Prohibition: America's War on Alcohol 1920-1933 artwork
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Prohibition: America's War on Alcohol 1920-1933

Prohibition: America's War on Alcohol 1920-1933 is the definitive podcast exploring the turbulent thirteen years that reshaped American society, crime, and culture forever. From the midnight raids of federal agents to the smoky back rooms where empires were built on bootleg whiskey, this show brings the Roaring Twenties and the Great Experiment to vivid life through meticulous research and compelling storytelling. Each episode pulls back the curtain on the figures, events, and forces that defined Prohibition — the temperance crusaders who fought for decades to pass the Eighteenth Amendment, the organized crime bosses who turned illegal liquor into a billion-dollar industry, the corrupt politicians who looked the other way, and the ordinary Americans who simply refused to stop drinking. From Al Capone and the Chicago Outfit to speakeasies in Harlem, from rum-running fleets off the Atlantic coast to the backwoods stills of Appalachia, no corner of this extraordinary era goes unexplored. This podcast is for history enthusiasts, true crime fans, and anyone fascinated by the unintended consequences of idealism colliding with human nature. What makes it distinctive is its focus on the people behind the headlines — the bookkeepers, the bootleggers, the beat cops, and the barons — told with the pace and drama of narrative nonfiction. Whether you're a seasoned historian or discovering this era for the first time, Prohibition delivers the stories that textbooks leave out. Subscribe now and follow the story of how America tried to legislate morality — and what happened when it failed.

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7 episodes · Verified by YesOui

Episodes

Latest episodes

6 Aug 2026 · 13 min

Fred Burke's Escape: The Underground World Prohibition Actually Built

When Fred Burke vanished into ordinary American life after the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, he exposed the hidden architecture of Prohibition's greatest failure. From Capone's Chicago to Luciano's New York, this chapter traces how the Volstead Act turned alcohol into organised crime's founding industry.
5 Aug 2026 · 14 min

Poisoned by Policy: How the Government's Own Program Killed Thousands

The federal government deliberately poisoned industrial alcohol during Prohibition — and an estimated ten thousand Americans died drinking it. This episode traces the human cost of policy failure, from bathtub gin to Al Capone's sixty-million-dollar empire.
4 Aug 2026 · 12 min

Arnold Rothstein's Blueprint: How One Man Engineered the Modern Mob

Arnold Rothstein never carried a gun — he carried a ledger, and with it he transformed bootleggers and gangsters into a corporate criminal empire. This chapter traces how Rothstein mentored Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, and Frank Costello into the architects of organised crime.
3 Aug 2026 · 12 min

Class, Crime & Cocktails: How the Speakeasy Became Glamorous

When Prohibition shuttered the saloon, America's wealthy simply moved their drinking somewhere more exclusive — and the criminal syndicates that supplied them rewrote the rules of organised crime. This chapter traces how Lucky Luciano, Arnold Rothstein, and Meyer Lansky turned illegal liquor into a sophisticated, high-society enterprise.
2 Aug 2026 · 13 min

The Valentine's Day Massacre: When Capone Went Too Far

Seven men lined up against a garage wall in Chicago, shot in cold blood — and Prohibition's organised crime problem could no longer be ignored. This is the St. Valentine's Day Massacre and what it revealed about Al Capone's grip on a city where the law had already surrendered.
1 Aug 2026 · 13 min

Speakeasies, Rum-Runners & the Underground Economy That Beat the Law

When the Volstead Act banned alcohol, it didn't end drinking — it created a multi-million-dollar criminal economy run by Arnold Rothstein, Lucky Luciano, and Al Capone. This chapter traces how bootleggers outran the Coast Guard, how Meyer Lansky turned street gangs into financial syndicates, and why the government's own poisoning policy killed the people it claimed to protect.
31 Jul 2026 · 12 min

The Bookkeeper Who Built the Mob: Prohibition's Opening Chapter

Before Al Capone's gunmen or Eliot Ness's raids, a teenage bookkeeper named Meyer Lansky saw that Prohibition wasn't a moral crusade — it was a business opportunity. This is how the Volstead Act handed organised crime its founding charter.