The national
prohibition of alcohol in the United States did the exact opposite of what it was designed to do. Instead of
producing "clean living", alcohol-free Americans as supporters had hoped,
prohibition gave birth to some of the country's largest crime
syndicates and drinking grew in popularity. The paper shows that the public glamorized these syndicates and this resulted in a large upsurge of crime in the United States. The paper examines the twin crimes of smuggling and bootlegging and looks at how the law enforcement agencies handled the sharp rise in crime.