Outlaws of the Lakes: Bootlegging and Smuggling from Colonial Times to ProhibitionWhat Great Lake was the hunting ground of a twentieth century pirate? Where did Canada's ""King of the Bootleggers"" end his days? Who was the only man Al Capone ever truly feared? Since early colonial times, the Great Lakes, the Upper St. Lawrence and Lake Champlain have been smugglers' highways. They have borne silent witness to trafficking of almost every commodity governments could tax or ban. Smugglers kept commerce alive in Canada in the early nineteenth century, contributed to the British-Canadian victory in the War of 1812, and carried escaped slaves to freedom in Canada in the decades before the American Civil War. They also corrupted government officials, terrorized honest citizens and committed acts of ruthless violence. A French bootlegger founded the city of Detroit in the eighteenth century. Two hundred years later, American and Canadian bootleggers supplied booze to the criminal empires of Al Capone, Dion O'Banion and the Purple Gang during the doomed experiment called Prohibition. Some became rich; others died with their boots on. Some were cut down by Coast Guard bullets; more were gunned down by rival bootleggers. All of them were brazen and ingenious (Rocco Perri had a front as a macaroni salesman) and they stopped at nothing. Whether they operated in defiance of unjust laws or out of pure greed, the smugglers and bootleggers carved a legacy of violence and adventure, one that has had a profound impact upon the histories of Canada and the United States. |
Contents
THE SMUGGLERS | 10 |
DEFYING THE CROWN AND CONGRESS | 13 |
The Hawk | 15 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
agent Al Capone alcohol American Arbutus arrested Beaver Island became beer Ben Kerr boat bootleggers booze border boys British Bugs Moran bullets Cadillac called Canada Canadian Capone Capone's Captain cargo caught Charlie Chicago Coast Guard contraband crime customs officer Deanie Detroit Dion O'Banion distillery drinking Drucci fire gangsters Genna gunmen Hamilton Harry Hatch brothers hijackers Hymie Weiss jail Jennie Johnny Torrio Justo Kerby Kerr killed knew Lake Ontario liquor load Lowery Mackinac Main Duck Martimas Michigan Mills mobsters Moran Mormons murder never Niagara North Siders O'Banion pistol police port Prince Edward County Prohibition Purple Gang Quebec River Rocco and Bessie Rocco Perri Rouses Point rum-runners Seavey seized ship shore shot side slave catchers smugglers smuggling speakeasies Spracklin story Strang timber told took Toronto Torrio town trade Trumble Trumble's Ulysses Unione Siciliane vessel whiskey York