Ep 3.24 - Prohibition, Prejudice, and the Rise of the Underworld: St. Louis in the 1920s

In this continuation of the “Turbulent Twenties,” Monsignor and Teresa explore how Prohibition, racial tension, and the rise of organized crime collided in St. Louis. The episode opens with vivid accounts of a chaotic New Year’s Eve raid at the Chase Hotel and a deadly gang shooting that claimed an innocent bystander—scenes that reveal how quickly the city was changing under the pressures of bootlegging and lawlessness. Monsignor then widens the lens to examine the Great Migration, the economic and environmental disasters that pushed African Americans north, and the explosive strain this placed on housing, labor, and race relations. He traces the re‑emergence of the Ku Klux Klan, the cultural impact of films like Birth of a Nation, and the courageous counter‑efforts of Black leaders, Catholic priests, and organizations such as the NAACP and Urban League. The episode closes with the early life of Tom Egan, whose path from hardship to gang leadership foreshadows the underworld battles still to come. It’s a sobering, richly detailed look at a decade when St. Louis found itself at the crossroads of fear, reform, and resilience.