You can almos+C702t imagine federal agents telling bootleggers, "If you have tears, prepare to shed them now," as they pour 350,000 gallons of illegal liquor into the Chicago River. The agents seized the barrels of wine, beer and whiskey in raids in and around Chicago on April 6, 1922.

The 18th Amendment was ratified in 1919, prohibiting the production, sale and distribution of alcohol. The Prohibition Era lasted until Dec. 5, 1933. Federal agents were tasked with stopping the sale and consumption of alcohol, and taking down illegal bootlegging rings that became notorious in cities like New York and Chicago.

Prohibition did little to stop people from drinking. It created a profitable black market for mobsters, rum-runners, moonshiners and speakeasies, while making it truly the Roaring Û÷20s.