The 1920's
The Mafia was around for a long time before the 1920’s and existed in almost every major city in the United States. But 1920’s Chicago is particularly noteworthy because of what was going on in American policy at the time: Prohibition. The Mafia got involved in huge bootlegging rackets, illegally bringing alcohol to the masses. This was risky business involving huge sums of money. Whenever such large amounts of money are involved, greed, deception, and murder tend to follow. Learn more about the Mafia, prohibition, and other aspects of the 1920s in the following pages, and use what you learn to bring the events of Romeo and Juliet into the Twentieth Century!
A list of sites that contain information about 1920s Chicago
- Ben Hecht's "1001 Afternoons in Chicago" columns
In 1922, several of Hecht's columns for the Chicago Daily News paper were published in book form as 1001 Afternoons in Chicago. So sit back, relax, and immerse yourself in the Chicago of the 1920s... - Chicago: The Roarin' 20's - An Overview
This site is part of the Player's Guide to Chicago: The Roarin' 20's a White Wolf World of Darkness Chronicle. - 1920s
Part of The Authentic History Center web site. - The Lawless Decade
This is an informal historical excursion back into the Nineteen Twenties created by Paul Sann, journalist. - Homicide in Chicago: Prohibition and Temperance (1920-1933)
Part of the Homicide in Chicago 1870-1930 web site hosted by the Northwestern University Law School. - Photographs from The Chicago Daily News
This collection comprises over 55,000 images of urban life captured on glass plate negatives between 1902 and 1933 by photographers employed by the Chicago Daily News, then one of Chicago's leading newspapers. Part of the Library of Congress web site.