If You grew up in Newark and are
too young to collect Social Security, you probably have no conception of how a
federal law -- the 18th Amendment -- affected Newarkers during an era called
"Prohibition."
The Prohibition era lasted for 13
years from 1920 to 1933, during which the sale, manufacture, or import of
alcoholic beverages was a violation of Federal law.
The law
1, which became effective on
January 16, 1920, directly impacted nearly 2,000 Newarkers working in various
local breweries, and Newark's 1,400 saloons and restaurants that relied heavily on
the sale of alcoholic beverages.
The law gave rise to a new illicit
industry: bootlegging -- the illegal sale and transport of alcoholic beverages.
In the Prohibition era, Newark
became the bootleg capital of the United States. According to a Federal
crime hearing in Washington in 1951 (Kefauver Committee) during the Prohibition
era 40 percent of all illegal alcohol was funneled into the United States through a
Newark bootleg kingpin.
Why was bootlegging so successful,
and how did Newark become its capital?
First of all, the law was largely
unpopular and loosely enforced. In Newark, a Federal enforcement agency
was opened at the corner of Broad and West Kinney Streets. However, its
small staff was virtually helpless to stem the flow of illegal alcohol in and
through Newark.
Local law enforcement was also
hampered by the almost open co-operation of police, prosecutors, and the courts,
who were in the pay of the bootleggers, or otherwise uninterested in enforcing
the law2.
Newark's Bootleg Kingpin
The virtual czar of bootlegging in
most of the city of Newark was Abner (Longy) Zwillman, whose criminal activities
also included gambling and control of labor unions heavily involved with Newark's
economy, including the retail clerk's union. He also had a grip on
cigarette vending machines in New York and New Jersey.
Part of Newark's territorial
control of liquor distribution was shared with First Ward crime boss "Ritchie
the Boot" Biordo after a brief gang war.
As a result of that war, Zwillman
convinced Biordo that they would thrive better through cooperation, and Biordo
carried two bullets in his body permanently as a reminder of that war.
A Look Behind Zwillman's Success
What contributed largely to
Zwillman's success was that, despite the fact that his operations involved lots
of 'muscle' and every type of crime including murder, his criminal enterprises,
especially in his home Third Ward, a heavily-Jewish neighborhood, had a sort of
romantic aura, and Zwillman was viewed by many as a successful businessman, who
was generous in his Third Ward neighborhood, and to Newark's poor and needy.
Liquor Importation from Canada
Zwillman was linked to
international syndicates that brought liquor to America, and especially New
Jersey, from Canada and Smuggling it ashore.
The liquor-laden ships came up to
the 12-mile line offshore from where it was transferred to speedboats, and
brought ashore to be loaded on waiting trucks operated by bootleggers. The
New Jersey shore was referred to as "Rum Row."
The Ship-to-Shore Speed Boats
The speed boats were mostly
operated by fishermen and provided them with supplemental income. They
provided ship to shore transport from the 12-mile limit in boats equipped with
high-speed engines, sometimes muffled for sound, and usually painted gray so
they could not be easily seen or heard.
Typical were boats of 50 to 80
feet in length, capable of doing 33 miles per hour, and fast enough to outrun
Coast Guard interceptors.
The Shore-to-Warehouse Trucks
Longy became the principle
supplier for hundreds of speak easies that sprung up in and around Newark.
His trucks for transporting the
offloaded liquor shipment from the boats were a fleet of three Mack Bulldog (AC
Model) trucks, originally built as armored vehicles for use in the first World
War.
The offloading was done at night
at both Newark Bay and Long Branch, and trucked back to the Third Ward warehouse
near Prince Street for offloading.
Young Third Ward toughs were
picked up in the neighborhood for these nighttime runs, and were paid $20 for a
night's work -- the equivalent of a week's salary for many Newark factory jobs.
One captain who secured and
handled the men for the night truck runs was a Newark boxer from Prince Street,
who was paid $50 for each run.
Longy's men rode shotgun on these
runs to protect the trucks from highjackers. After each run, they'd walk
over to a nearby Turkish bath house, where they'd shower, grab a bite, then nap
until morning and leave.
Other Newarkers in Bootlegging
Many other Newarkers were involved
in various aspects of bootlegging. One former Newarker recalled that his
father, resident in the Weequahic Section on Lehigh Avenue during Prohibition,
had been a bootlegger, coloring and bottling illicit alcohol, and that "the
whole street on Lehigh Avenue was in on it."3
Such was the prevalence of
bootlegging in the Weequahic-Clinton Hill area, that a merchant on Clinton Place
operated a bottle store where bootleggers could purchase whiskey bottles in a
variety of shapes and styles.
The Social Side of Zwillman
So public was Zwillman's persona,
that in 1927, he established in his Third Ward neighborhood at 88 Waverly Avenue
a political club which became a clearing house for city businessmen and
politicians, and a place where jobs and favors were freely dispensed.
The Third Ward Political Club had
several hundred members and celebrated its first anniversary in 1928 with a
dinner dance.4
The Political Club was one of two
bases of operations for Zwillman. The Club was mainly for social and
political contacts. His business operations were conducted from an office
in the Hotel Riviera at the intersection of High Street and Clinton Avenue,
where he also had his residence.
End of Prohibition
A repeal of the 18th Amendment,
known as the 21st Amendment, was signed into law on March 22, 1933, ending
Prohibition after 13 years.
In Newark, as elsewhere, breweries
were allowed to sell 3.2 percent beer on April 7, 1933. In Newark, only
the Krueger Brewery of the many Newark breweries was ready for manufacture, and,
on the stroke of midnight, April 6, 1933, the Krueger Brewery at 75 Belmont
Avenue opened its brewery doors to the awaiting crowds and permitted them to
take away as much beer as their stomachs could carry.
It took two days to restore the
street in front of the brewery back to normal.
Zwillman After Prohibition
When Prohibition ended in 1933,
Zwillman, still a young 29, switched from being a bootlegging kingpin to
gambling as his major source of income, and mainly to legitimate businesses that
were connected with liquor. These included liquor wholesalers, a liquor
store retail chain, night clubs, and even the famous Tavern Restaurant in
Newark.
Some Prohibition-Era Slang
Smuggler of Alcoholic beverages: Rumrunner
Bootleg liquor/alcohol: Booze, brew, giggle water, hooch, jake-leg,
vino
Moonshine: Home-made whiskey (sometimes made in outdoor stills
by the light of the moon).
Bathtub Gin: Alcohol mixed in bottles too tall to be filled from
a sink tap and commonly filled under a bathtub tap.
Saloon: Boozery
Illegal Saloon: Speakeasy, gin mill, whoopee parlor. (The
'speakeasy' got its name because one had to whisper a code word or name through
a slot in a locked door to gain admittance).
Drunken bum: Rummy
Drink liquor: Booze up
Being drunk: Bent, blotto, crocked, fried, juiced, lushed,
ossified, splifficated
Rum dum: Constantly drunk
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