn in as a general agent, serving under Federal Prohibition Commissioner Roy A. Haynes. Her appointment made news around the country.[38] Her hiring encouraged local law enforcement agencies to hire more women to investigate women bootleggers.[39]
Frank Hamer
Frank Hamer was an American lawman and Texas Ranger who led the 1934 posse that tracked down and killed criminals Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. His service in the Bureau of Prohibition was brief but eventful while stationed in El Paso, the scene of countless gunfights during the Prohibition era.[40] He participated in numerous raids and shootouts, and he was involved in a gun battle with smugglers on March 21 which resulted in the death of Prohibition Agent Ernest W. Walker.[40] Hamer transferred to Austin in 1921, where he served as Senior Ranger Captain.
Tom Threepersons
Tom Threepersons was an American lawman, who claimed to be the son of a Cherokee chief. He is considered to have been one of the last of gunfighters of the Old West. He invented the "Tom Threepersons holster."[41] In 1916, he joined the U.S. Army, and served under General Jack Pershing in pursuit of Pancho Villa in Mexico. He was later assigned to Fort Bliss on the Texas–New Mexico state line. On June 10, 1922, Threepersons was appointed as a Prohibition Agent for El Paso, where he worked for 90 days.[42]
Two-Gun Hart
Ironically, while Chicago gangster Al Capone was one of the biggest targets of investigation for the dry agents of the Chicago prohibition office and their Untouchables, Capone's eldest biological brother was himself a dry agent, or "prohibition cowboy".[3]Richard James "Two-Gun" Hart, born James Vincenzo Capone, had lost communication with his family at age 16 after fleeing New York City following a gang brawl.[3] Hart kept his familial relationship a secret from most of his coworkers.[3]
Izzy and Moe
The two-agent team of Isidor "Izzy" Einstein and Moe Smith, working out of the New York City office, compiled the best arrest record in the history of the agency.[43] Izzy and Moe, as they would later be called, had 4,932 arrests while confiscating over five million bottles of alcohol. The duo would disguise themselves as street vendors, fishermen and many other undercover roles.[44] Both investigators were also able to speak multiple languages, and this skill was also helpful when they were working undercover.[44] In late 1925, Izzy and Moe were laid off in a reorganization of the bureau of enforcement.[45] A report in Time magazine suggested they had attracted more publicity than wanted by the new political appointee heading the bureau, although the press and public loved the team.[45]
Other famous lawmen who, at some point, carried a Prohi badge include James L. "Lone Wolf" Asher,[46] Chicagoan Pat Roche,[47] and Hannah Brigham.[48]
Corruption and public opinion
On September 9, 1927, Assistant Treasury Secretary Seymour Lowman issued the following statement to the world's press:
"There are many incompetent, crooked men in the prohibition service. Bribery is rampant, and there are many wolves in sheep's clothing. We are after them. Some days my arm gets tired signing orders of dismissal. I want to say, however, that there are a lot of splendid, fearless men in the service, and, fortunately they greatly outnumber the crooks."[49]
Public opinion
The major obstacle faced by the Bureau was that the Volstead Act and the Prohibition of alcohol was widely unpopular, controversial, and divisive in American society.[50] In 1929, the number of speakeasies and bars was double the number from before prohibition began.[50]
The mob infiltrates the bureau
Despite their mandate to stop consumption of alcohol, many prohibition agents reportedly accepted bribes in exchange for ignoring illegal trade in liquor, which has been ascribed, in part, to their relatively low wages. It was rumored that many agents imbibed the alcohol which they were responsible for confiscating.[51] The public perception of Bureau agents was not favorable. Some prohibition agents became notorious for killing innocent civilians and harassing minor bootleggers, while ignoring gangsters and their rich customers.[35]: 69, 96–98
The Ku Klux Klan and Prohibition enforcement
Temperance was often used as a smokescreen for many variations of bigotry to include xenophobia, white supremacism, nativism, anti-catholicism, eugenicism, and Manifest destiny.[52] Their perception maintained an observation of the correlation that the target of their bigotry was an alcoholic; that many of the Catholic, Italian, Eastern European, and Irish immigrants to the United States were associated with public drunkenness.[53]
Many of the members of the Anti-Saloon League joined the new Ku Klux Klan with the influx of immigrants to America at the turn of the century, which took a vigilante militia role in prohibition enforcement; they would extrajudicially target those suspected of violating the Volstead Act.[54]
Black speakeasies and Prohibition enforcement
Certain speakeasies and hooch joints of the prohibition era were owned by black Americans searching for economic stability less than fifty years after the passage of the 15th Amendment, and have been called the birthplace of the jazz age.[55] By the fact of their existence, these speakeasies were defying the law, and formed intimate business relationships with the bootleggers and gangsters that traded in illicit alcohol.
This dichotomy created a complex relationship between black Americans and their interpretation of freedom. No matter the relationship between black Americans and prohibition, this complicated the Bureau's ability to enforce the Volstead Act.
In popular culture
Eliot Ness's memoir, The Untouchables, went on to become a bestseller and was later adapted into two television series (in 1959 and 1993) and a feature film.
The Bureau of Prohibition is featured prominently in the HBO period crime series Boardwalk Empire, particularly through the character of Agent Nelson Van Alden.
Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's documentary "Prohibition - Unintended Consequences" on PBS covers the exploits of the Prohibition Bureau as part of The Prohibition Film Project.
Fallen Officers
Prohibition Unit, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Department of the Treasury[57]
Positition
Name
Date
Cause of Death
Prohibition Agent
William Daniel Dorsey
June 13, 1920
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Frank Matuskowitz
June 30, 1920
Train accident
Prohibition Agent
Stanton E. Weiss
August 28, 1920
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
James Holland Rose
October 25, 1920
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Kirby Frans
November 20, 1920
Gunfire
Warehouse Agent
Wiliam B. Anderson
December 2, 1920
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Richard D. Griffin
December 6, 1920
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Richard W. Jackson
December 16, 1920
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
James Francis McGuiness
December 24, 1920
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Ernest Walter Walker
March 5, 1921
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Stafford E. Beckett
March 21, 1921
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Jacob F. Green
April 1, 1921
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Irby U. Scruggs
April 30, 1921
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
John Watson
May 2, 1921
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Charles Edward Howell
July 17, 1921
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
John Harvey Reynolds
August 26, 1921
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
John T. Foley
October 26, 1921
Gunfire (Inadvertent)
Prohibition Agent
Jesse R. Johnson
November 21, 1921
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
John O'Toole
February 17, 1922
Assault
Prohibition Agent
Joseph William "Joe"
May 17, 1922
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Charles O. Sterner
June 25, 1922
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Howell J. Lynch
July 6, 1922
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Howard Henry Fisher
July 22, 1922
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Cary Dorsey Freeman
July 22, 1922
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Ernest George Wiggins
August 6, 1922
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Grover C. Todd
September 3, 1922
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Glenn Henry Price
September 3, 1922
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Joseph Owen
September 6, 1922
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
John Van Waters
October 4, 1922
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Robert E. Duff, Sr.
December 9, 1922
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Elmer Guy Cole
December 15, 1922
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Atha "Nick" Carter
December 24, 1922
Gunfire
Storekeeper-Gauger
Burdette M. Huffaker
January 12, 1923
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Jesse Leroy Youmans
April 3, 1923
Gunfire
Warehouse Agent
Robert G. Anderson
April 16, 1923
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
George H. Stewart
November 11, 1923
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
William B. Saylor
February 24, 1924
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Bert R. McMichael
May 23, 1924
Automobile crash
Prohibition Agent
Horatio J. Stetson
June 29, 1924
Automobile crash
Prohibition Agent
Daniel S. Cleveland
July 10, 1924
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Theodore Harrison Chunn
November 19, 1924
Automobile crash
Prohibition Agent
William Paul Spigener
December 9, 1924
Automobile crash
Prohibition Agent
Malcolm Malachi Day
February 14, 1925
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
James Edmund Bowdoin
February 16, 1925
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
William Edwin Collins
March 6, 1925
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Harold Vincent Mooring
April 1, 1925
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Clyde L. Taylor
May 11, 1925
Heart attack
Prohibition Agent
William Frank Porter
June 20, 1925
Gunfire (Inadvertent)
Prohibition Agent
John M. Mulcahy
September 3, 1925
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Murdock E. Murray
October 20, 1925
Automobile crash
Prohibition Agent
Dallas Adelbert Roberts
January 20, 1926
Automobile crash
Prohibition Agent
Remus W. Buckner
May 12, 1926
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Thomas Bright Lankford
May 26, 1926
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Vaughn Eccles Grant
June 1, 1926
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
George Hamilton Wentworth
November 24, 1926
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Jacob P. Brandt
December 9, 1926
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Walter Chapman Mobray
December 9, 1926
Gunfire
Prohibition Agent
Horace Thorwaldson
December 19, 1926
Automobile crash
Prohibition Agent
George W. Dykeman
January 14, 1927
Gunfire (Inadvertent)
Bureau of Prohibition, Department of the Treasury[58]
^ abcdAlcoholism, National Research Council (US) Panel on Alternative Policies Affecting the Prevention of Alcohol Abuse and; Moore, Mark H.; Gerstein, Dean R. (1981), "Temperance and Prohibition in America: A Historical Overview", Alcohol and Public Policy: Beyond the Shadow of Prohibition, National Academies Press (US), retrieved 2024-08-18
^ abLerner, Michael A (2008). Dry Manhattan: Prohibition in New York City. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. 1–351. ISBN978-0674030572.
^ ab"Jones Act". LII / Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 2024-08-18.
^"Opium Order Form". DEA Museum. February 10, 2022. Retrieved August 18, 2024.
^Study, Institute of Medicine (US) Committee for the Substance Abuse Coverage; Gerstein, Dean R.; Harwood, Henrick J. (1992), "A Century of American Narcotic Policy", Treating Drug Problems: Volume 2: Commissioned Papers on Historical, Institutional, and Economic Contexts of Drug Treatment, National Academies Press (US), retrieved 2024-08-19
^Pietrusza, David (2003). Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series. New York: Carroll & Graf.
^Mabry, Donald J. (1989). The Latin American Narcotics Trade and U.S. National Security. Greenwood Press.
^ abGerstein, Dean R.; Harwood, Henrick J. (1992), "A Century of American Narcotic Policy", Treating Drug Problems: Volume 2: Commissioned Papers on Historical, Institutional, and Economic Contexts of Drug Treatment, National Academies Press (US), retrieved 2024-08-16
^Jenis, Albert. "Izzy and Moe", Reprinted from Empire State Mason, Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon. Quote: "Bro. Moe W. Smith was raised a Master Mason in Emanuel Lodge No. 654 on November 8, 1922. His friend, Bro. Isadore "Izzy" Einstein, was affiliated with Emanuel Lodge on December 13, 1922." Retrieved April 11, 2011.
^ abAsbury, Herbert (2002). "The Merry Antics of Izzy and Moe". In Hyde, Stephen; Zanetti, Geno (eds.). Players. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN9781560253808.