--The Great Gatsby--
Prohibition
"'Oh, I've been in several things...I was in the drug business...'" (95)
Jay Gatsby had run a few drug stores, which was a feasible reason that he made the amount money he did. His money would not have been made from selling medicines though but from alcohol.
Drug stores like Gatsby's were a frequent front for selling liquor during Prohibition, which, during 1919 and 1933, outlawed consumption and production of alcohol. Whiskey could only be sold by prescription (supposedly for medicinal purposes), and sometimes bootlegged drinks would be sold secretly.
During the Twenties, fronts for the distribution of liquor were very common. With bootlegged spirits and rum smuggled into the country, downtown speakeasies were the ever-popular way to socialize and enjoy a few drinks--illegally, of course.
"'...He's quite a character around New York--a denizen of Broadway'
"'Who is he anyhow, an actor?'
...'Meyer Wolfshiem? No, he's a gambler.'" (77-78)
With bootlegging came an enormous increase in organized crime, culminating with well-known mobsters like Al Capone, who was estimated to make nearly 60 million annually. It was probably by way of his connections to bootlegging through his drug stores that Gatsby met a notorious gambler and racketeer like Meyer Wolfshiem.
Links to Prohibition sites:
The Ohio State Prohibition Page
Page last updated: 4/8/99
Curator: Eric Hughes
Pictures taken from: http://www.cohums.ohio-state.edu:80/history/projects/prohibition/default.htm