Joseph P. Kennedy  (September 6, 1888 – November 18, 1969)

 

  Family - He married the eldest daughter of Boston mayor John Fitzgerald, and was the father of John F. Kennedy and his siblings. 

 

   Business - Sam Giancana, the former head of the Chicago crime syndicate. Giancana had longtime ties to the Kennedy clan through Joseph P. Kennedy, who was involved with Giancana in the bootlegging business during Prohibition.

      Joseph's association with Samuel Bronfman, the founder of Distillers Corporation based in Montreal; they specialized in cheap whiskey and took advantage of Prohibition in the United States by bootlegging his whiskey to cities like Boston, New York and Chicago. 

      After Bronfman bought Joseph E. Seagram & Sons in 1928 Kennedy and Bronfman became business partners.

• Danny Walsh and his crime syndicate bought liquor from the Bronfman-run group during Prohibition

• Kennedy also traveled to England and made a deal to be the exclusive distributor of scotch, gin and bourbon from Scotland and England.

 

By bootlegging and investing wisely Kennedy was able to have one of the richest families of the era. Not only was he rich but his wife did not care about her husband's numerous infidelities. Since she was encouraged to buy herself dresses, to travel wherever she wished for as long as she wanted, to have her own little beach house, into which none of her nine children were able to enter without permission. Joe Kennedy was living the American Dream, due to the fact bootlegging equaled money, which equaled political and social clout, which meant he meant he was able to spend his money on whatever he wanted. Whether Kennedy spent the money on fall guys for his bootlegging endeavors with the JAK or simply on making his family and his self happy. 

 

Sources:

• "Definitions - The Daily Bell." Definitions - The Daily Bell. Web. 01 Feb. 2016.

• "Was Kennedy Tied to the Mob?" National Geographic Channel. 2013. Web. 01 Feb. 2016.

• "American Experience: TV's Most-watched History Series." PBS. PBS. Web. 01 Feb. 2016.

• Ward, Geoffrey C. "ALL IN THE FAMILIES." The New York Times. The New York Times, 1987. Web. 01 Feb. 2016