The Feds Fight Back

Overview

As the Mob prospered during Prohibition, law enforcement agencies found themselves overmatched by the clever and violent crime syndicates. New legal powers and more firepower were needed to combat this growing threat. The Bureau of Narcotics took on the Mob’s role in drug trafficking, the Treasury Department’s Intelligence Unit probed the tax records of crime kingpins, J. Edgar Hoover established the Federal Bureau of Investigation – the G-Men — as the nation’s primary law enforcement agency and Congress passed laws to expand police powers. These efforts saw results: Crime bosses such as Al Capone, Lucky Luciano and Louis Buchalter were taken down. But the Mob was far from finished.