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On January 16th, 1920, the US federal government passed the 19th amendment which was to prohibit the sales of alcohol. This had brought a halt to one of America's biggest habits. This had led to organized crimes such as mobsters. This had also led to people hiding out in places called speakeasies and illegally drink. By 1925, there were over 100,000 speak-easies in New York City. Bootleggers smuggled liquor from oversees and Canada, stole it from government warehouses, and produced their own. Many bootleggers secured their business by bribing the authorities, namely federal agents and persons of high political status. In large cities the homicide went from 5.6 (per 100,000 population) in the pre-prohibition period, to nearly 10 (per 100,000 population) during prohibition, nearly a 78 percent increase. This had led to a big problem called binge drinking, which is drinking and excessive amount of alcohol in a short period of time. This is what you see today among the groups of kids who are not old enough to purchase alcohol. In 1932, doctors had researched that there was a high amount of live Cirrhosis that was going around. Cirrhosis is sometimes used as an indicator of heavy alcohol consumption. Prohibition went on for 13 years until the US government passed the 21st amendment which was to overthrow the 19th.