The following is an excerpt from the new book Rum Runners and Moonshiners of Old Florida : A Second Batch.
www.amazon.com/…
South Florida Shine and Rum
When we think of Prohibition and the crime wars of the 1920s and 1930s, Florida is never the first thing that comes to mind. We may think of infamous characters, Bugs Moran, Meyer Lansky, and of course Al Capone. Yet few lovers of history realize the prominent role South Florida, and its Caribbean neighbors played in the transportation of illegal booze into the U.S. during this infamous era.
As mentioned in the first Volume, northern Mobsters oversaw stills, and smuggling operations throughout the state. This included distribution to hotels and speak-easies and they ran many establishments themselves. Rum-running became routine. A case of liquor was $18 in the Bahamas, double that on the street, or behind closed doors, in South Florida. It was as much as $100 up North.
Boats would shuttle the liquor from Nassau to West End and Bimini, less than 60 miles from Florida. Contraband then was packed in “hams,” six bottles to a burlap sack, padded with paper and straw. Most of the liquid contraband entered Florida via the Bahama Islands. The sale of liquor remained legal there, and rumrunners pursued their sordid vocation with virtual impunity. Boats sped the hooch to the mainland. The largest settlement was located on Grand Bahama Island, there were nine liquor warehouses there in 1921, and in the harbor, forty to fifty power
boats awaited orders and favorable weather to make their stealthy visits to the Florida coast. As with every era of trafficking or smuggling, the Caribbean was an unwitting asset to illegal actions.
The Rum runners were aided by local fishermen in both the Caribbean and along the Florida coast, who supplemented their incomes by acting as lookouts for the bootleggers, landings were done swiftly, the cargo was quickly transferred to waiting vehicles, and the
boats would return to Bimini and international waters.
As federal funding for coastal patrols increased, the smugglers had to get more creative in their smuggling. A popular innovation that one smuggler created, usually created by Bill McCoy, was the submersion tank, a long, cigar-shaped metal container that was keel-hauled and chained underneath an otherwise innocent-appearing vessel. At night the tank would be cut loose and towed ashore by a small boat. In case of detection, it was cast adrift and sunk. One of the most commonly used methods of smuggling by rumrunners was the double or false bottom, which permitted the storage of liquor beneath a lawful cargo.
Noted characters like Bill McCoy and Cracker Johnson, who along with their savvy female contemporaries, Gertrude Lythgoe and Marie Waite, operated highly successful smuggling operations along the coast and enjoyed throughout prohibition a perpetual system of adventure and fast profits. It was perhaps the final system of piracy that could be romanticized, they weren’t cruel figures unless they were being attacked by the feds. They didn’t steal and they always avoided violence. They were merely 20th-century rogues and scoundrels of the best American quality.
International Relations
To the dismay of many members of Congress, it was apparent even before the eighteenth amendment became law that foreign powers would not be too sympathetic to the enforcement of prohibition. Most of the controversy involved our former wartime ally Great Britain; her officials generally refused to suppress their colonials in the islands who were involved, either directly or indirectly, in smuggling activities. Increasing evidence of British complacency caused tempers in Washington to rise to an all-time high level of resentment. As idiotic as it sounds, some members of Congress called for trade embargos on the UK. One Republican senator, according to the Washington Post, anonymously leaked that a few members of his caucus mentioned going to war over the empire’s actions.
The New York Times of all places, mentioned the risk placed upon Miami, should the British place batteries on nearby Bimini and bombard the city. The article ended with the writer, seemingly hyperventilating, that American tourists should do their part and take over the tiny vacation destination until the US Marines could arrive and conquer the British holding. In response to this article, a rival journal wrote “The coast of Florida would be bombarded from Bimini with popping corks. In due time a British army would land on the most eligible bathing beach, accompanied by American exiles!”
Of course, the state department quickly stepped in as did the British admiralty, and took steps to maintain the two nation’s friendly relations. In June 1922, Secretary Hughes initiated an exchange of letters with the British government in which he called attention to the irregularities in the Bahamas. Ever the patient and skilled diplomat, Hughes’ letter satisfied the reactionaries of Congress, while allowing Britain to save face and soft-peddle her response. Both countries could see that it was foolish for another country to change the entire logistical operations of its empire which was mainly fueled by trade and naval power, over a new piece of legislation.
Finally, in January 1924, an Anglo-American Rumrunning Convention was held in Washington which was consummated by a treaty signed by the two nations on January 23, 1924. Under terms
of this treaty, Britain agreed to allow the boarding of private vessels flying the British flag within one hour’s traveling time of the American coast.
Thus, ending what was perhaps the most comical and absurd paper war in American history.
Praise for the Book
"An essential work about our state" - The Florida Squeeze
"Buccellato's Books are a great guide to the State's Politics" - MSNBC
"An important work about our state's traditions" - Jacksonville Florida News