Prohibition
Texto del Guión Gráfico
- 1923 in some basement in Ontario . . .
- Baloney! Ever since prohibition was created to ban making and selling alcohol, speakeasies have been all the rage. People want a place to drink; business will be booming and the police don't really care anyhow. Everyone's doing it!
- Now this is the perfect place to make a new speakeasy! It's a little rusty but we'll have it looking spiffy in no time!
- I'm a little balled up about this . . . What if the gatecrashers find it? This is illegal, what if they pinch us?!
- Okay . . . but don't forget to conceal that window! Speakeasies are supposed to be more underground . . .
- You know, there was a reason prohibition was created: the Temperance Campaign. The campaign claims that giggle water is the cause of many societal issues like crime, abuse, and poverty.
- You have to admit, there were always a few owls spending their paydays on giggle water and starting fights in bars.
- The temperance movement is actually directly related to the women's rights movement. Activists believed that society should practice sobriety as a whole and the campaign led to the Canada Temperance Act in 1878 that gave municipal governments the authority to ban alcohol. P.E.I. was the first province to enforce prohibition in 1901. The rest of the provinces followed in 1918 during WW1 as a way to contribute to the war efforts.
- Not to mention going home ossified with nothing for their wife and kids and taking their hooch-fuelled anger out on them.
- Sure, there are some good reasons for prohibition but there are just too many loopholes in the end. It's illegal for the general public but the government still sells it for tons of reasons like science experiments and manufacturing. Doctors can prescribe alcohol and people even started brewing their own bootleg at home!
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- The provinces don't have authority over federal breweries so they sell a milder substance allowed in provinces: Temperance Beer! Sometimes they even slip in some real beer for us. It's the berries!
- Let's not forget, home-brewed moonshine isn't reliable. It's killed people!
- Some rum-runners get creative hiding hooch in places like clothes and baby carriages . . .
- The temperance movement was in favour of a more moral society but I suppose prohibition led to a lot of illegal activity in itself . . .
- . . . the big cheese used fast boats and vehicles to avoid border checkpoints going into the country.
- You can't forget about the rum-runners and bootleggers! Now they made a lot of dough transporting 45 million litres of bootleg into the U.S. each year! Now that's a business . . .
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- Speaking of big cheese, one of the most famous bootleggers is Bessie Starkman and, her partner, Rocco Perri. Starkman was initially pinched for supposedly managing a brothel but when the 1916 Ontario Temperance Act came into play, she earned her reputation as the first big female crime boss in Perri "King of Bootlegger's" mob. The dame communicates with suppliers and gangs, deals with dirty dough, and is a huge part of the operation.
- When prohibition ended in Ontario, the mob pursued other "careers" in the drug business. Police were never able to gather enough proof to convict Starkman. In 1930 she was fatally shot and the details of her murder remain a mystery. Over 20 000 people gathered in Hamilton for her funeral.
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