Underworld {h.s.}

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underworld

ˈʌndəwəːld/

noun

1. the world of criminals or of organized crime.

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The year is 1920, the era that will be forever remembered as the 'Roaring 20s.' It was an age of dramatic social and political change, and for the first time, more Americans lived in cities than on farms. Some may argue that the 20s brought more conflict than celebration, although most of the American population believed it truly was a roaring time.

New York was a modern city, it's buildings reaching heights that no other city had dreamed of, and had a population of nearly six million. After all, it was the center of manufacturing, commerce, and culture. Immigrants and migrants flooded into the city, feeding it's thriving economy. New York was the place to be for work and living, if you wanted to be remembered then New York was your ticket.

The 1920s also held a dark part of America's history that has travelled down through decades. On January 17th, 1920 the United States of America officially went dry of alcohol. There was a nationwide constitutional ban on the sale, production, importation, and transportation of alcoholic beverages. This time in American history was known as the Prohibition.

With the new advent of the Prohibition, gangs, businessmen, and everyday citizens became involved in rumrunning to obtain quick wealth and power. Great wealth and power comes to those who know what people want and how to get it to them.

These gangs not only controlled the alcohol but also the gambling, prostitution, extortion, thefts, drugs, and bootlegging operations. The gangs ruled the underworld and acted as suppliers to the community and as enforcers for the political machines of the big cities nationwide.

To be able to accomplish all of this and not be locked away for the rest of your miserable life was based on luck and how well you could "deal" with someone. Not everyone had the luck, and many mob empires crashed in the beginning years proving that it was a dog eat dog world, but some men were gifted with such luck that their empires lived for year and years.

This is the story of one of these men.

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A/N: pls forgive me for that mini history lesson but you need to know all this before you keep reading :)