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"… and it's true we have made some progress, but there is no reward for idleness. So just as the odious saloons have been banished… so now the pool halls, and these private parlours…"
Henry Shaw Junior at his rundraising dinner in 1926[src]

Prohibition was a period during the early 20th century when the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcoholic beverages was illegal in the United States.[1] The Muggle government of the United States enforced prohibition from 1920 to 1933 on a federal level (although some states enforced their own prohibition laws for longer).[1] However, even though it was illegal, the manufacture, trade, and consumption of alcohol did not stop, with scores of clandestine bars called speakeasies springing up throughout the country.[1][2]

The wizarding government of the United States did not enforce prohibition at the same time (President Seraphina Picquery being of the opinion that "Gigglewater is non-negotiable"),[3] even though wizarding speakeasies were operated,[4] presumably to avoid the suspicions of No-Majs. In 1926, there was at least one magical speakeasy in New York, The Blind Pig, which was located in Manhattan[5] and run by the goblin gangster Gnarlak.[2][4][6][7]

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