1 00:00:01,040 --> 00:00:04,160 Speaker 1: Hey there, it's your host ed helms. Here real quick, 2 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:06,960 Speaker 1: before we dive into this episode, I wanted to remind 3 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:09,920 Speaker 1: you that my brand new book is coming out on 4 00:00:10,039 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: April twenty ninth. It's called Snaffo, The Definitive Guide to 5 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:17,600 Speaker 1: History's Greatest screw Ups, and you can pre order it 6 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:22,159 Speaker 1: right now at snafudashbook dot com. Trust me, if you 7 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:25,200 Speaker 1: like this show, you're gonna love this book. It's got 8 00:00:25,239 --> 00:00:29,400 Speaker 1: all the wild disasters spectacular face plants we just couldn't 9 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:33,279 Speaker 1: squeeze into this podcast. And here's the kicker. I am 10 00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:37,480 Speaker 1: also going on tour to celebrate. That's right. I'm coming 11 00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:41,360 Speaker 1: to New York, DC, Boston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, 12 00:00:41,479 --> 00:00:45,240 Speaker 1: and my hometown Los Angeles. So if you've ever wanted 13 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:47,120 Speaker 1: to see me stumble through a live Q and A 14 00:00:47,320 --> 00:00:50,080 Speaker 1: or dramatically read about a kiddie cat getting turned into 15 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:54,640 Speaker 1: a CIA operative, now's your chance again. Head to snafoo 16 00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:58,080 Speaker 1: dashbook dot com to pre order the book and check 17 00:00:58,080 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 1: out all the tour details in day's or just click 18 00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:04,320 Speaker 1: the link in the show notes. That'll work too. Okay, 19 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:08,080 Speaker 1: that's it, on with the chaos. This is Snafu Season 20 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:16,240 Speaker 1: three Formula six previously on Snaffou As Mabel Walker Willebrandt 21 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:18,320 Speaker 1: was doing everything in her power to stop the tide 22 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:20,120 Speaker 1: of liquor washing into America. 23 00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:23,399 Speaker 2: Clan took over the city, Dryes and Wets Clan and 24 00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:25,240 Speaker 2: anti clan contending forces. 25 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:29,959 Speaker 1: Prohibition agents were enforcing the law by repeatedly breaking it. 26 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:34,040 Speaker 3: By putting a prohibition agent, Tugenhart, on trial for manslaughter, 27 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:37,520 Speaker 3: it's making him a martyr of prohibition. 28 00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:40,400 Speaker 1: And the US government kept upping the ante in their 29 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:43,400 Speaker 1: misguided plan to get people to stop drinking. 30 00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:47,440 Speaker 4: When the federal government starts coming up with formulas, they 31 00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:52,800 Speaker 4: supercharge poisons into the alcohol that the bootleggers are stealing. 32 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:01,400 Speaker 1: Nineteen twenty eight was a momentous year at the movies. 33 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:04,240 Speaker 1: The world was introduced to a dapper mouse named Mickey 34 00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:10,320 Speaker 1: and a nifty new innovation fund. Radio had just gone national, 35 00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:13,040 Speaker 1: and the World Series was heard from coast to coast, 36 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:18,360 Speaker 1: much to the delight of Yankee superfan Alexander Gettler, who's 37 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:21,400 Speaker 1: tuning in to hear the Yankees sweep the Cardinals as 38 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:27,240 Speaker 1: he's slicing and dicing bodies in his lab at Bellevue Hospital, YEP. 39 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:31,200 Speaker 1: Nineteen twenty eight was a real barnburner alright, but most 40 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:34,280 Speaker 1: of all because it was a big election year. The 41 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:39,320 Speaker 1: presidency was up for grabs. In one corner was Herbert Hoover, Republican, 42 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:42,720 Speaker 1: and the guy for the dries. In the other corner 43 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:47,240 Speaker 1: the wet warrior, longtime Governor of New York, Al Smith. 44 00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:50,520 Speaker 5: I am entirely unwilling to accept the old order of 45 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:54,400 Speaker 5: things as the best unless and until I've become convinced 46 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:55,960 Speaker 5: that it cannot be made better. 47 00:02:56,960 --> 00:03:00,720 Speaker 1: As Al's speeches buzz over radios across a mayor, I 48 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:03,560 Speaker 1: can picture Mabel Walker Willebrandt sitting in her office at 49 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:09,160 Speaker 1: the Department of Justice, listening and fuming. You might remember 50 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:11,919 Speaker 1: that Al thumbed his nose at the law and repealed 51 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:16,120 Speaker 1: the state's prohibition Enforcement Statute five years before. Well, that 52 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:21,480 Speaker 1: put Al in Mabel's crosshairs. In Mabel's eyes, Al was 53 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:25,239 Speaker 1: a man so morally bankrupt that he swept the Constitution 54 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:29,280 Speaker 1: aside to appeal to the masses. And appeal he did, 55 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:32,280 Speaker 1: promising to take his wet agenda all the way to 56 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:39,240 Speaker 1: sixteen hundred Pennsylvania Avenue. Mabel wasn't having it, because when 57 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:43,520 Speaker 1: al Smith said he refused the quote old order of things. 58 00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:47,200 Speaker 1: Mabel heard him rejecting the thing that mattered most to her, 59 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:51,440 Speaker 1: sticking to the law and enforcing the Eighteenth Amendment. 60 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:54,760 Speaker 5: It's the bottom of the nine folks, two outs going on, 61 00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:56,560 Speaker 5: and the crowd is on its feet. 62 00:03:56,920 --> 00:03:59,760 Speaker 1: I haven't felt tension like this since the night they rated. 63 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:04,000 Speaker 1: Mabel and her team were entering the ninth inning. It 64 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:06,920 Speaker 1: felt like her squad, the dries, or as she saw it, 65 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:11,040 Speaker 1: the only ones who respected the Constitution were behind, with 66 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:13,920 Speaker 1: two outs and no runners on. Her colleagues at the 67 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:17,640 Speaker 1: Department of Treasury had made public their deadly poisoning program 68 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:22,640 Speaker 1: to stop Americans from drinking, and yet still America wasn't 69 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:24,120 Speaker 1: ready to give up the bottle. 70 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:27,640 Speaker 5: Mabel Walker Willebrandt steps up to the plate, and I 71 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:30,479 Speaker 5: tell you what ed. She's making the pictures sweat like 72 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:31,919 Speaker 5: a bootlegger in July. 73 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:37,200 Speaker 1: Now, Mabel was the last batter up, and you better 74 00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:49,080 Speaker 1: believe she was gonna go down swing. I'm Ed Helms 75 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:53,559 Speaker 1: and this is Snafu, a show about history's greatest screw ups. 76 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:57,720 Speaker 1: This is season three, The Story of Formula six. How 77 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:01,120 Speaker 1: prohibitions wore on alcohol went so go off the rails, 78 00:05:01,560 --> 00:05:07,400 Speaker 1: the government wound up poisoning its own people. In today's episode, 79 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:12,239 Speaker 1: our threads start weaving together. Prohibition hangs in the balance. 80 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:15,520 Speaker 1: In the nineteen twenty eight election, and for Richard two 81 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:20,760 Speaker 1: gun Heart, the chickens finally come home to roost. 82 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:38,320 Speaker 6: Herbert Hoover. It's the man to give America a case 83 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:41,120 Speaker 6: of a good life in his youth, I'm minding engineer. 84 00:05:41,279 --> 00:05:43,520 Speaker 6: After the Great War, Hoover brought the golden graine of 85 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:48,320 Speaker 6: American farms to Rope's starving hordes. He's your Secretary of Commerce. 86 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:51,160 Speaker 6: Do you want a fertile farm in the new gold Rush? 87 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:54,080 Speaker 6: Hoops your man, Hoop Hoover in nineteen twenty eight to 88 00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:57,320 Speaker 6: keep the fed fabulous and to keep America fabulous and fed. 89 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:03,119 Speaker 1: Leading up to the nineteen twenty eight election, Mabel Walker 90 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:06,280 Speaker 1: Willebrandt was one busy bee. 91 00:06:07,520 --> 00:06:11,760 Speaker 7: She campaigned very hard for Herbert Hoover against Al Smith. 92 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:16,160 Speaker 1: As author Dan o'krant says, Mabel traveled the country, speaking 93 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:19,279 Speaker 1: at churches, town halls, and women's groups, all in the 94 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:22,400 Speaker 1: hopes of scaring the Bejesus out of people. As she 95 00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:27,400 Speaker 1: described a frightening American future under a potential president Al Smith. 96 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:31,120 Speaker 7: There was a speech she gave in Ohio. Particularly though 97 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:37,279 Speaker 7: she doesn't specifically invoke Smith's Catholicism their hint, hint, wink 98 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:38,360 Speaker 7: wink about it. 99 00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:41,840 Speaker 1: Mabel's speech also included one heck of a Zinger. 100 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:45,599 Speaker 8: Governor Smith's prohibition plan would put white aprons on the 101 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:48,760 Speaker 8: States and make them serve as bartenders. 102 00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:51,400 Speaker 1: Don't threaten me with a good time, Mabel. 103 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:55,640 Speaker 7: That led to the Smith campaign really building an issue 104 00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:58,080 Speaker 7: on the discrimination against him. 105 00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:02,200 Speaker 1: Al fired back used Mabel of leading a bigoted, anti 106 00:07:02,279 --> 00:07:06,200 Speaker 1: Catholic whisper campaign, which was actually a pretty fair characterization. 107 00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:11,360 Speaker 1: Al even gave Mabel a nickname, Prohibition Porsche. Now, as 108 00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:13,960 Speaker 1: you history geeks will know, that's a reference to the 109 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:18,200 Speaker 1: Porsche who apparently played a role in Julius Caesar getting 110 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:22,760 Speaker 1: knifed on the Senate floor. Unlike Mabel's limp dog whistle Zinger, 111 00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:29,720 Speaker 1: Al landed a direct hit Prohibition Porsche stuck. Mabel absolutely 112 00:07:29,880 --> 00:07:32,600 Speaker 1: hated it, which is part of what makes it such 113 00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:35,360 Speaker 1: a good nickname, I guess, but also Mabel, come on, 114 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:41,120 Speaker 1: I mean, it's pretty badass. Suffice to say, Mabel was pissed. 115 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:44,880 Speaker 1: She was hell bent on exposing Al Smith's New York City, 116 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:48,560 Speaker 1: his hometown, as a den of vice, and she came 117 00:07:48,640 --> 00:07:51,400 Speaker 1: up with a plan straight out of Carrie Nation's playbook 118 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:56,640 Speaker 1: to humiliate him. After whiffing in her countless legal attempts 119 00:07:56,680 --> 00:08:00,480 Speaker 1: to enforce prohibition and then failing miserably with the freaking 120 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:04,720 Speaker 1: ku Klux Klan, this was Mabel's hail Mary to make 121 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:09,360 Speaker 1: her mark. Now she was going to bust heads. She 122 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:11,600 Speaker 1: was going to go into the speakeasies of New York City, 123 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:17,040 Speaker 1: smash him up and shut him down. Obviously, she wasn't 124 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:19,880 Speaker 1: going to do it herself. She needed an army. Now. 125 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:23,120 Speaker 1: Mabel knew the NYPD was useless to her. New York 126 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:26,880 Speaker 1: cops had long ago said forget about it to enforcing prohibition, 127 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:29,760 Speaker 1: So she picked up the phone and summoned agents from 128 00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:32,520 Speaker 1: all over the country, from Denver to Fort Worth to 129 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:36,480 Speaker 1: Kansas City, and in June nineteen twenty eight, as Al 130 00:08:36,559 --> 00:08:40,160 Speaker 1: Smith was feeling good and officially accepting the Democratic nomination 131 00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:47,360 Speaker 1: in Houston, Mabel's agents converged on the Big Apple. Eight 132 00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:51,000 Speaker 1: years into prohibition, savvy New Yorkers could spot a prohibition 133 00:08:51,080 --> 00:08:54,400 Speaker 1: agent a mile away. The most shabbily dressed man in 134 00:08:54,440 --> 00:08:58,000 Speaker 1: any nightclub was always a secret agent. But Mabel had 135 00:08:58,040 --> 00:09:01,480 Speaker 1: prepped her crew months in advance. She had them dressed 136 00:09:01,480 --> 00:09:04,040 Speaker 1: to the nines so they could blend into the city 137 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:08,240 Speaker 1: crowd and glide into the swanky watering holes and maybe 138 00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:13,640 Speaker 1: even throw back a few. And then these impeccably groomed 139 00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:17,480 Speaker 1: agents stepped out to the center of speakeasy dance floors 140 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:21,400 Speaker 1: and got down to business. And I don't mean dance moves. 141 00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:23,320 Speaker 5: We are enforcement agents. 142 00:09:24,320 --> 00:09:27,400 Speaker 9: This establishment is now the hands of the federal government. 143 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:30,080 Speaker 8: Our guests must leave at once more. 144 00:09:31,080 --> 00:09:33,679 Speaker 1: They made their arrests, and they shut down the bars. 145 00:09:34,679 --> 00:09:37,120 Speaker 1: The raids would lead to a handsome hall for Mabel, 146 00:09:37,400 --> 00:09:41,320 Speaker 1: over one hundred indictments of speakeasy owners. As the raids 147 00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:44,600 Speaker 1: were going down, Mabel sat behind her mahogany desk at 148 00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:49,480 Speaker 1: the DOJ, pretty damn pleased with herself. These massive sweeps 149 00:09:49,480 --> 00:09:52,600 Speaker 1: did exactly what they were intended to do. They became 150 00:09:52,679 --> 00:09:56,679 Speaker 1: known as the June Raids, and they became a huge 151 00:09:56,760 --> 00:10:01,120 Speaker 1: national story. And as Mabel was unleashing hell from the DOJ, 152 00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:05,079 Speaker 1: a few blocks away, other plans were bubbling away at 153 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:08,320 Speaker 1: the Department of Treasury, where the Prohibition Bureau had a 154 00:10:08,360 --> 00:10:13,439 Speaker 1: new commissioner, James Duran. Duran had presided over the implementation 155 00:10:13,520 --> 00:10:17,880 Speaker 1: of the government's alcohol poisoning scheme. Remember, Formula six was 156 00:10:17,960 --> 00:10:21,160 Speaker 1: just one of dozens of formulas the government cooked up 157 00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:24,280 Speaker 1: to make drinks undrinkable, and just like they did for 158 00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:29,560 Speaker 1: all the other government formulas, the bootleggers responded instills and 159 00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:34,680 Speaker 1: makeshift labs. Outside the nation's capital. Those bootlegger chemists were 160 00:10:34,720 --> 00:10:37,880 Speaker 1: burning the midnight oil, coming up with a recipe to 161 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:44,040 Speaker 1: counter Formula six. They redistilled the tainted alcohol and extracted 162 00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:49,679 Speaker 1: the poisons. When word reached James Duran that yet another 163 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:54,160 Speaker 1: formula had been defeated, he ordered his chemists to keep going. 164 00:10:55,040 --> 00:10:57,319 Speaker 1: An anonymous source told one reporter. 165 00:10:57,360 --> 00:11:01,240 Speaker 5: KMISOD, the Bureau of Internal Revenues seek to make impossible 166 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:05,040 Speaker 5: the untangling of poisons in the denatured formulas. In one case, 167 00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:07,240 Speaker 5: a dash of gasoline will be added, and another some 168 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:10,000 Speaker 5: substance will be included to keep the metal and the 169 00:11:10,040 --> 00:11:11,719 Speaker 5: grain alcohol from separating. 170 00:11:12,480 --> 00:11:17,400 Speaker 1: Wow, gasoline, tell me you're out of ideas. Without telling 171 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:22,480 Speaker 1: me you're out of ideas. After Formula six was successfully defeated, 172 00:11:22,679 --> 00:11:25,760 Speaker 1: formulas three and four were beaten and tossed out later 173 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:29,479 Speaker 1: that year. But there was one formula that was still effective, 174 00:11:30,080 --> 00:11:33,360 Speaker 1: and it was barely a formula at all. It was 175 00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:37,400 Speaker 1: a simple recipe. To your vat of fine industrial alcohol, 176 00:11:37,640 --> 00:11:40,400 Speaker 1: add wood alcohol straight up. 177 00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:41,240 Speaker 6: Yep. 178 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:44,840 Speaker 1: Remember that original byproduct of home distilling that Norris and 179 00:11:44,840 --> 00:11:47,880 Speaker 1: Getler were warning New Yorkers about way back in nineteen 180 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:52,000 Speaker 1: eighteen at the start of Prohibition. Well, Duran's chemists had 181 00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:55,240 Speaker 1: used traces of wood alcohol and their formulas before, but 182 00:11:55,320 --> 00:11:58,280 Speaker 1: it was always part of a complex cocktail. Now they 183 00:11:58,280 --> 00:12:01,800 Speaker 1: were just dispensing with everything else and just adding a 184 00:12:01,840 --> 00:12:05,160 Speaker 1: shit ton of wood alcohol, like twice as much as 185 00:12:05,160 --> 00:12:09,800 Speaker 1: ever before. But that's not all. As historian Deborah Blum 186 00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:13,120 Speaker 1: tells us, the government chemists now had their hands on 187 00:12:13,160 --> 00:12:16,240 Speaker 1: the purest, deadliest wood alcohol they could find. 188 00:12:17,160 --> 00:12:20,080 Speaker 4: Germans figured out how to synthesize it. It was a 189 00:12:20,280 --> 00:12:24,400 Speaker 4: super pure version of methyl alcohol, so pure there was 190 00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:28,320 Speaker 4: actually a little more poisonous. They have this amazing supply 191 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:32,160 Speaker 4: of really pure methanol that they were able to use. 192 00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:36,160 Speaker 1: And of course, right away bootleggers began siphoning it out 193 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:39,600 Speaker 1: of industrial warehouses and dishing it out on the streets. 194 00:12:43,640 --> 00:12:48,839 Speaker 1: In October nineteen twenty eight, Bellevue Hospital is utter mayhem. Everywhere. 195 00:12:48,880 --> 00:12:53,240 Speaker 1: People are vomiting, hallucinating, dying in the emergency room. Gettler 196 00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:57,040 Speaker 1: and Norris are overwhelmed. Over just three days in October, 197 00:12:57,120 --> 00:13:01,120 Speaker 1: they see thirty three deaths from poisoned liquor by Getler's count, 198 00:13:01,360 --> 00:13:05,680 Speaker 1: twenty five from wood alcohol, and just in time for 199 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:10,240 Speaker 1: election day. Now, as Getler examines the dead in his lab, 200 00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:13,360 Speaker 1: you can imagine him listening to Election Night returns. 201 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:17,199 Speaker 9: November six, nineteen twenty eight, the presidential election between Herbert 202 00:13:17,240 --> 00:13:20,080 Speaker 9: Hoover and Al Smith ends in a landslide. 203 00:13:21,160 --> 00:13:25,000 Speaker 1: A landslide, of course, it was Americans were tired of 204 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:27,440 Speaker 1: the violence. They were tired of the status quo eight 205 00:13:27,559 --> 00:13:32,200 Speaker 1: years in and Prohibition was massively unpopular. Prohibition was on 206 00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:35,640 Speaker 1: the ballot, and no wonder the election wasn't close. But 207 00:13:35,880 --> 00:13:37,600 Speaker 1: hang on a second, I did pretty well in fifth 208 00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:40,040 Speaker 1: grade history, and I don't ever remember there being a 209 00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:44,520 Speaker 1: president Al Smith, which must mean and. 210 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:47,280 Speaker 9: Hoover sets a record for electoral votes and. 211 00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:54,800 Speaker 1: Crushes Smith Hoover one. Yeah, he sure did, in a knockout. 212 00:13:55,480 --> 00:13:59,560 Speaker 1: In fact, Hoover won on economic promises, but Smith also 213 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:04,080 Speaker 1: couldn't overcome anti Catholic prejudice and ginned up rumors that 214 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:07,520 Speaker 1: he was even taking orders from the Vatican and from 215 00:14:07,559 --> 00:14:12,240 Speaker 1: the country's biggest bootleggers. Smith's crushing defeat was a win 216 00:14:12,360 --> 00:14:16,840 Speaker 1: for prohibition and also a win for Hoover San Mabel 217 00:14:16,880 --> 00:14:20,960 Speaker 1: Walker Willebrandt, who saw the victory as voters practically putting 218 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:25,120 Speaker 1: their stamp of approval on her June raids. Mabel and 219 00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:28,560 Speaker 1: Duran had pulled out all the stops. Al Smith had lost, 220 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:32,880 Speaker 1: and Prohibition was here to stay and by the way, 221 00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:36,640 Speaker 1: deadlier than ever. On the other side, Charles Norris and 222 00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:40,160 Speaker 1: Alexander Getler didn't have a minute to waste. It was 223 00:14:40,200 --> 00:14:43,400 Speaker 1: time for their big swing to put an end to 224 00:14:43,520 --> 00:14:57,400 Speaker 1: a national emergency at Bellevue Hospital. It's not just the 225 00:14:57,440 --> 00:15:00,880 Speaker 1: bodies that have been stacking up. Alexander gar Hitler's notebooks 226 00:15:00,920 --> 00:15:04,520 Speaker 1: are piled high everywhere, meticulous records of all the data 227 00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:09,240 Speaker 1: he's compiled since the start of Prohibition, documented night after 228 00:15:09,400 --> 00:15:14,640 Speaker 1: painstaking night, and the numbers as nineteen twenty eight winds 229 00:15:14,680 --> 00:15:19,320 Speaker 1: down are disturbing as hell. The body count from drinking 230 00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:22,920 Speaker 1: related deaths in New York City this year alone is 231 00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:27,520 Speaker 1: ten thousand. Ten years ago. When they issued their first 232 00:15:27,560 --> 00:15:30,680 Speaker 1: warning on the eve of prohibition, Gettler and Norris knew 233 00:15:30,720 --> 00:15:34,920 Speaker 1: things were going to be bad, but this bad. At 234 00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:38,720 Speaker 1: that nineteen twenty six press conference, the Prohibition Bureau issued 235 00:15:38,760 --> 00:15:45,119 Speaker 1: a reminder to America, drink and you die, and Americans 236 00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:48,400 Speaker 1: more or less responded with cool, so yeah, make it 237 00:15:48,440 --> 00:15:51,800 Speaker 1: a double. The grand irony here is that people are 238 00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:55,920 Speaker 1: drinking now more than ever before. In New York, cases 239 00:15:55,920 --> 00:15:58,800 Speaker 1: of alcoholism had been going down in the years leading 240 00:15:58,800 --> 00:16:03,160 Speaker 1: into prohibition, but since nineteen twenty alcoholism was reaching all 241 00:16:03,240 --> 00:16:07,880 Speaker 1: time highs Insurance companies reported that deaths from alcoholism were 242 00:16:07,960 --> 00:16:11,480 Speaker 1: six hundred percent higher in nineteen twenty eight than in 243 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:15,360 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty. For those addicted to drinking, it was a 244 00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:19,360 Speaker 1: dangerous time. Even if they heard government warnings. It wasn't 245 00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:22,680 Speaker 1: realistic to think that they could just stop drinking cold turkey. 246 00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:26,440 Speaker 1: For the rest of the population, well, the government messaging 247 00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:30,080 Speaker 1: about the dangers of drinking just wasn't making an impact, 248 00:16:30,280 --> 00:16:32,440 Speaker 1: which kind of makes sense. I mean, remember that commercial 249 00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:35,160 Speaker 1: from the eighties, this is your Brain on drugs. We 250 00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:38,240 Speaker 1: all saw that egg frying in the pan, But isn't 251 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:41,760 Speaker 1: frying your brain kind of the point? And I do 252 00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:44,760 Speaker 1: wonder who across the country, beyond avid readers of the 253 00:16:44,800 --> 00:16:48,680 Speaker 1: New York papers, was actually getting the warnings from the government. 254 00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:52,160 Speaker 1: News certainly didn't travel then the way it does now. 255 00:16:52,640 --> 00:16:55,320 Speaker 1: Sure they had coast to coast radio, but we're still 256 00:16:55,320 --> 00:17:00,680 Speaker 1: a ways off from the days of push notifications. Now, 257 00:17:00,960 --> 00:17:03,800 Speaker 1: Norris and Gettler were determined to tell the entire country 258 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:06,919 Speaker 1: just how fucked up things had gotten. So on a 259 00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:10,120 Speaker 1: fall afternoon, Norris sits down in front of a typewriter 260 00:17:10,240 --> 00:17:15,240 Speaker 1: at his desk alongside his man Gettler, and Gettler's stack 261 00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:19,480 Speaker 1: of notebooks. Through the years, our duo had issued periodic 262 00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:22,600 Speaker 1: messages to the public through medical journals and in press 263 00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:26,480 Speaker 1: conferences for the local New York media, but it wasn't penetrating. 264 00:17:26,840 --> 00:17:30,640 Speaker 1: It was just small potatoes. So, refusing to be ignored, 265 00:17:31,080 --> 00:17:34,520 Speaker 1: Getler and Norris decide they need to step things up. 266 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:37,919 Speaker 1: As Getler flips through his notes and busts out his data, 267 00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:42,640 Speaker 1: Norris starts typing and begins to paint a picture first 268 00:17:42,880 --> 00:17:45,679 Speaker 1: of what's been going down in their backyard, beginning with 269 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:48,679 Speaker 1: those horrific three days that had just passed In October. 270 00:17:49,359 --> 00:17:53,320 Speaker 8: Between October sixth and eighth, nineteen twenty eight, twenty five 271 00:17:53,400 --> 00:17:56,200 Speaker 8: men and women died in the city of New York 272 00:17:56,200 --> 00:17:58,879 Speaker 8: from wood alcohol poisoning. There is no doubt as to 273 00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:02,320 Speaker 8: the cause of their death on not statistics, but the 274 00:18:02,359 --> 00:18:05,359 Speaker 8: bare record of a tragedy as shocking and in a 275 00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:09,560 Speaker 8: sense dramatic, as a fearful crash on the subway. 276 00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:12,359 Speaker 1: Yep, New York City subways in the nineteen twenties were 277 00:18:12,480 --> 00:18:15,199 Speaker 1: also scary, and this was before the days of pizza 278 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:16,879 Speaker 1: rat AnyWho. 279 00:18:16,880 --> 00:18:20,160 Speaker 8: In a word, the wood alcohol is not poison liquor, 280 00:18:20,480 --> 00:18:22,840 Speaker 8: It is simply poison. 281 00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:26,080 Speaker 1: And how did the poison get into the liquor well? 282 00:18:26,119 --> 00:18:29,360 Speaker 1: That brings Norris and Getler to the government and their 283 00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:34,240 Speaker 1: official poisoning program. Now Noris acknowledges that alcohol made for 284 00:18:34,280 --> 00:18:40,000 Speaker 1: industrial purposes should be protected and differentiated in some meaningful way. Sure, 285 00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:42,119 Speaker 1: you have supplies of alcohol that are supposed to be 286 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:45,159 Speaker 1: used in perfumes and after shaves. It makes sense that 287 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:48,879 Speaker 1: you'd try to deter people from drinking this stuff. But 288 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:54,480 Speaker 1: then along came prohibition. Legal liquor disappeared, and the aftershave 289 00:18:55,040 --> 00:18:58,280 Speaker 1: is all that was left. People weren't stealing it to 290 00:18:58,359 --> 00:19:03,760 Speaker 1: drink before this, Suddenly they were, so whose fault is that? 291 00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:07,720 Speaker 8: The difficulty is that no one has devised a practical 292 00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:09,720 Speaker 8: way to make alcohol fit for business and at the 293 00:19:09,720 --> 00:19:13,320 Speaker 8: same time unfit for drinking without making it poisonous. 294 00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:18,080 Speaker 1: Yeah, pretty unfortunate, right for any American who just wanted 295 00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:18,840 Speaker 1: to drink. 296 00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:23,040 Speaker 8: Poison everywhere, and increasing thousands are drinking it. Shall we 297 00:19:23,119 --> 00:19:24,800 Speaker 8: simply shrug our shoulders. 298 00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:29,160 Speaker 1: It's a great point, Norris. Thousands of people are dying 299 00:19:29,200 --> 00:19:33,240 Speaker 1: from alcohol poisoned by our own government, and we're just like, okay, 300 00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:36,640 Speaker 1: I mean, that's messed up. And what's even more messed 301 00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:39,560 Speaker 1: up is that the government's response to all these people 302 00:19:39,720 --> 00:19:43,800 Speaker 1: dropping dead was, Hey, it's your fault, you drank it 303 00:19:43,960 --> 00:19:48,280 Speaker 1: tough cookies. Needless to say, Norris doesn't see it that way. 304 00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:51,840 Speaker 1: He throws down a challenge for his readers. These deaths, 305 00:19:52,119 --> 00:19:56,880 Speaker 1: these government poisonings, they were caused by prohibition. To him, 306 00:19:56,960 --> 00:19:59,159 Speaker 1: they were the fault of the people who pushed for 307 00:19:59,240 --> 00:20:02,439 Speaker 1: prohibition in the first place, and then they were the 308 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:06,199 Speaker 1: fault of the people adding poison to alcohol knowing that 309 00:20:06,320 --> 00:20:10,359 Speaker 1: people were going to drink it. Norris and Getler wanted 310 00:20:10,359 --> 00:20:13,679 Speaker 1: to boil it down for readers so people understood just 311 00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:17,600 Speaker 1: how many people around the country were dropping dead from prohibition. 312 00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:22,480 Speaker 1: It seems pretty clear the only sensible path forward is 313 00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:26,000 Speaker 1: to do one of two things, either end the denaturing 314 00:20:26,040 --> 00:20:31,040 Speaker 1: program or end prohibition itself. Things had gotten so bad. 315 00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:34,080 Speaker 1: Getler and Norris drew a chilling comparison. 316 00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:37,920 Speaker 8: Our national casualty list for the year from this one 317 00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:41,119 Speaker 8: cause will outstrip the toll of the war. These are 318 00:20:41,119 --> 00:20:44,600 Speaker 8: the first fruits of prohibition in terms of life and death. 319 00:20:45,440 --> 00:20:48,280 Speaker 8: This is the price of the great experiment, which has 320 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:50,600 Speaker 8: cost the nation already one hundred and seventy eight million 321 00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:54,120 Speaker 8: dollars to enforce. This is the net dividend of Ournknoble 322 00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:56,320 Speaker 8: experiment in extermination. 323 00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:03,000 Speaker 1: Finally, Norris slaps a title on this baby, our Essay 324 00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:07,640 Speaker 1: in Extermination. Read between the lines. The title of Norris's 325 00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:11,480 Speaker 1: piece was not our Essay in tragedy. It was our 326 00:21:11,640 --> 00:21:18,080 Speaker 1: essay in extermination. And who are those poor souls subject 327 00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:21,920 Speaker 1: to said extermination from the failed experiment of prohibition? 328 00:21:22,840 --> 00:21:25,480 Speaker 4: Because these Charles Noro sees making the point that we're 329 00:21:25,520 --> 00:21:30,680 Speaker 4: really talking about this going directly to the middle class, 330 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:34,560 Speaker 4: lower class poor people in this community and by extension, 331 00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:36,480 Speaker 4: the rest of the world, and they're the ones that 332 00:21:36,880 --> 00:21:37,720 Speaker 4: are suffering. 333 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:42,199 Speaker 1: For the past decade, Norris and Getler have watched the 334 00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:46,080 Speaker 1: city's working class watering holes shudder, only to be replaced 335 00:21:46,119 --> 00:21:50,480 Speaker 1: with back room joints where the liquor was deadly. Most 336 00:21:50,520 --> 00:21:53,000 Speaker 1: of the poisoned liquor that Getler was testing came from 337 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:57,280 Speaker 1: these dives where bootleggers pushed low grade, albeit affordable alcohol. 338 00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:01,080 Speaker 1: The quality of motor oil booze couldn't hold a candle 339 00:22:01,119 --> 00:22:03,080 Speaker 1: to the stuff rich New Yorkers were able to get 340 00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:06,560 Speaker 1: their hands on, or what certain dry politicians were sipping 341 00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:10,240 Speaker 1: on in the Capitol thanks to our man, George Cassidy. 342 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:14,199 Speaker 1: It was insane that America found itself here. But was 343 00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:17,399 Speaker 1: anything going to change? Was Norris and Gettler's work going 344 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:25,480 Speaker 1: to make any difference at all? In late nineteen twenty eight, 345 00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:29,520 Speaker 1: our essay and Extermination first appears in a literary magazine 346 00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:33,280 Speaker 1: called The North American Review. But it's not just the 347 00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:36,280 Speaker 1: devoted readers of The North American Review who will read 348 00:22:36,359 --> 00:22:40,600 Speaker 1: Norris's words. Nope, this time, Norris and Gettler get the 349 00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:42,760 Speaker 1: attention of the whole country. 350 00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:46,800 Speaker 4: So you have the chief medical examiner of one of 351 00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:51,879 Speaker 4: the most important American cities accusing the federal government of 352 00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:54,080 Speaker 4: a planned program of extermination. 353 00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:58,480 Speaker 1: Yep, that was big news. All right, pour it all out, 354 00:22:58,520 --> 00:22:59,520 Speaker 1: Deborah Blum. 355 00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:02,280 Speaker 4: What is the responsibility of a public servant? What is 356 00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:04,919 Speaker 4: the responsibility of the government in the way that it 357 00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:10,080 Speaker 4: represents the people? Our responsibility is to protect people, and 358 00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:13,320 Speaker 4: we are failing. That's one of the points of that essay. 359 00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:16,119 Speaker 4: We're doing the opposite. In fact, we're killing people. 360 00:23:19,720 --> 00:23:23,520 Speaker 1: News of Norris's essays splashed all over the New York papers. 361 00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:26,840 Speaker 10: There's one doubter of the nobility of the experiment. Doctor 362 00:23:26,920 --> 00:23:30,600 Speaker 10: Charles Norris, chief medical Examiner of New York, makes protest 363 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:33,720 Speaker 10: in the North American Review, calling it a noble experiment 364 00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:35,160 Speaker 10: in suicide by. 365 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:38,960 Speaker 1: Poison, and the stories land well beyond the Big Apple. 366 00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:41,400 Speaker 1: It was news in Florida. 367 00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:44,600 Speaker 10: New York's chief medical examiner declares that the mortality rate 368 00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:47,400 Speaker 10: from drink, instead of declining with the advance of prohibition, 369 00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:48,880 Speaker 10: is actually gaining. 370 00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:52,800 Speaker 1: To Missouri, Charles Norris writes, at the end of eight 371 00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:55,760 Speaker 1: years without good liquor and increasing proportion of our nation 372 00:23:55,880 --> 00:24:01,480 Speaker 1: is drinking itself to death on bad liquor. To Arizona, Charles. 373 00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:04,440 Speaker 10: Norris says our national casualty list from strong drink. 374 00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:07,440 Speaker 6: Will outstrip World War One with one hundred. 375 00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:09,760 Speaker 10: And twenty six thousand deaths. 376 00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:14,119 Speaker 1: And California doctor Norris attributes a large number of deaths 377 00:24:14,119 --> 00:24:18,159 Speaker 1: in motor accidents, homicides, and accidental deaths from fouls to 378 00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:19,199 Speaker 1: poison liquor. 379 00:24:19,560 --> 00:24:23,480 Speaker 10: Norris says most of these are directly traceable to poison alcohol. 380 00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:27,960 Speaker 1: And with that tsunami of media coverage, Norris and Geler 381 00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:31,720 Speaker 1: finally get people to take note. And you know what, 382 00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:37,920 Speaker 1: Americans across the country were up in arms. One priest 383 00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:41,439 Speaker 1: in a working class Chicago parish nailed it when he said, quote, 384 00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:44,119 Speaker 1: they give the good stuff to the sewers and the 385 00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:48,600 Speaker 1: bad stuff to the people. The outrage reached the capital too. 386 00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:52,359 Speaker 1: The wet legislators, long outnumbered by the dries in Congress, 387 00:24:52,600 --> 00:24:55,560 Speaker 1: had been howling against prohibition from the start. And I 388 00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:57,320 Speaker 1: do want to be clear about this, A small group 389 00:24:57,320 --> 00:25:00,640 Speaker 1: in Congress had been directly calling out the government poisoning 390 00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:03,680 Speaker 1: practices for a few years now. In the aftermath of 391 00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:06,880 Speaker 1: the nineteen twenty six Christmas deaths in New York. Senator 392 00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:08,720 Speaker 1: James Reed of Missouri cried. 393 00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:12,040 Speaker 9: Only when possessing the instincts of a wild beast would 394 00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:15,080 Speaker 9: desire to kill or make blind the man who takes 395 00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:16,080 Speaker 9: a drink of liquor. 396 00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:19,280 Speaker 1: A New Jersey senator went as far as to say 397 00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:23,080 Speaker 1: the federal government was guilty of quote legalized murder for 398 00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:26,960 Speaker 1: adding deadly poisons to the industrial alcohol supply. He even 399 00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:29,200 Speaker 1: introduced a measure on the floor of Congress to look 400 00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:33,120 Speaker 1: into the program, But the Drys had steamrolled those efforts. 401 00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:36,760 Speaker 1: They held their ground, believed in the moral superiority of 402 00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:40,719 Speaker 1: their anti liquor cause, and mocked the wets as drunkards. 403 00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:44,120 Speaker 1: And when it came to denaturing, they lectured their wet 404 00:25:44,119 --> 00:25:48,080 Speaker 1: opponents that alcohol itself was a poison, And, as Senator 405 00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:49,760 Speaker 1: Morris Shepherd from Texas put. 406 00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:52,600 Speaker 7: It, you can't poison poison. 407 00:25:53,560 --> 00:25:56,880 Speaker 1: I mean, you can't fight that logic. But smug quips 408 00:25:57,119 --> 00:26:01,800 Speaker 1: were losing their traction. Real people were really dying. Morris 409 00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:05,720 Speaker 1: Shepherd might not care. Hardline temperance advocates like James Duran 410 00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:10,000 Speaker 1: might not care. Mabel Walker Willebrandt might not care. Their 411 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:12,840 Speaker 1: coalition was willing to break a few eggs as long 412 00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:18,160 Speaker 1: as America was a dry omelet. Now in nineteen twenty nine, 413 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:21,200 Speaker 1: the wet lawmakers finally had something solid to fight back 414 00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:25,879 Speaker 1: with Norris and Gettler's irrefutable data that the government policies 415 00:26:25,960 --> 00:26:30,280 Speaker 1: were killing thousands. So the wet legislators took action. They 416 00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:33,440 Speaker 1: whipped up a bill. It demanded that government chemists stop 417 00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:37,720 Speaker 1: using their deadliest poisons. They couldn't reach the hardliners, but 418 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:40,640 Speaker 1: maybe they didn't have to. They just had to reach 419 00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:43,520 Speaker 1: the people in the middle, caught between the two sides, 420 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:47,840 Speaker 1: the people who could understand that no moral code was 421 00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:52,720 Speaker 1: worth poisoning thousands. And with Getler and Norris finally persuading 422 00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:58,600 Speaker 1: Americans to their cause, the bill passed. Prohibition chemists were 423 00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:03,200 Speaker 1: now required by law to ditch lethal formulas like Formula six. 424 00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:06,640 Speaker 1: They were told to go back to inventing concoctions which 425 00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:11,120 Speaker 1: were merely revolting without being actually lethal. And I want 426 00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:13,399 Speaker 1: to just pause here and take in what a turning 427 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:16,560 Speaker 1: point this was for Norris and Ghetler, because yeah, this 428 00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:21,400 Speaker 1: was a moment when they finally won. They had been 429 00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:25,240 Speaker 1: beating their heads against the wall from before Prohibition even 430 00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:28,600 Speaker 1: passed that it would be a terrible idea and that 431 00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:33,199 Speaker 1: it would kill people. Now the nation was finally starting 432 00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:37,400 Speaker 1: to listen. Norris's essay and Getler's research gave the Wets 433 00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:40,960 Speaker 1: what they needed to win, and it didn't stop with denaturing. 434 00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:44,800 Speaker 1: The outcry over the Prohibition Bureau's actions continued to grow 435 00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:47,679 Speaker 1: in the media and in the halls of Congress. A 436 00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:51,560 Speaker 1: tide was beginning to turn across the country. State governments 437 00:27:51,600 --> 00:27:54,760 Speaker 1: were slowly beginning to follow New York's lead in its 438 00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:57,600 Speaker 1: descent from federal prohibition itself. 439 00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:03,080 Speaker 4: You start to see government's just quick enforcing prohibition at all. 440 00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:05,639 Speaker 4: They're just like, fuck it, Let the federal government do 441 00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:09,000 Speaker 4: it right. We're not doing this. We don't believe it, 442 00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:10,440 Speaker 4: we think it's morally wrong. 443 00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:14,800 Speaker 1: State and local law enforcement started to say, look, everyone 444 00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:18,119 Speaker 1: knows this whole prohibition enforcement thing has been a complete charade, 445 00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:21,639 Speaker 1: so why are we even pretending to do it? And 446 00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:25,480 Speaker 1: it wasn't just the government. Public opinion was shifting too, 447 00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:28,320 Speaker 1: and the shift was felt all the way to the 448 00:28:28,359 --> 00:28:36,560 Speaker 1: White House, where Herbert Hoover was about to move in. 449 00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:40,560 Speaker 1: In early nineteen twenty nine, Mabel Walker Willebrandt was feeling 450 00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:43,600 Speaker 1: good now that her man Hoover had won the presidency. 451 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:46,920 Speaker 1: Mabel was sitting pretty I mean, come on, of course, 452 00:28:46,960 --> 00:28:49,120 Speaker 1: she was going to be rewarded for all that shattered 453 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:52,080 Speaker 1: glass in New York and all her fear mongering across 454 00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:54,920 Speaker 1: the country. Surely she'd be rewarded with a big, fat 455 00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:59,240 Speaker 1: promotion and a nifty new title, the Attorney General of 456 00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:00,440 Speaker 1: the United States. 457 00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:04,880 Speaker 10: Well, well, well, Attorney General Willebrand has a nice ring 458 00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:05,280 Speaker 10: to it. 459 00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:09,320 Speaker 1: And one night in February nineteen twenty nine, a few 460 00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:14,520 Speaker 1: weeks before Hoover's inauguration, Mabel's phone rang. It was the 461 00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:18,680 Speaker 1: President elect. Hoover told Mabel that Congress was putting together 462 00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:21,640 Speaker 1: a bill that would strip the Prohibition Bureau out of 463 00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:24,719 Speaker 1: the Department of Treasury and move it into Mabel's domain, 464 00:29:25,040 --> 00:29:28,719 Speaker 1: the Department of Justice, where Mabel assumed she would be 465 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:31,760 Speaker 1: given the reins as your new Attorney General. 466 00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:34,040 Speaker 11: I pledged to enforce the law. 467 00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:37,280 Speaker 1: But Hoover had a different message for Mabel. 468 00:29:37,520 --> 00:29:40,000 Speaker 2: I just wanted to tell you that the new Attorney 469 00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:40,840 Speaker 2: General is a. 470 00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:46,800 Speaker 1: Friend of yours. Hoover had buried the lead. Turns out 471 00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:50,440 Speaker 1: Mabel wasn't going to be the new ag Nope, the 472 00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:55,760 Speaker 1: Solicitor General was leapfrogging her and getting that sweet corner office. 473 00:29:56,160 --> 00:30:00,760 Speaker 1: Mabel technically was keeping her job for now, but she 474 00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:02,800 Speaker 1: saw the writing on the wall. 475 00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:05,480 Speaker 7: Hoover had no use for her any longer. She was 476 00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:08,560 Speaker 7: kind of an irrelevancy. But by the time prohibition is 477 00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:11,880 Speaker 7: very unpopular, She's got less of the constituency. 478 00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:15,440 Speaker 1: It was starting to sink in now that prohibition wasn't 479 00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:18,400 Speaker 1: useful to Hoover as an issue. He just wasn't going 480 00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:21,280 Speaker 1: to be very serious about it anymore, even less than 481 00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:26,800 Speaker 1: his predecessor old to Martini Lunch Warren Harding. Mabel was crushed, 482 00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:29,920 Speaker 1: and as she looked back over her time trying desperately 483 00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:33,560 Speaker 1: to make prohibition work, she could only regret how impossible 484 00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:37,160 Speaker 1: her task had been. If only she'd seen it right 485 00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:38,040 Speaker 1: from the beginning. 486 00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:41,880 Speaker 8: I was a young lawyer, much too young when appointed 487 00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:43,920 Speaker 8: for the responsibilities heaped on me. 488 00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:48,560 Speaker 1: Mabel Walker Willebrandt was free falling off the tightrope she'd 489 00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:51,800 Speaker 1: been walking since the day she arrived in Washington, d C. 490 00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:55,920 Speaker 1: Eight years earlier, so she handed in her resignation to 491 00:30:56,000 --> 00:31:01,040 Speaker 1: Herbert Hoover. Mabel's war was over, but there was so 492 00:31:01,240 --> 00:31:18,200 Speaker 1: much more fallout yet to come. Time to head back 493 00:31:18,240 --> 00:31:22,640 Speaker 1: out west. Let's check in with Richard Hart, the cowboy 494 00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:26,960 Speaker 1: whose gun slinging ways helped turn the public against Mabel's campaign, 495 00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:32,400 Speaker 1: making an unpopular law even more unpopular. You remember where 496 00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:36,760 Speaker 1: we left Richard. He luckily ducked charges for manslaughter, but 497 00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:41,040 Speaker 1: it still tanked his Prohibition Bureau career. But what came 498 00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:45,720 Speaker 1: next was a twist so twisty even his wife and 499 00:31:45,840 --> 00:31:50,040 Speaker 1: kids were caught off guard. First of all, he got 500 00:31:50,120 --> 00:31:53,000 Speaker 1: himself some new assignments with the Office of Indian Affairs 501 00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:55,240 Speaker 1: that got him out of town. They sent him to 502 00:31:55,280 --> 00:31:58,800 Speaker 1: reservations even further west. He was still hanging onto those 503 00:31:58,840 --> 00:32:02,880 Speaker 1: old wild West and live out his cowboy dreams. The 504 00:32:02,920 --> 00:32:06,160 Speaker 1: Bureau of Indian Affairs was kind of known for that. 505 00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:08,960 Speaker 11: This moment here at the turn of the twentieth century, 506 00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:12,720 Speaker 11: where Native people's are largely confined to the reservations. 507 00:32:13,080 --> 00:32:14,920 Speaker 1: That's historian Akeem Reinhardt. 508 00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:19,200 Speaker 11: Which gives the United States federal government and its agents, 509 00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:22,560 Speaker 11: whether they're military agents through the Office of Indian Affairs. 510 00:32:22,360 --> 00:32:23,520 Speaker 8: Trying this amount of power. 511 00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:27,080 Speaker 11: They strive to be autocrats and kind of tinpot dictators 512 00:32:27,120 --> 00:32:28,120 Speaker 11: of these reservations. 513 00:32:29,560 --> 00:32:32,400 Speaker 1: Richard probably thought this was the place he could really 514 00:32:32,520 --> 00:32:35,320 Speaker 1: keep up his costume drama like he had an even 515 00:32:35,360 --> 00:32:39,360 Speaker 1: more free hand to dole out cowboy justice. Once again, 516 00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:41,760 Speaker 1: he drew his gun during an arrest, and when the 517 00:32:41,760 --> 00:32:45,480 Speaker 1: man resisted, Richard shot him. This time there was no 518 00:32:45,600 --> 00:32:49,800 Speaker 1: ducking the charges. Heart was indicted for manslaughter. He was 519 00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:53,360 Speaker 1: acquitted at trial. But this was finally enough. Even in 520 00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:57,720 Speaker 1: the most circusy of bureaucratic circuses, Richard couldn't stop getting 521 00:32:57,720 --> 00:33:01,800 Speaker 1: in trouble with the ring masters violent for the wannabe cowboys, 522 00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:06,920 Speaker 1: so he was fired from his federal post. So eventually 523 00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:09,440 Speaker 1: he was back in Homer without a steady job. It 524 00:33:09,560 --> 00:33:13,000 Speaker 1: was tough on him and on his wife Kathleen, and 525 00:33:13,080 --> 00:33:16,960 Speaker 1: on the boys they were raising. But despite losing his jobs, 526 00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:20,320 Speaker 1: according to great grandson Corey Hart, Richard was starting to 527 00:33:20,320 --> 00:33:22,320 Speaker 1: flaunt some new money around town. 528 00:33:23,280 --> 00:33:28,520 Speaker 3: My grandfather remembers living in the smallest shack down by 529 00:33:28,560 --> 00:33:32,160 Speaker 3: the river in Homer and then suddenly moving into one 530 00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:35,800 Speaker 3: of the nicest holmes in Homer. He remembers his father 531 00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:39,240 Speaker 3: coming back with no kidding, one hundred dollars bills and 532 00:33:39,520 --> 00:33:42,920 Speaker 3: a nice new suit and the life really changed. 533 00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:47,480 Speaker 1: And as Richard's grandson Jeff says, one night, when he 534 00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:51,000 Speaker 1: was all liquored up, the two gun braggadocio finally caught 535 00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:51,560 Speaker 1: up with him. 536 00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:53,400 Speaker 12: It was in a bar, I think in the lower 537 00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:55,080 Speaker 12: fourth Street in Sioux City. 538 00:33:56,200 --> 00:33:59,160 Speaker 1: He starts bragging about a new family business he's a 539 00:33:59,160 --> 00:34:04,080 Speaker 1: part of. It's conspicuously lucrative and maybe a little shady. 540 00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:06,120 Speaker 1: We'll come back to that in a minute. 541 00:34:06,600 --> 00:34:09,920 Speaker 3: Richard started to drink more in the later years and 542 00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:12,720 Speaker 3: bragging about the work that he's doing for his family 543 00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:16,319 Speaker 3: now at the bartender. In addition to some patrons at 544 00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:22,160 Speaker 3: the bar were kind of old enemies, criminals that Richard 545 00:34:22,200 --> 00:34:25,640 Speaker 3: hurt used to terrorize back in the day. Soon as 546 00:34:25,680 --> 00:34:29,560 Speaker 3: they found out who he was, the bartender took some 547 00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:33,000 Speaker 3: brass knuckles and the other two patrons held him down 548 00:34:33,239 --> 00:34:39,279 Speaker 3: and they just beat the crap out of him to 549 00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:41,040 Speaker 3: I guess put it now so nicely. 550 00:34:42,440 --> 00:34:45,479 Speaker 1: Brass knuckles that can do some damage. 551 00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:48,759 Speaker 3: Now, Richard had two of his friends with him, but 552 00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:51,759 Speaker 3: all they could do was just stamp back and let 553 00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:54,920 Speaker 3: it happens some friends. 554 00:34:56,080 --> 00:34:58,840 Speaker 1: Once the beating was over, Richard was bundled off to 555 00:34:58,880 --> 00:34:59,480 Speaker 1: the hospital. 556 00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:06,040 Speaker 12: It was so severe that he was in the hospital 557 00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:09,399 Speaker 12: and his family didn't know where he was. Nobody could 558 00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:11,960 Speaker 12: find him for like a few days. 559 00:35:13,600 --> 00:35:16,399 Speaker 1: Eventually the hospital staff got to lead on. 560 00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:22,080 Speaker 3: Him, so they came and informed my grandfather and Kathleen 561 00:35:22,360 --> 00:35:24,360 Speaker 3: and went to the hospital. And the beating that he 562 00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:26,759 Speaker 3: had taken to his eye was so severe that his 563 00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:29,360 Speaker 3: eye was gone. So he lost sight in that eye 564 00:35:30,040 --> 00:35:30,960 Speaker 3: and learned a lesson. 565 00:35:31,640 --> 00:35:34,520 Speaker 1: That lesson sometimes you just got to keep that old 566 00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:35,240 Speaker 1: trap shut. 567 00:35:36,280 --> 00:35:38,560 Speaker 3: It was a tough lesson to learn. 568 00:35:40,239 --> 00:35:43,439 Speaker 12: That would have been the time to where Kathleen started 569 00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:46,600 Speaker 12: to ask more questions. I think she was suspecting things. 570 00:35:47,719 --> 00:35:50,520 Speaker 1: Kathleen was probably wondering about all that new dough that 571 00:35:50,640 --> 00:35:51,800 Speaker 1: Richard was showing off. 572 00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:58,080 Speaker 3: There were many long discussions between Richard and Kathleen in 573 00:35:58,120 --> 00:36:03,000 Speaker 3: the evening. Couldn't hear about what, but they happened very frequently, 574 00:36:04,040 --> 00:36:08,840 Speaker 3: and they were very emotional as well. Knowing what we 575 00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:13,040 Speaker 3: know now, what happened in the thirties was probably Richard 576 00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:16,280 Speaker 3: went back to his brothers and said, I am flat broke. 577 00:36:17,239 --> 00:36:21,719 Speaker 3: I've got four boys that I can't maintain a living, 578 00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:23,520 Speaker 3: and he's lost all his pride. 579 00:36:24,480 --> 00:36:26,759 Speaker 1: Turns out Richard had a bit of a safety net 580 00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:30,800 Speaker 1: his brothers, something he'd never let on to anyone in Homer. 581 00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:34,000 Speaker 1: You see, while Richard Hart was strutting his stuff under 582 00:36:34,040 --> 00:36:38,400 Speaker 1: a ten gallon stetson, his real identity was hidden. The 583 00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:43,600 Speaker 1: truth is that Richard two gun Heart was an Italian immigrant. 584 00:36:43,760 --> 00:36:47,319 Speaker 1: His real first name was Vincenzo, and his last name 585 00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:51,279 Speaker 1: it wasn't Heart, it was the last name you've definitely 586 00:36:51,320 --> 00:36:57,160 Speaker 1: heard see Richard slash. Vincenzo's baby brother, Alphonse was the 587 00:36:57,160 --> 00:37:00,520 Speaker 1: one who really did something with a family name. You 588 00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:06,719 Speaker 1: know him as al Capone. Hold on a second, al 589 00:37:06,760 --> 00:37:12,239 Speaker 1: Capone's brother was a prohibition agent. Yeah, it's all as 590 00:37:12,280 --> 00:37:16,600 Speaker 1: crazy as it sounds, folks. Once Richard, for simplicity's sake, 591 00:37:16,680 --> 00:37:19,560 Speaker 1: let's just keep calling him Richard and not Richard Vincenzo 592 00:37:19,680 --> 00:37:23,440 Speaker 1: two gun hert Capone. Anyway, Once Richard was off the 593 00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:27,640 Speaker 1: government payroll, he reached out for help to Chicago, and 594 00:37:27,719 --> 00:37:32,520 Speaker 1: his brother answered the call. Richard left Uncle Sam behind 595 00:37:32,680 --> 00:37:36,399 Speaker 1: and moved on to the Capone family ledger and from 596 00:37:36,440 --> 00:37:39,960 Speaker 1: a shack to the nicest house in town. And what 597 00:37:40,040 --> 00:37:43,440 Speaker 1: we do know is that his wife, Kathleen wasn't the 598 00:37:43,440 --> 00:37:46,960 Speaker 1: only one asking questions. There were others cottoning on to 599 00:37:47,120 --> 00:37:50,520 Speaker 1: Richard's hidden copone identity, not to mention the clean new 600 00:37:50,560 --> 00:37:54,240 Speaker 1: seersucker three piece suit that came with it. And here's 601 00:37:54,280 --> 00:37:57,640 Speaker 1: where the story might start to sound familiar. When the 602 00:37:57,680 --> 00:38:02,040 Speaker 1: government finally went after the Capons, they used the Mabel strategy, 603 00:38:02,600 --> 00:38:06,799 Speaker 1: taking down bootleggers by way of tax evasion. Mabel may 604 00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:09,560 Speaker 1: have been gone for years by now, but the prosecutors 605 00:38:09,560 --> 00:38:13,200 Speaker 1: who followed in her footsteps, well, they kept using her methods. 606 00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:17,120 Speaker 1: They knew where the evidence was in the bookkeeping, and 607 00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:21,520 Speaker 1: the Capone family bookkeeper wasn't ol Nope, the family bookkeeper 608 00:38:21,600 --> 00:38:22,920 Speaker 1: was his brother Ralph. 609 00:38:25,120 --> 00:38:27,920 Speaker 3: The federal court in Chicago where they were trying to 610 00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:32,200 Speaker 3: drill down on Ralph his assets and trying to figure 611 00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:34,560 Speaker 3: out what they could take from him. So everything was 612 00:38:34,600 --> 00:38:37,480 Speaker 3: about drilling down on all the Capellan brothers. The way 613 00:38:37,480 --> 00:38:40,160 Speaker 3: that you can get the organized crime was to basically 614 00:38:40,160 --> 00:38:43,240 Speaker 3: look at money launtering money laundering. 615 00:38:43,760 --> 00:38:46,399 Speaker 1: Take the dirty money from a criminal enterprise and put 616 00:38:46,400 --> 00:38:49,120 Speaker 1: it through the spin cycle of a legitimate business with 617 00:38:49,200 --> 00:38:52,120 Speaker 1: a little fabric softener in some tied fresh scent, and 618 00:38:52,239 --> 00:38:54,760 Speaker 1: boom on the other side, you've got a clean profit 619 00:38:54,800 --> 00:38:57,480 Speaker 1: from a small business that you can safely tuck into 620 00:38:57,480 --> 00:39:00,000 Speaker 1: a bank account. If you listen to the last season 621 00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:03,600 Speaker 1: of Snafu, and if you didn't, you really should, you 622 00:39:03,640 --> 00:39:06,120 Speaker 1: would know that a certain j at Gar Hoover, later 623 00:39:06,200 --> 00:39:09,680 Speaker 1: known for his massive illegal surveillance programs, made a name 624 00:39:09,719 --> 00:39:13,719 Speaker 1: for himself with cases like these. The Capone money laundering 625 00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:16,720 Speaker 1: may have eluded most cops, especially if they were paid 626 00:39:16,760 --> 00:39:19,800 Speaker 1: to look the other way, but Hoover's g men sniffed 627 00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:25,040 Speaker 1: it out, and when it came time to go to trial, 628 00:39:25,560 --> 00:39:27,879 Speaker 1: they decided to make it a spectacle. 629 00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:33,879 Speaker 3: It was the first live televice hearings of any kind 630 00:39:33,880 --> 00:39:38,040 Speaker 3: of gang activity. Talk about ratings. 631 00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:43,040 Speaker 1: Right, once Ralph Capone was on the stand getting squeezed, 632 00:39:43,400 --> 00:39:45,880 Speaker 1: he let slip that there was a secret Copone brother 633 00:39:45,960 --> 00:39:49,400 Speaker 1: out back pinning those crisply washed bills in the sun 634 00:39:49,520 --> 00:39:52,839 Speaker 1: to dry. Yep, that's right. Even from all the way 635 00:39:52,840 --> 00:39:55,760 Speaker 1: out in Homer, Richard was part of his mob family's 636 00:39:55,840 --> 00:40:00,120 Speaker 1: money laundering operation. And so Richard was pulled out out 637 00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:03,400 Speaker 1: of Nebraska and paraded in front of the press in Chicago. 638 00:40:04,040 --> 00:40:07,000 Speaker 3: This guy can testify and they find out that this 639 00:40:07,239 --> 00:40:11,880 Speaker 3: is actually also Richard Tugenhart, a former prohibition agent. 640 00:40:12,640 --> 00:40:15,600 Speaker 2: Yeah, it turns up secret brother of Capons. Federal agents 641 00:40:15,640 --> 00:40:18,880 Speaker 2: investigating with ax paid by Ralph Bottles Capone today turned 642 00:40:18,960 --> 00:40:21,640 Speaker 2: up a lost brother whose identity had been kept closely 643 00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:23,120 Speaker 2: guarded underworld secret. 644 00:40:23,800 --> 00:40:27,040 Speaker 3: Everybody's like, wow, this is incredible that the Richard tiugun 645 00:40:27,080 --> 00:40:29,680 Speaker 3: Heart's a law man is actually the long lost brother 646 00:40:29,800 --> 00:40:31,920 Speaker 3: of Al Capone. Long lost brother. Into terms of. 647 00:40:31,920 --> 00:40:36,399 Speaker 9: The media testimony by lost Capone, he peered through thick 648 00:40:36,440 --> 00:40:39,439 Speaker 9: glasses and carried a white cane. He was led into 649 00:40:39,480 --> 00:40:42,360 Speaker 9: the US courthouse on the arm of his wife, a demure, 650 00:40:42,520 --> 00:40:45,319 Speaker 9: middle aged woman who never could be mistaken for a 651 00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:50,160 Speaker 9: gun mall which he was asked for comment. Kathleen didn't 652 00:40:50,160 --> 00:40:53,440 Speaker 9: give up much. All she said was, well, he's not 653 00:40:53,520 --> 00:40:56,600 Speaker 9: a bad man if you think about it. I bet 654 00:40:56,600 --> 00:40:59,239 Speaker 9: none of the Capones thought they were bad guys, just 655 00:40:59,280 --> 00:41:02,600 Speaker 9: the misunderstood protagonists of their own superhero stories. 656 00:41:03,760 --> 00:41:06,480 Speaker 1: Well, this was Richard's final chance to prove that, at 657 00:41:06,560 --> 00:41:09,799 Speaker 1: least in his case, that might be true. Was he 658 00:41:09,880 --> 00:41:12,479 Speaker 1: really a fighter for the law or would he throw 659 00:41:12,520 --> 00:41:17,560 Speaker 1: in his lot with the family. Richard answered those questions 660 00:41:17,840 --> 00:41:19,280 Speaker 1: quite clearly. 661 00:41:19,280 --> 00:41:21,719 Speaker 3: The last year before he died, sticking up for Ralph 662 00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:25,400 Speaker 3: and a grand jury testimony in Chicago. 663 00:41:26,480 --> 00:41:29,160 Speaker 1: In the end, when the law came at him, Richard 664 00:41:29,160 --> 00:41:33,480 Speaker 1: stood shoulder to shoulder with Ralph and Alphonse. He was 665 00:41:33,480 --> 00:41:36,600 Speaker 1: given a chance, won final chance, to make his brothers 666 00:41:36,600 --> 00:41:38,839 Speaker 1: face the music and tell the truth about the inner 667 00:41:38,840 --> 00:41:44,399 Speaker 1: workings of their criminal enterprise, and he refused. He lied 668 00:41:44,440 --> 00:41:47,880 Speaker 1: on the stand like they had so many times before. 669 00:41:48,440 --> 00:41:53,360 Speaker 1: Richard's lies paid off. Ralph Capone's case didn't go to trial. 670 00:41:56,920 --> 00:41:59,760 Speaker 1: The story of Richard Hart, just like the twisted stories 671 00:41:59,760 --> 00:42:03,560 Speaker 1: of Abel Walker, will Lebrandt and Formula six, show us 672 00:42:03,680 --> 00:42:07,440 Speaker 1: just how far off the rails things had gotten during Prohibition. 673 00:42:07,960 --> 00:42:10,280 Speaker 1: But as we come to the final chapter of our story, 674 00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:16,040 Speaker 1: there's still a huge lingering question. Would anyone actually be 675 00:42:16,200 --> 00:42:21,600 Speaker 1: held responsible for the massive failures and fiascos of Prohibition enforcement? 676 00:42:22,480 --> 00:42:26,080 Speaker 1: Richard Hart certainly wasn't, But what about the boss of 677 00:42:26,120 --> 00:42:29,960 Speaker 1: the Prohibition Bureau, the guy who had overseen the IRS 678 00:42:30,080 --> 00:42:54,960 Speaker 1: poisoning program, James Duran. That's next time on Snaffoo. Snafu 679 00:42:55,080 --> 00:42:58,760 Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartRadio, Film, Nation Entertainment, and Pacific 680 00:42:58,760 --> 00:43:03,160 Speaker 1: Electric Picture Company in association with Gilded Audio. It's executive 681 00:43:03,200 --> 00:43:07,560 Speaker 1: produced by me Ed Helms, Milan Papelka, Mike Falbo, Whitney 682 00:43:07,560 --> 00:43:12,200 Speaker 1: Donaldson and Dylan Fagan. Our lead producers are Carl Nellis 683 00:43:12,239 --> 00:43:16,400 Speaker 1: and Alyssa Martino. Additional production from Stephen Wood, Olivia Canny 684 00:43:16,560 --> 00:43:20,239 Speaker 1: and Kelsey Albright. Tory Smith is our associate producer. Our 685 00:43:20,280 --> 00:43:23,680 Speaker 1: story editor is nicky Stein. Our production assistants are Nevin 686 00:43:23,719 --> 00:43:27,359 Speaker 1: Callapoly and a Keimedy Ekpo fact checking by Charles Richter. 687 00:43:27,760 --> 00:43:31,120 Speaker 1: Our creative executive is Brett Harris. Editing music and sound 688 00:43:31,200 --> 00:43:34,960 Speaker 1: design by Ben chug Engineering and technical direction by Nick 689 00:43:35,000 --> 00:43:39,360 Speaker 1: Dooley Andrew Chug Is Gilded Audio's creative director. Theme music 690 00:43:39,440 --> 00:43:43,080 Speaker 1: by Dan Rosatto. The role of Mabel Walker will Brandt 691 00:43:43,120 --> 00:43:46,520 Speaker 1: was played by Carrie Bische. Special thanks to Alison Cohen, 692 00:43:46,640 --> 00:44:09,319 Speaker 1: Daniel Welsh and Ben Rizak GPT