Audio Excerpt

They say crime doesn’t pay right, well I’d say that’s MOSTLY true, except for the story I’m about to tell you because in this case, it did pay... A LOT.  Welcome to Wapella, home of the Bronfman family, a major player in the global economy with substantial holdings in many industries. Most notably, the family has controlling interest in the Seagram Company, one of the largest distributors of spirits and wine in the world that employs over 30,000 people! To say the Bronfman brothers, Samuel, Harry, Abe, and Allan, got off to a rocky start would be a bit of an understatement.  

 

During prohibition, the brothers ran a ‘booze-by-mail’ business and ran into some trouble. Samuel’s brother-in-law was shot to death at a Canadian Pacific Railway station, Harry was jailed for attempted bribery and witness tampering; and all four brothers were charged with fraud and income tax evasion, although nothing was ever proven against them.
 

As you can imagine,  labelling the packages containing booze sent in the mail as ‘booze’, probably wouldn’t have worked too well, so they had to get creative.  How do you think they disguised the liquor? Was it,

 

1. Shipped it in a petrol can as fuel for cars

2. Shipped it in bottles labelled laundry detergent or

3. Shipped it in bottles labelled cough medication?

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The answer is C! The Bronfmans branded their products as medication against coughs, liver problems and other diseases. Getting entangled in smuggling and mafia relations caused many problems for the company, but after the prohibition was lifted, Seagrams stock skyrocketed, and today is the largest distributor of spirits and wine in the world.