If I were writing this article, I could not have helped myself from asking the question, if not for prohibition the Godfather of the Kennedy crime family, Joe Kennedy, would not have made his fortune as a bootlegger.
And without that bootlegging fortune, it is unlikely that the Kennedy brothers would have had much effect on the American political scene.
I’m not sure that Joe Kennedy actually “made his fortune” by bootlegging. He made lots of money on Wall St. by engaging in what would now be illegal insider trading. One way or another, the Kennedy fortune was based on crime, and scions like Ted K. went on to an even bigger racket: unconstitutional Federal govt.