THE ERA OF PROHIBITION AND ITS INFLUENCE ON PULP FICTION BOOKS, THE MAFIA, AND HOLLYWOOD

During the Roaring Twenties and lingering into the 1930s and the Great Depression, America was a turbulent society, exploding with excitement, desperation, and crime. True-life tragedies and the highest murder rate of the century were fueling a new brand of pulp fiction books peopled by tough investigators and relentless heroes who were somehow bulletproof and unstoppable in their quests for justice.

THE ERA OF PROHIBITION

The elevated crime rate was most likely an unexpected consequence of Prohibition, the national constitutional ban on alcohol and its transportation or sale in commerce, sometimes called bootlegging. Prohibition most certainly paved the way for organized crime, as high profits from illegal trafficking in liquor and the low risk of law enforcement action created a highly attractive business model.

With organized crime at its helm, the illegal liquor enterprise exploded, paralleling the rise of the industrial corporation. Unenforceable contracts among producers, distributors, and sellers made the market murderously competitive. The chief means of enforcing the terms of a contract—or eliminating a rival—was the business end of a Smith & Wesson revolver or a Thompson submachine gun.

Gangs controlled both bootlegging and the business itself, punctuating their arrangements with violence and extortion. Famous examples in Hollywood cinema include Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables (1987), wherein Federal Agent Eliot Ness sets out to stop Al Capone and his “Chicago Outfit”—dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, as well as to other illegal activities such as prostitution—in Chicago from the early 1920s to 1931.

Capone’s ruthless exploits led him to become one of the most notorious American gangsters of the twentieth century, fascinating writers and filmmakers to the point where he has dominated everything from the written word to the movie screen. Recent portrayals of Capone include the 2020 film Capone, starring Tom Hardy.

THE RISE OF “NUCKY” JOHNSON

For another infamous Prohibition-era gangster, look no further than Enoch “Nucky” Johnson, most recently immortalized by Steve Buscemi in the award-winning HBO series Boardwalk Empire (2010-2014) from Martin Scorsese. Drawing from Nelson Johnson’s book titled Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City, Scorsese provides a vivid view into the Atlantic City of the Prohibition Era.

Johnson reached the zenith of his career and power during Prohibition. While the law was enacted nationally in 1919 and lasted until 1933, it was ignored in Atlantic City, already a tourist haven that made a conscious decision to provide the vices that would give it an edge over other destinations. Illicit liquor, gambling, and prostitution were some of the city’s chief attractions. Johnson himself made money on every drink, roll of the dice, and visit to a prostitute, thanks to the percentages he skimmed off the protection money that vice operators paid to stay in business. As Johnson became rich, Atlantic City began to call itself “The World’s Playground.”

Johnson was unashamed of the vice den that thrived under his stewardship. He was reputed to say: “We have whisky, wine, women, song, and slot machines. I won’t deny it, and I won’t apologize for it. If the majority of the people didn’t want them, they wouldn’t be profitable, and they would not exist. The fact that they do exist proves to me that the people want them.”

Enoch “Nucky” Johnson (second from right) and Al “Scarface” Capone (third from right).

ROOSEVELT’S END & PULP FICTION’S RESCUE

That provocation for criminal mayhem persisted until 1933, when Franklin D. Roosevelt ended it abruptly by signing the constitutional amendment that repealed Prohibition. By that time, however, the illegal industry of producing, transporting, and selling alcohol had already soared to $2 billion annually.

Defeating apparently invincible criminal organizations and their impervious villains seemed to require equally invincible heroes, brimming over with courage and determination. Fiction writers responded and created a host of these larger-than-life characters—such as the first genuine superhero of the twentieth century, Walter B. Gibson’s “The Shadow.” Clad in black, with a secret identity, superpowers, and sidekicks, The Shadow had ample supervillains to slay and subdue. Then there was Doc Savage, the crime-fighting adventurer who, along with other pulp fiction heroes, inspired the Indiana Jones franchise. The very first tough private eye, Race Williams, also emerged to fame in the 1930s.

These and other famous crime fighters were brought to life in the pages of the pulp fiction magazines that millions of Americans devoured each month—Detective Fiction Weekly, Thrilling Detective, Popular Detective, and Black Mask, among them.

It was in the pages of these rough, inexpensive pulps that now-famous names were first able to display the mastery of their craft—Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Erle Stanley Gardner, Norvell W. Page, and L. Ron Hubbard.