Orriginally a bootlegger was a person who smuggled contraband onto a ship in the long boots made of waxed leather used to keep dry when entering and exiting small boats used to get to and from a ship at anchor.
the part of a boot that covers the leg. The career of Al Capone was a dramatic instance of the development of bootlegging on a large scale.
Be adamantine, and get after that perfect score!a person's area of skill, knowledge, authority, or work.Dictionary.com Unabridged the part of a boot that covers the leg. Faultily distilled batches of this “rotgut” could be dangerously impure and cause blindness, paralysis, and even death.Bootlegging helped lead to the establishment of American The rise of the bootlegging led to a succession of In 1933 Prohibition was abandoned. 2.
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Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. something, as a recording, made, reproduced, or sold illegally or without … Contraban was hidden inside the boots in order to sneak it onto the ship.
Bootleggers had other major sources of supply, however.
…a new kind of criminal—the bootlegger. The bootlegger did not become extinct, however. Categories
History at your fingertips New York City Deputy Police Commissioner John A. Leach (right) watching agents pour liquor into the sewer following a raid, This article was most recently revised and updated by
The word apparently came into general use in the Midwest in the 1880s to denote the practice of concealing flasks of illicit liquor in boot tops when going to trade with Native Americans. Finally, bootleggers took to bottling their own concoctions of spurious liquor, and by the late 1920s stills making liquor from corn had become major suppliers. Login The rise of the bootlegging gangs led to a succession of gang wars and murders. A bootlegger is a person who sells alcohol off hours. Millions of gallons of this were illegally diverted, “washed” of noxious chemicals, mixed with tap water and perhaps a dash of real liquor for flavour, and sold to speakeasies or individual customers. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica.Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. alcoholic liquor unlawfully made, sold, or transported, without registration or payment of taxes. In the early 21st century, alcohol was still prohibited in a number of U.S. counties and municipalities, and bootlegging continued to thrive as an illegal business.
His annual earnings were estimated at $60,000,000.